I've got an attic full of 'em at home in the country—send 'em down there so my wife won't laugh at me.
However, up to this day, I don't think I've ever been as foolish about bidding things in as Mrs. Gerrold, who got a doorplate with the name Thompson on it, and when I asked what use it could be to her, calmly replied:
"Life is very uncertain. Who knows, Gerrold might be taken away and I might marry some man named Thompson, and this would come in very handy."
But I have purchased a white elephant.
You shall hear.
While prowling around in the auction room I ran across a little antique chest.
It struck my eye as the very thing to keep my papers in, and I thought I might squander a dollar or so for it when the time came to bid.
When I turned back the lid I found the box half-filled with packages of papers, some of which looked like deeds.
Of course I was foolish to think of treasure-trove, for who could say what valuable document a fellow might not unearth among these bundles!