as to sober her completely, and, oddly
enough, make her a bit homesick for the old life and the noisy little
brothers. She fell to thinking about them so earnestly that she scarcely
heard what else the widow was saying, until she was touched upon the
arm, and bidden:

"Now, look sharp an' remember. Here 'tis, my shroud an' all goes with
it."

"Your--w-h-a-t?" gasped Katharine.

Susanna again looked her surprise, but she was perfectly calm, even
cheerfully interested; and, to enlighten the other's ignorance,
patiently explained.

"I said my shroud, that I am to be wropped in when I'm buried. I made it
years ago, an' styles has changed some, I hear. But this is good, an'
'll be easy for 'em that does it to put on me. It's keepin' real well,
nice an' white. Here's the suit of underclothes goes with it, all new,
white stockin's--loose an' roomy, an' pins an' needles an' thread--not a
thing wantin', so fur as I know. Why, child, what ails you? You look as
if you had seen a ghost."

Poor Katharine was so shocked by this revelation which the other made so
calmly, that she had turned quite white, and found some difficulty to
control her voice, as she returned:

"It's so--so horrible, so ghastly! Right here in all this glory of life
to be anticipating the grave! Give the dreadful things to me. I hate to
touch them, but I'll make myself. I'll carry them right down into the
kitchen and make a fire in the stove and burn them up, up, up! Oh,
Susanna! how could you?"

The old housekeeper was in her own turn as genuinely surprised. In many
a household she knew just such provision for a sad day had been made.
She had even once assisted at a "bee," where several women had assembled
to prepare a burial garment for an old, bedridden neighbor, who, less
"forehanded" than Marsdenites in general, had neglected to provide one
for herself. The careless creature was living yet, and likely to outlive
many a stronger woman, but that didn't matter. However, such ignorance
as Katharine's did not surprise her so much as it would have done had
the child's "raising" been in the more favored environment she had
herself enjoyed. Of course, she did not yield her treasures to the
destruction suggested. She merely closed that drawer and opened another;
and here, indeed, her whole bearing changed. Uncovering a big
paste-board box, she showed a quantity of little garments, oddly
fashioned, but beautifully preserved, the very folds in which they had