m the city'd want to buy old Morrisey's
trash?" exclaimed Lemuel, in disbelief.

"I dunno what they want, but thar's their man what steers the
autermobile," and Abner directed a thumb over his left shoulder.

"Wall, wall! Come along; we'll hurry up to get some of their coin afore
they git tired awaitin'!" declared the wise man, as he made haste to
reach the house.

Mrs. Fabian and the girls had made a cursory visit to the rooms on the
ground floor, and while they stood in the small kitchen examining various
old dishes and glassware in the cupboard, Polly spied a very narrow
staircase leading to the attic.

"I'm going up to see if there's anything up there," said she. So without
another word, she ran up the creaky steps.

The girls heard her walking overhead, and then heard her pull a heavy
object across the floor. In another minute she came racing down the steps
at a break-neck speed, her face all streaked with dirt and her dress
covered with cob-webs and the dust of ages.

"Oh, folks! Do come up and see what I found in an old box under the
eaves!"

They needed no second invitation, and soon all were up beside the box.
There were many other empty boxes standing about and in some way this
particular box had escaped the attention of Abner, who had taken the
inventory of the contents of the house and barns.

Polly had removed the first object on top of the box which was an old
woven coverlet in rare colorings of blue and white. In one corner was the
name of the weaver and the date it was completed. Polly was not aware
that old woven coverlets were considered very desirable by collectors,
but she had read the date which showed the spread was more than a hundred
years old, so she judged it was worth bidding on at the coming sale.

Directly under this woven coverlet was a white spread. It was very old
and torn at the corners, but the rest of it was in good condition. Mrs.
Fabian saw at once that it was a spread of the finest candle-wicking
style she had ever seen. It must have dated back to the early part of the
eighteenth century.

Under this white bed-spread were small bundles of hand-spun linen towels,
yellow with age but in perfect condition as to wear. But the greatest
find of all, in this box, were the old brasses in the bottom.

Wrapped in papers to keep them clean, Polly found a long-handled
warming-pan; a set of fire-irons--the tongs, shovel, and andirons of the
famous "acorn-top" design; and a funny old