From whose point of view is this passage told?
It is very seldom that mere ordinary people
like John and myself secure ancestral halls
for the summer.

A colonial mansion, a hereditary estate, I
would say a haunted house, and reach the
height of romantic felicity - but that would be
asking too much of fate!
Still I will proudly declare that there is
something queer about it.
Else, why should it be let so cheaply? And
why have stood so long untenanted?
John laughs at me, of course, but one expects
that in marriage