He rode away laughing as he reflected on
what share of Pole's debt he was to devour.
CHAPTER XXXI
The bustle and folly of a rummage-sale was once in every two or three
years a frolic altogether pleasant to quiet Westways. It enabled Ann
Penhallow and other wise women to get rid of worn-out garments and other
trash dear to the male mind. When Leila complained of the disturbing
antecedents of a rummage-sale, Mrs. Crocker, contributive of unasked
wisdom, remarked, "Men have habits, and women don't; women have blind
instincts. You'll find that out when you're married. You see marriage is
a kind of voyage of discovery. You just remember that and begin early to
keep your young man from storing away useless clothes and the like.
That's where a rummage-sale comes in handy."
Leila laughed. "Why not sell the unsatisfactory young man, Mrs. Crocker?"
"Well, that ain't a bad idea," said the post-mistress slyly, "if he's a
damaged article--a rummage-sale of husbands not up to sample."
"A very useful idea," said the young woman. "Good-bye."
In the afternoon a day later, Leila, making her escape from her aunt's
busy collections, slipped away into the woods alone. The solitude of the
early woodland days of summer were what she needed, and the chance they
gave for such tranquil reflection as the disturbance and restless state
of her home just now made it rarely possible to secure.
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