THE HOUSE
OF HELEN
CORRA HARRIS
THE
HOUSE OF HELEN
BY
CORRA HARRIS
AUTHOR OF “A DAUGHTER OF ADAM,” “THE EYES OF LOVE,”
“MY SON,” “HAPPILY MARRIED,” “A CIRCUIT RIDER’S
WIFE,” “THE RECORDING ANGEL,” ETC.
AND IN COLLABORATION WITH FAITH HARRIS LEECH:
“FROM SUNUP TO SUNDOWN”
NEW 
YORK
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1923,
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY
COPYRIGHT, 1922, 1923,
BY THE CURTIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
THE HOUSE OF HELEN. II
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The town of Shannon lay like a wreath flungwide upon the hills above one of those long, green,fertile valleys to be seen everywhere below theBlue Ridge Mountains in North Georgia. It wasnothing like a city, merely a neat, little town builtby thrifty people since the Civil War. Therefore,there were no colonial residences in it toremind you of the strutting, magnificent past, butthe houses in it were smaller, painted any colorthat pleased the fancy, ruffled from end to end,with spindle-legged porches and scalloped gables.White church spires stuck up out of it like theforefingers of faith in God. There was a townsquare, around which business was done comfortablyand leisurely on a credit basis.
[8]The red-brick courthouse stood in this square,with a long, wide flight of white cement steps toit, showing like the teeth of the law; not that anyone minded these teeth. The dome of this courthousewas covered with galvanized tin. It shoneabove the tufted trees on bright days like an immensesilver helmet. And beneath this helmetthere was the town clock, a good, old man witha plain, round face with only the wrinkles thatmarked the hours on it. Half the men in Shannonwho carried watch chains carried no watchesbecause this clock was so infallibly faithful tothe sun.
At the time of which I write no one in Shannoncalled the narrow or even the wide spaces,which separated their respective homes from thestreet, a lawn. It was the “front yard,” and usuallydivided with a picket fence from the backyard, where the hens attended to business. Flowers,of the kind in service to “ladies” who wearaprons and do their own work and have an artlessaffection for blooming things, inhabited thesefront yards, regardless of law and order in thematter of background or perspective. The forsythia,syringas, roses and altheas had beenplanted with reference to their health in relationto the sun, and, whatever happened, they[9]bloomed. Only the smaller plants, like annuals,were sternly disciplined. They stood up in bedsor along the graveled walks, like spelling classesin a properly grade