“All right, Nell, we want to have lots of fun to-day. I’m crazy to show you some of the things I’ve peeped at, and I hated to get out too much, too, without somebody after me. But we’ll have no interruptions this afternoon, with everybody away that would bother us, though Cousin Di, Andy and Uncle Pieter won’t leave the house till a short time before supper. Will you mind if I get supper for us? Daphne will have everything ready.”
“It will be fun, Jannet. I’ll help you. You didn’t know that I’m a very fine cook, did you? Honestly, Jannet, I’m learning to do some things very well, Mother says.”
But while the merry tongues ran on, it was more interesting to get to business. Jannet pointed out some of the trunks and told what she had seen by peeping into them. Her grandmother’s trunk was “sweet,” she said; but she had felt almost as if she were opening a grave to disturb the things folded away so carefully after her grandmother’s passing. It was different with her mother’s, she felt, and a big trunk, old, but in good condition was full of old silk dresses and costumes that Jannet had only had time to discover, much less examine. “I’m a gregarious being, Nell, after being with such a lot of girls most of my life, and it wasn’t enough fun to get these things out by myself.”
Jannet opened the window and propped it as before. Fresh, misty air came in to sweeten the close attic atmosphere. There was only a gentle patter of drops upon the roof so close to their heads and Nell said that it was an ideal day for old attics. Jannet disclosed her plan, which was to see everything first that looked interesting and then after dinner to dress up in old costumes and explore the rest of the attic, unless Nell would rather not do that.
The big trunk came first in order. Jannet, with her big bunch of keys found the right one and opened it. She spread some papers, which she had brought with her, over the bulging top of the little bed and its bundles and upon the top of the large chest. Paulina’s housekeeping was not to be criticised, but attics were very likely to gather dust. Then she began to take out the neatly folded garments, some to be looked at and laid aside on the papers, others to be exclaimed over. “O Jannet!” Nell exclaimed. “If your uncle gives these things to you, I’d fix some of them up and wear them, though it would be a pity to change them!”
But Jannet shook her head. “Uncle has a daughter, though I suppose that I have as much right to these things as any one. I may have some of mother’s dresses fixed for myself, because I’d love to wear them, but these ought to stay as they are. I wonder if we can’t have a real costume party some day, Nell,—look here!”
Jannet held up and shook out a gay silk costume, with skirt, blouse, sheer and thin, and a laced velvet bodice. That was not very old, the girls thought. Perhaps Jannet’s mother had worn that some time. There was a funny clown’s costume and a velvet colonial suit in gray and blue, with silk hose and buckled shoes and a three-cornered hat. Jannet said that it was almost the prettiest thing there.
A gypsy outfit included a tambourine and when Jannet danced around over the attic floor with it, she stopped the performance to see Cousin Di standing in the attic door and laughing at her. The light clapping of Cousin Diana’s hands was the only announcement of her presence.
“O Cousin Di, come in!” called Jannet, running to that lady and drawing her within. “Can we have a party and dress up some time?”
“You can and you may,” promptly answered Cousin Diana, interested. She remained long enough to see some of the main treasures, telling the girls that they had found some excellent relics of a day gone by. While some of the costumes had been made for special occasions, most of the trunk’s contents were dresses of former days actually worn by the women of the family. Gayly figured lawns and chintzes, light or heavy silks with queer waists and sleeves and tight-fitting linings, trailed long lengths and voluminous skirts about the delighted girls. A square pasteboard box was found to contain a host of beads and other decorations used with the fancy costumes.