They make me think of the Maine woman who wanted her epitaph to be: “She was a hard working woman.”’‘They must be almost beyond their working-days. I can remember now how strained her eyes looked and how pale she was.‘I called out to Aunt Hannah and asked her when they had had the closet taken away and the little room built; for in my excitement I thought that that was what had been done.‘“That little room has always been there,” said Aunt Hannah, “ever since the house was built.”‘“But mamma said there wasn’t any little room here, only a china-closet, when she was here with papa,” said I.“No, there has never been any china-closet there; it has always been just as it is now,” said Aunt Hannah.‘Then mother spoke; her voice sounded weak and far off. Hiram had shown her how to hold it close to her ear and hear the roar of the sea in it.‘I know you will like Hiram, Roger; he is quite a character in his way.‘Mamma said she remembered, or thought she remembered, having been sick once, and she had to lie quietly for some days on the lounge; then was the time she had become so familiar with everything in the room, and she had been allowed to have the shell to play with all the time. Then she would go through the front room and peer into the darkness, holding her thin hand between the candle and her eyes. She described the furniture and the books and paper and everything, and said it was on the north side, between the front and back room. only, you know, Roger, you must not think of smoking in the house. ‘It doesn’t seem quite the thing, quite delicate, you know, to use her name in the matter.’She saw it all now: he didn’t believe her. The Little Room is Wynne's best known supernatural tale which features her illustrations, published in Harper's Magazine (1895), and in her collection, The Little Room and Other Stories (1906). I’m going to ask her about the old sea-captain and the yellow calico.’‘No, no! Her joints move up and down or backward and forward in a plain square fashion. ‘Just the very place! Aunt Hannah and Aunt Maria are only half-aunts to me, you know.’‘Well, don’t you want them to know we are married?’‘Yes, but not just married. Of course, in a child’s way, I thought there was something queer about it, but I did not brood over it. She was nervous, and kept wondering what was behind her, whether it would be a little room or a closet.After supper she offered to help about the dishes, but, mercy! But, at the last minute, Rita was prevented from going. There was the lounge, the peacock chintz, the green door, the shell, the morning-glory, and rose paper, everything exactly as she had described it to me.’‘Wait a minute and I will tell you. Nan was actually pale, and it was hard to say whether she was most angry or frightened. They wanted to see it, anyway.‘Waal, I guess you are too late.
I am either going there or going home. Europe would have seemed easy to accomplish, if it would settle the question.At the little junction in Vermont they found a farmer with a wagon full of meal-bags. They asked him if he could not take them up to the old Keys farm and bring them back in time for the return train, due in two hours.They had planned to call it a sketching trip, so they said, ‘We have been there before, we are artists, and we might find some views worth taking; and we want also to make a short call upon the Misses Keys.’‘Did ye calculate to paint the old house in the picture?’They said it was possible they might do so. Or a linear combination of both? They both maintained that they had been there, but both felt sure the other one was either crazy or obstinate beyond reason. So I ran ahead and threw open the door, crying, “Come and see the little room.”‘And Roger,’ said Mrs. Grant, laying her hand in his, ‘there really was a little room there, exactly as mother had remembered it. They were not to be back in America for some years. Oh, it was so queer!
She asked her sisters when the house had been altered and a closet made of the room that used to be there. She let her go on for some time, enjoying her enthusiasm, and the impressive way in which she described her opening the door and finding the ‘little room.’ Then Rita said: ‘Now, Nan, that is enough fibbing.