in one
room, the bed was still unmade in another, and everything was confusion.

"Isn't it lovely and spooky?" said Esther Ann, tingling with excitement.
"I'm going to see what is in those bureau drawers."

She darted toward an old-fashioned bureau which stood in the room,
flopped down on her knees, and drew out the lower drawer. "Oh, girls,"
she cried, "look here."

The others gathered around her to see boxes in which were the treasures
of a forgotten owner,--strings of beads, half-worn white kid gloves, a
fan with ivory sticks, combs, and ornaments of various kinds.

"Let's each take something home to her mother," proposed Esther Ann. "I
speak for the fan."

"Oh, Esther, do you dare?" asked Reba.

"Why not? They don't belong to anyone," came back the old argument.

"Some one else will most likely take them if we don't," remarked
Reliance conclusively.

This satisfied the less venturesome, and they all sat down on the floor
to make a selection. Reba chose a quaint, silver buckle, Reliance
selected a mother-of-pearl card-case, Edna decided upon a
tortoise-shell comb.

"Wasn't it lovely that we should find them?" said Esther Ann
enthusiastically. "It will be so nice to be able to take home presents.
I am glad no one else found them before we did."

"I wonder how long the back door has been opened," said Reba. "Has it
always been?"

"I don't know. I never tried it till the other day," Esther Ann told
her.

After rummaging a little further and discovering frocks and coats of
unfamiliar cut hanging in the closets and wardrobes, and coming upon
mouldy slippers, and queer-looking hats in other places, they concluded
they must go. Alcinda had wearied of waiting and had gone off long
before, therefore, the four, after shutting the door behind them, took
their way through the leaf-strewn path to the gate, then up the street
to their respective homes.

"Don't you think Mrs. Willis will be pleased with the card-case?" asked
Reliance, as they were entering the gate at Overlea.

"I'm sure she will. She can use it when she goes to the city to see
Uncle Bert, and I know mother will like this comb," returned Edna.

Reliance had no time to present her gift at that moment for Amanda
called her to come at once to attend to her duties, remarking that she
was late, but Edna hunted up her mother who was upstairs. "Oh, mother,
mother," she cried, entering the room where her mother was, "see what I
have for you. Isn't it pr