Denton was seated before an old bureau that had long
stood locked in a corner of the library. The drawers were open and books
and papers were scattered about.
Joan told her plans. "You'll be able to get along without me for a
little while?" she asked doubtfully.
Mrs. Denton laughed. "I haven't much more to do," she answered. "Just
tidying up, as you see; and two or three half-finished things I shall try
to complete. After that, I'll perhaps take a rest."
She took from among the litter a faded photograph and handed it to Joan.
"Odd," she said. "I've just turned it out."
It represented a long, thin line of eminently respectable ladies and
gentlemen in early Victorian costume. The men in peg-top trousers and
silk stocks, the women in crinolines and poke bonnets. Among them,
holding the hand of a benevolent-looking, stoutish gentleman, was a mere
girl. The terminating frills of a white unmentionable garment showed
beneath her skirts. She wore a porkpie hat with a feather in it.
"My first public appearance," explained Mrs. Denton. "I teased my father
into taking me with him.
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