CHAPTER VI. 

 THE TWIN ISLANDS. 



Passixg by my neiglibor's house, on my way to the 

 creek, I was somewhat startled by seeing a chah* come 

 tumMing from the attic window. So odd an occurrence 

 drew my steps in that direction. The inmates of this 

 old mansion, I learned, were " cleaning house," as they 

 called it, and to make room for some " old " things — I 

 use their word — were pitching out of the lumber-room 

 some that were still older. 



Luckily I was there in time to stop the folly. The 

 discarded chair, I grant, was not worth much, and could 

 not, in safety, have supported more than a living skele- 

 ton ; but it was of a curious ]3attern, and boasted of ar- 

 tistic carving. The bushes below had saved it from 

 utter destruction, and the carved back and clawed feet 

 will some day be utilized in a wonderful wooden mantle 

 I have long had in contemplation. 



I begged the privilege of a look in that old garret be- 

 fore further proceedings were undertaken by the clean- 

 ers, which was readily granted. 



" He wants to ransack the garret and look at the trash 

 up there," explained the daughter of the house to her 

 mother. 



"And he'll get stung by the wasps for his trouble; 

 7^ 



