“I’ve just thought of a way!” she exclaimed. “And I’ll bet it’ll work, too. You know Henry he keeps th’ post office; an’ ’most everybody for miles around comes after their mail to th’ store. I’ll tell him to put up a sign, right where everybody will see; something like this: ‘Miss Lydia Orr wants to buy the old furniture of the Bolton house.’ And you might mention casual you’d pay good prices for it. ’Twas real good, solid furniture, I remember.... Come to think of it, Mrs. Bolton collected quite a lot of it right ’round here. She was a city girl when she married Andrew Bolton, an’ she took a great interest in queer old things. She bought a big tall clock out of somebody’s attic, and four-posted beds, the kind folks used to sleep in, an’ outlandish old cracked china plates with scenes on ’em. I recollect I gave her a blue and white teapot, with an eagle on the side that belonged to my grandmother. She thought it was perfectly elegant, and kept it full of rose-leaves and spice on the parlor mantelpiece. Land! I hadn’t thought of that teapot for years and years. I don’t know whatever became of it.” The sound of planes and hammers filled the silence that followed. Lydia was standing by the tall carved chair, her eyes downcast. “I’m glad you thought of—that notice,” she said at last. “If Mr. Daggett will see to it for me—I’ll stop at the office tomorrow. And now, if you have time, I’d so like you to go over the house with me. You can tell me about the wall papers and—” Mrs. Daggett arose with cheerful alacrity. “I’d like nothing better,” she declared. “I ain’t been in the house for so long. Last time was the day of the auction; ’twas after they took the little girl away, I remember.... Oh, didn’t nobody tell you? There was one child—a real, nice little girl. I forget her name; Mrs. Bolton used to call her Baby and Darling and like that. She was an awful pretty little girl, about as old as my Nellie. I’ve often wondered what became of her. Some of her relatives took her away, after her mother was buried. Poor little thing—her ma dead an’ her pa shut up in prison—... Oh! yes; this was the parlor.... My! to think how the years have gone by, and me as slim as a match then. Now that’s what I call a handsome mantel; and ain’t the marble kept real pretty? There was all-colored rugs and a waxed floor in here, and a real old-fashioned sofa in that corner and a mahogany table with carved legs over here, and long lace curtains at the windows. I see they’ve fixed the ceilings as good as new and scraped all the old paper off the walls. There used to be some sort of patterned paper in here. I can’t seem to think what color it was.” “I found quite a fresh piece behind the door,” said Lydia. “See; I’ve put all the good pieces from the different rooms together, and marked them. I was wondering if Mr. Daggett could go to Boston for me? I’m sure he could match the papers there. You could go, too, if you cared to.”