“Such ambition!” she marveled. “When you have finished, I want you to come inside and have some of the chocolate cake I baked this afternoon.”
After another fifteen minutes had elapsed, the girls decided they were doing entirely too much damage to the garden, and abandoned their project for the day. After such backbreaking work it was pleasant to sit in the comfortable living room, sipping hot chocolate and nibbling at Miss Swenster’s delicious cake.
“Nearly all the work is done now except that I must pack small articles in boxes,” their hostess told them. “The dishes must be sorted too.” She sighed. “It hurts to see everything go but I do hope the auction will be well attended.”
Madge and Cara eagerly offered to help with the packing, and after a polite protest, Miss Swenster agreed that they might. It was too late to work that afternoon but they promised to appear early Saturday morning.
The two intervening days passed slowly. At nine o’clock on the morning of the third, the girls presented themselves again at the mansion. They found Miss Swenster sorting out old photographs.
“It’s very trying to decide which ones I must throw away,” she told them. “I’d like to save them all but I can’t.”
The girls expressed interest in the photographs and Miss Swenster showed them the picture of her mother, and of Florence Swenster. In looking at the youthful, sweet faces of the two sisters, it was difficult for Madge and Cara to realize that they could ever have been jealous rivals. They rapidly ran through the other photos, laughing at ridiculous poses or dresses that were amazingly old fashioned.
After they had finished looking at pictures, they set to work packing dishes. It gave them a genuine thrill to handle the choice pieces of porcelain and china.
“I haven’t done anything to the study yet,” Miss Swenster told them a little later. “I must get at that room as soon as we finish the dishes.”
Presently she went upstairs on an errand. Before she returned, the girls packed the last dish. The study door was open and after waiting a few minutes they decided to see what must be done there.