One or two others, who began to believe that a rare article was about to slip from their possible grasp, now started in to bid, and in a few moments the price had bounded up to five dollars. The original cost of the set had been three. Then it went gayly skyward by leaps and bounds until in a reckless instant Miss Pike capped the climax with ten.
“Well if she wants to be such a fool she may,” exclaimed Madam Carruth. “I could buy four sets for that money and sometimes even sentiment comes too high. I’d save ’em for your mother if I could, but sound sense tells me she can make better use of a ten-dollar bill than of a half-dozen pieces of old ironmongery. That Pike woman always was a fool.”
“Gone for ten dollars!” cried the auctioneer at that instant. Miss Pike’s face was radiant. She was about to turn away when Jean made her way through the crowd to her side crying:
“Did you really get them, Miss Pike? mother’ll be so glad. When we were talking about selling these things she almost cried when she spoke about the garden tools and the lamp——”
“What lamp, child? Oh these heartrending changes! Tell me what the lamp is like. If it can be saved I’ll save it for her. I can’t understand why your sisters permitted the objects, around which the tendrils of your mother’s heart were so entwined, to be put up for sale. To me it seems a positive sacrilege.”
“But mother made them do it. She wouldn’t let——and, oh, there’s the lamp now. That one with the bronze bird on it, see?”
“Oh, the tender memories that must cluster about it. I will hold them sacred for her. They shall not be desecrated. Stand beside me, child. I shall bid that in for your dear mother.”
Again the lively contest for possession was on, although the sums named did not mount by such startling bounds as in the case of the garden tools. Still, more than four dollars had been offered before Miss Pike, in flattering imitation of a large New York department store, offered $4.99, and became the triumphant owner of it. Miss Pike had a small income, but was by no means given to flinging her dollars to the winds. So it was not surprising that many who knew her marveled at the sums she was spending for her two purchases. Having paid her bill she promptly took possession of her lamp and her case of garden tools and stalked off through the throng of people in quest of Constance whom she found talking to a group of schoolmates near the ruins of the old home.
“Congratulate me! Congratulate me! I’ve saved the treasures from the vandals! I’ve rescued them from sacrilegious hands. Behold! Take them to your mother with my dearest love. I had a struggle to get them, for some woman was determined to secure that garden set But I came off victorious. I had to do battle royal, but I conquered. Now, my dear, when you go home take them with you. They did come rather high; I had to pay ten dollars for the garden set, but I got the lamp for less than five!—four ninety-nine. But you need not pay me until it is perfectly convenient. Don’t let it worry you for a moment. I am repaid for the time being in the thought that I secured them for your mother. I knew she would rather pay twice the sum than see them fall into the hands of utter strangers. Good-bye, my dear, I must hurry home, for I have been absent too long already.”
As Miss Pike departed, Constance dropped upon the carriage step, which, being of stone, had survived flame and flood. Upon the ground before her lay their own garden set, and stood their own lamp for which her mother would have to return to Jerusha Pike, fourteen dollars and ninety-nine cents owing to that lady’s unbridled zeal. She looked at them a moment, then glancing up at her friends whose faces were studies, the absurdity of the situation overcame her and them also, and peals of laughter echoed upon the wintry air.