"
Ann said no more, but the indignant sparkle did not fade out of her
eyes at all. She watched her opportunity, and took down Mr. Wales's
old blue jacket from its peg behind the shed door, ran with it
upstairs, and hid it in her own room behind the bed. "There," said
she, "Mrs. Wales sha'n't cry over that!"
That night, at tea time, the work of taking the inventory was
complete. Mr. Whitcomb and Mr. White walked away with their long
lists, satisfied that they had done their duty according to the law.
Every article of Samuel Wales's property, from a warming-pan to a
chest of drawers, was set down, with the sole exception of that old
blue jacket, which Ann had hidden.
She felt complacent over it at first; then she began to be uneasy.
"Nabby," said she confidentially to the old servant woman, when they
were washing the pewter plates together after supper, "what would they
do if anybody shouldn't let them set down all the things--if they hid
some of 'em away, I mean?"
"They'd make a dretful time on't," said Nabby impressively. She was
a large, stern-looking old woman. "They air dretful perticklar 'bout
these things. They hev to be."
Ann was scared when she heard that. When the dishes were done, she sat
down on the settle and thought it over, and made up her mind what to
do.
The next morning, in the frosty dawning, before the rest of the family
were up, a slim, erect little figure could have been seen speeding
across lots toward Mr.
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