Many were the surmises of my grandmother, on the morning of the sale, as to what "Cap'n Howard could be going to buy at the _vandue_ and put in the big lumber wagon," which he drove past our house.
As the day drew to a close I was posted at the window to telegraph as soon as "Cap'n Howard's" white horses appeared over the hill.

They came at last, but the long box in his wagon told no secret.

Father, however, explained all, by saying that he had bid off Mr.Talbott's old piano for seventy dollars! Grandma shook her head mournfully at the degeneracy of the age, while sister Anna spoke sneeringly of Mr.
Talbott's cracked piano.

Next day, arrayed in my Sunday red merino and white apron--a present from some cousin out West--I went to see Carrie; and truly, the music she drew from that old piano charmed me more than the finest performances since have done.

Carrie and her piano were now the theme of every tongue, and many wondered how Captain Howard could afford to pay for three years' music lessons; but this was a mystery yet to be solved..