Book Excerpt: ene of the "great Diamond robbery," lies a little east from the town, away from the clamor of its mills, and the contamination of its canaille.It is a beautiful old place, built upon a slight elevation, surrounded by stately old trees, with a wide sweep of well-kept lawn, bordered with rose thickets, and dotted here and there with great clumps of tall syringas, white lilacs, acacias, and a variety of ornamental trees and flowering shrubs.The mansion stands some distance from the road, and is reached by a broad, sweeping drive and two footpaths that approach from opposite directions.In the rear are orchard and gardens, and beyond these a grassy slope that curves down to meet the river, that is ever hurrying townward to seize the great mill wheels and set them sweeping round and round.The mansion itself is a large, roomy edifice, built by a master architect. It at once impresses one with a sense of its true purpose: a home, stately, but not stiff, abounding in cRead More