Page:The Professor's House - Willa Cather.pdf/173

 leaned forward and tapped her knee, “that we might ask Scott and Kathleen to come round and select anything they like. No use bothering to sell it, we’d get so little.”

Rosamond looked at him in astonishment. It was very evident they had not discussed anything of this sort before. “Don’t be foolish, Louie,” she said quietly. “They wouldn’t want your things.”

“But why not?” he persisted playfully. “They are very nice things. Not right for Outland, but perfectly right for a little house. We chose them with care, and we don’t want them going into some dirty second-hand shop.”

“They won’t have to. We can store them in the attic at Outland, Heaven knows it’s big enough! You don’t have to do anything with them just now.”

“It seems a pity, when somebody might be getting the good of them. I know Scott could do very well with that chiffonier of mine. He admired it greatly, I remember, and said he’d never had one with proper drawers for his shirts.”

Rosamond’s lip curled.

“Don’t look like that, Rosie! It’s naughty. Stop it!” Louie reached forward and shook her gently by the elbows. “And how can you be sure the McGregors wouldn’t like our things, when you’ve never asked them? What positive ideas she does get into her head!”

“They wouldn’t want them because they are ours,