Page:Emma Speed Sampson--The shorn lamb.djvu/327

Rh Philip found treasures lost and mourned for in his childhood, when toys were far from plentiful—a top, a chipped agate, a Barlow knife. Elizabeth found the silver spoon on which her children had cut their teeth. Each little dent had been precious to her, and its loss had, at the time of its disappearance, seemed irreparable. Betsy found an envelope of kodak pictures for which she had searched high and low, a small silver vanity box Philip had sent her from New York, a jeweled hat pin and a dotted veil on which she set great store.

The bureau drawers were bursting with useless and filthy odds and ends. A huge trunk in the corner was covered with layer after layer of old blankets, bits of carpet and portieres. The trunk contained nothing but rags and old shoes. Aunt Peachy had allowed nothing in the way of clothing to be thrown away at The Hedges. Rags were on the bed, under the bed and between the feather mattresses. A bonfire was started some distance from the house and as soon as things were gone over they were cast in the flames.

"Burn everything," insisted Elizabeth. "There is no use in looking over these horrible rags."

"Perhaps we had better look before we burn,"