First came a roll of coarse brown paper; then a layer of finer paper; then a large, folded parcel of bombazine and crape, which, on being unwrapped, turned out to be a made-up, deep mourning dress.
“Oh, this must be a mistake!” said Mrs. Anglesea. “This box must have been intended for somebody else.”
And she turned up the lid and read the direction again.
“No! It is directed to me, sure enough, but it must be a mistake, all the same. And I reckon the mistake was made at the store where all the things was bought, and they misdirected the box, and sent me these things, and sent them rugs to the party these was intended for. Lord! how careless people is, to be sure! But now let us see for curiosity what is in the box.”
And while Miss Sibby looked on with the greatest curiosity, Mrs. Anglesea unpacked the case.
More tissue paper; then a folded mantle of bombazine, trimmed with crape; then a black merino shawl; then half a dozen pair of black kid gloves; then another dress of black cashmere; then half a dozen pairs of black hose; then an inner wooden box, which, being lifted out and opened, was found to contain two compartments. In one was a widow’s black crape bonnet, with long, heavy black crape veil; and in the other a widow’s cap of crêpe lisse, and another of fine, white organdie.
When all these were laid out on the table the two women stood on either side of it, looking at each other and at the articles before them.
“Well, I reckon I’d better put ’em all back again, and wait till I hear from the owner,” said Mrs. Anglesea.
“I reckon maybe you better read this letter first. I think it must have been flung out accidental when the paper was took off the top of the things in the box,” said Miss Sibby, as she stooped and picked up a white envelope from among the waste paper under the table, and which had just caught her eye.
“To be sure! This is directed to me, too, and in the handwriting of the ole ’oman, too. Now I wonder I didn’t see this before. I do reckon now she has sent these here things down to me to give to some one who is going in mourning.”