"You know the parties, then? How did you happen to get hold of this?"
"I found it in an old overcoat pocket. Aunt Hester ripped up the coat and I was picking out the Indians, the stitches, you know, and I forgot and stuck this in the pocket after I found it way down in a corner of the coat between the cloth and the lining. I was going to make a frock for Hetty out of the pocket. Oh, Martin, do you suppose it is worth anything?"
Martin scratched his head. "I ain't much of a lawyer, but it might be worth keeping, or it may be an old paper that nobody cares anything about. It might save a heap of trouble in case this here Blackberry died and Simon Petty was mean enough to claim his debt."
"Not Blackberry, Martin," said Ruth reproachfully.
"Well, never mind the name. You know sometimes when a man dies there's claimants comes forward for money that's been paid, and if he's a married man and his relic ain't got any receipt to show, why it makes trouble."
"What's a relic? It has something to do with war, hasn't it?"
"There is war relics, but this kind is a man's widow, the wife he leaves behind him."
"Suppose he doesn't leave any."
"Then he has heirs, sons or daughters, maybe."
"Major Brackenbury had a daughter and she's my Aunt Hester."