e was to begin at eleven o'clock, and silverware and china were
first to be disposed of. The long drawing-room was full of camp chairs,
and the audience had begun to assemble when Rosalind entered and sat down
in a corner to wait for her uncle, who was interviewing the auctioneer.
Two rows in front of her she saw Miss Betty, with Mrs. Parton and Mrs.
Molesworth.

"Do you expect to bid on your cream-jug and sugar-bowl when they are put
up, Betty?" asked Mrs. Parton; adding, "How this chair squeaks! I wonder
if it will hold me."

"I haven't made up my mind," was the answer. "It goes against the grain to
give money for what is really mine already. I can't get over the
impression that this is a funeral instead of a sale."

"I wonder if the Whittredges will buy anything. I saw Allan in the hall,"
said Mrs. Molesworth. She was a tall, angular person, with a severe
manner, a marked contrast to Mrs. Parton, with her ample proportions and
laughing face. "By the way, Betty," she continued, "what has become of the
ring?"

"I know no more than you."

The entrance of several strangers and some confusion about seats, kept
Rosalind from hearing any more of the conversation for a time. A portly
man completely blocked the way, and she began to wonder if her uncle
would be able to get to the chair she was keeping for him.

When things were quiet again, she heard Mrs. Molesworth say, leaning over
Miss Betty and speaking to Mrs. Parton, "Why, she was an actress, wasn't
she?"

"I don't see that that was such an insuperable objection," Mrs. Parton
replied, "In point of family she was just as good as he, perhaps a little
better. The colonel and I met a lady at Cape May who knew them well. This
girl was left an orphan early, and through the rascality of her guardian
found herself penniless at seventeen. She had inherited the artistic gift
of her family, only in her it took the dramatic turn, and necessity and
her surroundings all combined to lead her in that direction. Then just as
she was making a success she gave it up to marry--" Another interruption,
and Rosalind did not hear whom she married.

Her uncle now managed to join her by stepping over the backs of chairs,
and it was not long before the sale began.

From the start it was evident the city people had not come to look on.
Bidding was spirited, and Miss Betty's silver soon went "out of sight,"
as Mrs. Parton expressed it.

Rosalind was highly entertained, and whenever her