snow which was melting on them. But Peter was attending to that. He was wiping them carefully with his red handkerchief, and Josephine lifted first one, then the other, in silent obedience to his touch. But her interest was wholly in the trunk, which had now been deposited in the vestibule, and from which Lafayette was carefully removing all particles of snow before he carried it up over the carpeted stair.
Mr. Smith limped to the library door and looked out. He had meant to send word that the trunk should be retained at the railway station for the present, or until he should find out to whom Josephine had really been "consigned," and asked, in vexation:
"Come already, has it? Humph! If it had been something I wanted in a hurry, they'd have taken their own time about delivering it. Said they couldn't handle goods in a storm, and such nonsense. I don't see, Peter, as it need be taken upstairs. Have it put in the storeroom, where it will be handier to get at when she leaves."
