The House on Peri Lane

"These look like bills of sale for stuff." She removed them very carefully and laid them out on top of the table. "This isn’t a table. It’s a writing desk. Should be a chair here some place that goes with it."

"How do you know?" Page asked.

"Because I have the receipt right here for it, dated March, eighteen thirty-five." Says Walnut Writing Desk and Chair." Babs replied. "Even got the name of the buyer, Evan Eaton."

"Now we know who owned the place in eighteen thirty-five," Page concluded.

"Enough abut this. There are receipts in here for Horses, Carriages, Cookware, Fire Irons for the fire place, Construction costs. Everything about the place. All filed real neat in these drawers. Got the whole financial history of the place right here."

Page Turned back a dust cover and gasped. Babs give up her fascination with the filing system and turned to see what Page had found to excite her so.

"What have you found?" Babs asked, crossing the room to where page stood, rooted to the floor like she had grown there.

"I - I don’t know. It looks kind of like a Piano only it’s to small," Page exclaimed.

"Hmm. Let me see. I believe they called them a Harpsichord. I think they were before the Piano." Babs walked around the instrument, lifted a cover and peered inside. "Yes, I’m sure that’s what it is."

The girls went around the room removing dust covers from various furnishing. There were side boards, chairs, and two Set-T’s arranged in front of the fire place with side tables of oak. On one of the side tables were several decanters containing an amber colored liquid. Babs removed the cover from one and sniffed.

"Pew!" She commented, replacing the cover. "I think at one time it was some form of liquor."

"Shall we cover everything up and go to the next room?" Page asked. The girls diligently replaced the dust covers, leaving everything as they had found it and proceeded to the next room.

"Oh my?" Babs exclaimed. "It’s a library with tables and couches for sitting and reading."

"Look at all the books! All bound in leather and lettered in gold. I bet they cost a pretty penny to put up like that," Page commented. She was no slouch when it came to spotting wealth. She could look at something and give a pretty fair estimate of its selling price and the books on these shelves were custom made by a fine book binder. She ran her finger along the row of books, reading the titles. They were some of the finest works form the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. She estimated the volumes would run in value from several hundred to several thousand dollars.

"You know, this place wouldn’t be a bad investment for a young lady looking for a start in life that didn’t involve selling groceries," Page commented, mentally cataloguing the wealth of the books. "Some of these are quite rare. Mom collects old books and would give a fortune for some of these, and all that furniture in the sitting room. It has to be worth a small fortune. That clock would probably pay for my MG."

"Are you talking about me? In the first place, I kind of like selling groceries. In the second place I couldn’t touch this place with a ten foot pole." Babs retorted.

"You may be surprised. Abandoned property, taken over by the county. They may let it go pretty reasonable." Page knew something of finance. With a Doctor and a Lawyer for parents, she couldn’t help but learn a little. Her father was always buying and selling properties. Sometimes he made money, sometimes he lost money. She could see the mistakes he made and was sure, had the opportunity, she wouldn’t make the same ones.