“I don’t think we should go out there today,” said Connie. Now that she had her cameo button she was ready to go home.
“Oh, it isn’t far,” insisted Veve. “We can walk fast. And just think! We might find dozens of buttons!”
Connie allowed herself to be coaxed into making the long hike.
After a while the girls came to the house which had been described to them by Mrs. Listerstrom. The dwelling stood some distance back from the highway and looked very old.
Withered vines covered a sagging porch. The house had not been painted in several years. To add to the untidy appearance, chickens and geese ran within the enclosure.
“I don’t like the look of this place,” murmured Connie, holding back.
“It may be a little old, but that’s so much the better,” argued Veve. “We’ll be more likely to find a lot of old clothes. And old clothes mean old buttons.”
Thus encouraged, Connie walked on with her friend to the side door of the dwelling. Someone was at home, they knew, for they could hear movement within the kitchen.
Veve rapped on the door. Soon it was opened by a thin woman in a dark plaid gingham dress.
The two girls were so astonished that for a long moment they could not speak.