sad and lonely from isolation

"No smoke came from the chimney, and the windows gaped forlorn."

messy or unpolished

"It was narrow and unkempt, not the drive that we had known."

harmful but enticing

"...little by little, in her stealthy, insidious way."

trespassed, get in the way

"in her stealthy, insidious way had encroached upon the drive."

bush of large balls of flowers; snowball bush

"culture and grace, hydrangeas whose blue heads had been famous"

divided by a bar or molding

"the mullioned windows reflecting the green lawn and the terrace."

pure, unaffected or changed (not violated)

"it stood inviolate, untouched"

soldiers who stand guard at an entrance

"They made indifferent sentinels."

devoid of inhabitants, deserted

"I looked upon a desolate shell, soulless at last."

tomb or burying place

"The house was a sepulcher."