"I'll tell you!" she cried, as a brilliant idea came to her, "we'll play auction."
"Hooray!" cried King, grasping the plan at once. "Sell everything we can move."
"Yes," cried Mops. "Where is the auction room?"
"This end of the room is the auction room," King, indicating nearly half of the long living-room. "Now, Flip and I are auctioneers and you ladies are in reduced poverty, and have to bring your household goods to be sold."
Delight and Kitty at once saw dramatic possibilities, and flew to dress for their parts. An afghan for a shawl, and a tidy for a bonnet, contented Kitty, but on Delight's head went a fluffy lamp mat, stuck through with four or five of the turkey quills discarded from King's head-dress.
Mops and Dorothy followed this lead, and soon four poverty-stricken ladies, carrying household treasures, timidly entered the auction-room.
"What can I do for you, madam?" said King, as Delight showed him a bronze statuette.
"I have lost all my fortune, sir," responded Delight, sobbing in a way that greatly pleased her hearers; "and I fear I must sacrifice my few remaining relics of my better days."
"Ah, yes, madam. Sorry to hear of your ill luck. Just leave the statuette, ma'am, we have an auction to-morrow or next week, and we'll get what we can for it."
"It's a priceless work of art," said Delight, still loudly weeping, "and
I don't want less than five thousand dollars for it."