gh. I believe that table and those drawers are
solid mahogany. And look at the carving on those bedposts. Cleaning
them has made such a difference. I do hope Aunt Josephina won't mind
their being so old."

Aunt Josephina didn't. She was very philosophical about it when Sara
explained that Cousin Caroline had the spare room, and the blue north
room was all they had left. "Oh, it will be all right," she said,
plainly determined to make the best of things. "Those old things are
thought a lot of now, anyhow. I can't say I fancy them much myself--I
like something a little brighter. But the rich folks have gone cracked
over them. I know a woman in Boston that's got her whole house
furnished with old truck, and as soon as she hears of any old
furniture anywhere she's not contented till she's got it. She says
it's her hobby, and she spends a heap on it. She'd be in raptures if
she saw this old room of yours, Sary."

"Do you mean," said Sara slowly, "that there are people who would buy
old things like these?"

"Yes, and pay more for them than would buy a real nice set with a
marble-topped burey. You may well say there's lots of fools in the
world, Sary." Sara was not saying or thinking any such thing. It was a
new idea to her that any value was attached to old furniture, for Sara
lived very much out of the world of fads and collectors. But she did
not forget what Aunt Josephina had said.

The winter passed away. Aunt Josephina plainly enjoyed her visit,
whatever the Sheldons felt about it. In March her son returned, and
Aunt Josephina went home to him. Before she left, Sara asked her for
the address of the woman whose hobby was old furniture, and the very
afternoon after Aunt Josephina had gone Sara wrote and mailed a
letter. For a week she looked so mysterious that Willard and Ray could
not guess what she was plotting. At the end of that time Mrs. Stanton
came.

Mrs. Stanton always declared afterwards that the mere sight of that
blue north room gave her raptures. Such a find! Such a discovery! A
bedstead with carved posts, a claw-footed table, real old willow-ware
plates with the birds' bills meeting! Here was luck, if you like!

When Willard and Ray came home to tea Sara was sitting on the stairs
counting her wealth.

"Sally, where did you discover all that long-lost treasure?" demanded
Ray.

"Mrs. Stanton of Boston was here today," said Sara, enjoying the
moment of revelation hugely. "She makes a hobby of collectin