'The Nesting Place' is the fifth story in Emily Carroll's Through the Woods. This is the longest, and my contender for creepiest, story in the book. Unlike the earlier stories, which look as if they're taking place in the 18th or 19th century, this one seems to be taking place some time in the first half of the 20th century,, possibly the 1930s. Mabel, who prefers to be called 'Bell,' is an orphaned boarding school student. When Bell's mother was alive, she used to tell her little daughter about monsters, such as the one that killed Bell's father. Those stories have not left Bell a Nervous Nellie or a horror fan. She is a bookworm, though. She has a lame leg that's in a brace, and she uses a cane. It's summer and her older brother, Clarence, is picking her up to spend those weeks at his fiancée Rebecca's house in the country.Clarence is as cheerful as Bell is cynical. Rebecca seems just the right type for him. She's so welcoming to Bell, too, who isn't the least bit grateful.

I'll grant you that it seems Rebecca should visit a dentist that first meal together, but there's nothing obviously wrong. Nothing, that is, if you don't count elderly Madam Beauchamp, Rebecca's housekeeper-cook, warning Bell about why she shouldn't go into the woods alone. Then Bell starts seeing and hearing things. When we finally find out what's going on, it's definitely scary. Mabel can't run, so she'd better think fast. ( )