ong to the period of Lady Maude, being much older.
They were very small and slim, and daintily made. Where had such pretty
feet found floors on which to dance?

We laid them back with the other things where they had been put such a
long time ago, and turned to the box of odds and ends. There were knobs
and latches and keys--all of the old pattern--a hand-made padlock, some
flat wrought hinges and some hand-wrought nails, left, perhaps, after
the house was built. We sat flat on the floor to paw over these curious
things, and the dull light, and the rain just overhead, certainly
detracted nothing from our illusions. Every little piece in that box
seemed to us a treasure. The old hinges would go on our new closet
doors, held by the hand-made nails. The padlock was for the outside
cellar door. The knobs would replace certain reproductions on some of
our antique furniture. We knew what such things cost at the shops and
how hard they were to find. And just then Elizabeth came upon a
plated-silver buckle, and then upon another--a pair of them--old shoe or
garter buckles, we could not be sure which. Why, our attic was a regular
treasure island!

[Illustration]

We picked out a number of things that seemed of special interest,
including an iron crane we had found, and carried them down-stairs. The
crane fitted the fireplace in the smaller room, which was to become our
kitchen. We hung it and kindled a fire--our first real fire, for it was
our first cool day. There was litter on the floor, but we did not mind
it. We looked into the cheerful blaze, handled over the trifles we had
found, and in quiet voices spoke of the past. During our two hours or so
in the old attic we had been in step with the generations. We had
broken bread at the camp-fire of the pioneer; we had seen him build his
house and provide it with the simple, durable furnishings of his day; we
had shared the easy comfort of his hearty board; we had drawn near to
his good wife as she rocked the cradle or sat spinning in the firelight;
we had watched their descendants attain prosperity and a taste for
finery; we had seen how they had acquired fashion and in time had
patterned their gowns, their bonnets, perhaps even their romances upon
models of Lady Maude. They were all gone now, leaving us to carry on the
story. We also would go our way; others would follow us, and they, too,
would pass. It was a moment to look into the fire and think long, long
thoughts.

II