This she put aside with a slight smile and the murmured word, "Foolishness." But when she had unlocked the bag, even its sacred interior was also profaned by a covert parcel from the adjacent postmaster at Burnt Ridge, containing a gold "specimen" brooch and some circus tickets.

It was laid aside with the other.

This also was vanity and--presumably--vexation of spirit.
There were seventeen letters in all, of which five were for herself--and yet the proportion was small that morning.

Two of them were marked "Official Business" and were promptly put by with feminine discernment; but in another compartment than that holding the presents.

Then the shutter was opened, and the task of delivery commenced.
It was accompanied with a social peculiarity that had in time become a habit of Laurel Run.