The Mysterious Mansion

About a hundred yards from the town of Vendôme, on the borders of the
Loire, there is an old gray house, surmounted by very high gables, and
so completely isolated that neither tanyard nor shabby hostelry, such
as you may find at the entrance to all small towns, exists in its
immediate neighborhood.

In front of this building, overlooking the river, is a garden, where
the once well-trimmed box borders that used to define the walks now
grow wild as they list. Several willows that spring from the Loi...