THE STEADFAST HEART
CHAPTER ONE
The house presented a dazed, half-witted appearance. One could have said that it was lost and bewildered and discouraged, and had settled down where it was through sheer weariness. As a matter of fact, it was not a whole house, but only the wing of a house that seemed to have wandered away from the main structure and then had been unable to find its way back. In reality it represented an unfulfilled ambition. Many years ago a farmer had commenced to build himself a home piecemeal. Inasmuch as a kitchen is a primary requisite in a home, he had built this single room with the intention of adding to it in the spring—but spring never had arrived for him. The northern exposure of the structure remained in what might be termed an anatomical condition—like the pictures of the man in the medicine almanacs who stands gracefully exhibiting his veins
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