newel-post? It's the only thing in the
house we did n't inherit. We got it from the old Putney mansion when
they were tearing it down to make room for the library. When I heard
they were destroying the house, I sent Mr. Parr there to see what he
could pick up, and he found this beautiful thing thrown in the corner,
as if it had no value at all. Think of it!"

Leigh owned that it was a prize of no small value.

"You may say so," she went on, warming to the subject, "and it cost us
twenty-five dollars. When they found out we wanted it, they put up the
price. Mrs. Bradford has never gotten over it that we stole a march on
her, for she meant to get it herself. Do you know Mrs. Bradford?"

"Miss Wycliffe made me acquainted with her at Littleford's. I remember
hearing that she was prominent in the First Church and very much
interested in historical relics."

"Her husband is one of the Bradfords," with an emphasis on the definite
article, "descended from Governor Bradford, and she is president of the
Society for the Preservation of Colonial Landmarks, and also of the
Daughters."

"The Daughters of the King?" he inquired maliciously.

"The Daughters of the American Revolution," she corrected.

"I did n't know," he explained; "I used to hear of the other
'daughters' from an aunt of mine; but her chief hobby was bishops."

"The Episcopalians are in a small minority here," she informed him.
"Most of the old families go to the First Church. I was brought up
there, but Miss Wycliffe has made me a kind of half Episcopalian, so
that I go to St. George's sometimes with her. But speaking of the
Bradfords, you have no idea how many obscure people claim to be
descended from Governor Bradford. Now, I am a genuine Bradford on my
father's side."

"The old governor must have been the Adam of these parts," he commented.

She picked up a volume from a near-by table. "This is the real
Bradford genealogy," she announced.

They continued their progress through the house, viewing hautboys, and
clocks, and tables, and tapestries, and chairs. Leigh had extracted
all the amusement for himself that the subject and the a narrator could
offer, and he began to grow inattentive. The long roll of names and of
styles of furniture, hitherto unfamiliar, confused him, and the
constant reiteration of the local point of view seemed an almost
incredible provincialism. When they returned at last to the
drawing-room, Mr. Parr, just retur