and as Ruby Ann grew more and more persistent, telling of the antiques
gathered up, and among them Mrs. Biggs's warming-pan and foot-stove and
brass kettle,--old Mrs. Baker's quill wheel, and some other old lady's
wedding bonnet, he grew furious and swore about the Rummage Sale, and
might have sworn at Ruby Ann if she had not discreetly withdrawn and
left him to himself and his twinges.

She was rather chagrined over her failure with the Colonel, from whom
she had expected so much, but her success with Amy and the other members
of the household made amends, and she left tolerably well satisfied with
her work. She had not been gone long when Peter was summoned by a sharp
ring to his master's room, and found him sitting very erect in his
chair, listening intently to sounds overhead, where there was the
scurrying of feet mingled with Amy's voice and that of her maid, as box
after box was dragged across the floor.

"Peter!" the Colonel began, "shut the door!"

Peter had shut it and stood with his back against it, as the Colonel
went on, "What in thunder is all that racket in the attic? Has the
Rummage come up there? It commenced some time ago. Sounded as if they
were pulling out trunks, then it stopped, and now they are at it again."

"That's just it. Mrs. Amy and Sarah were looking for something for the
sale, and now, I suppose, they are pushing the boxes back. Mrs. Amy is
greatly interested. I've never seen her so much like herself since she
was a girl," was Peter's reply, whereupon the Colonel consigned the
Rummage to perdition, with its old pots and kettles, and Mrs. Biggs's
warming-pan and foot-stove and brass kettle, and Granny Baker's quill
wheel and Mrs. Allen's wedding bonnet. Who was going to buy such truck?
"And Peter," he said, in a lower tone of voice, "what do you think? Ruby
Ann actually asked for my trousers! Yes, my trousers! And when I told
her I hadn't any but what were shiny at the knees, she said it didn't
matter; in fact, the shine would be all the better, showing they had
been worn. They'd label 'em 'Col. Crompton's,' and hang them up with the
valuables,--meaning Widow Biggs's warming-pan and foot-stove, and Widow
Allen's bonnet, and that other old woman's quill wheel, I dare say.
Think of it, Peter. My coat and trousers! She asked for a coat,
too,--strung on a line with warming-pans and quill wheels and bonnets a
hundred years old, and the Lord only knows what else, and labelled 'Col.
Crompton.' I