great-great-aunts, but they seldom had any girlish sports together.
Goodwife Hopkins kept them too busily at work. Once in a while, as
a special treat, they were allowed to play bean-porridge-hot for
fifteen minutes. They were not allowed to talk after they went to
bed, and there was little opportunity for girlish confidences.

However, there came a day at last when Captain Hopkins and his
wife were called away to visit a sick neighbor, some twelve miles
distant, and the four girls were left in charge of the house. At
seven o'clock the two younger went to bed, and Letitia and her
great-great-grandmother remained up to wait for the return of their
elders, as they had been instructed. Then it was that the little
great-great-grandmother showed Letitia her treasures. She had only
two, and was not often allowed to look at them, lest they wean her
heart away from more serious things. They were kept in a secret
drawer of the great chest for safety, and were nothing but a little
silver snuff-box with a picture on the top, and a little flat glass
bottle, about an inch and a half long.

"The box belonged to my grandfather, and the bottle to his mother. I
have them because I am the eldest, but I must not set my heart on
them unduly," said Letitia's great-great-grandmother.

Letitia tried to count how many "greats" belonged to the ancestors
who had first owned these treasures, but it made her dizzy. She had
never told the story of the little green door to any of them. She had
been afraid to, knowing how shocked they would be at her
disobedience. Now, however, when the treasure was replaced, she was
moved in confidence, and told her great-great-grandmother the story.