Tomorrow morning I will begin with the garret , nor desist till I have torn the house down . '' Deep in the chimney-corner , like a witch in a dark cavern , sat a little old woman mending one of the two pairs of stockings wherewith Peter Goldthwaite kept his toes from being frost-bitten . As the feet were ragged past all darning , she had cut pieces out of a cast-off flannel petticoat to make new soles . Tabitha Porter was an old maid upward of sixty years of age , fifty-five of which she had sat in that same chimney-corner , such being the length of time since Peter 's grandfather had taken her from the almshouse . She had no friend but Peter , nor Peter any friend but Tabitha ; so long as Peter might have a shelter for his own head , Tabitha would know where to shelter hers , or , being homeless elsewhere , she would take her master by the hand and bring him to her native home , the almshouse . Should it ever be necessary , she loved him well enough to feed him with her last morsel and clothe him with her under-petticoat . But Tabitha was a queer old woman , and , though never infected with Peter 's flightiness , had become so accustomed to his freaks and follies that she viewed them all as matters of course . Hearing him threaten to tear the house down , she looked quietly up from her work . `` Best leave the kitchen till the last , Mr. Peter , '' said she . `` The sooner we have it all down , the better , '' said Peter Goldthwaite . `` I am tired to death of living in this cold , dark , windy , smoky , creaking , groaning , dismal old house . I shall feel like a younger man when we get into my splendid brick mansion , as , please Heaven , we shall by this time next autumn . You shall have a room on the sunny side , old Tabby , finished and furnished as best may suit your own notions . '' `` I should like it pretty much such a room as this kitchen , '' answered Tabitha . `` It will never be like home to me till the chimney-corner gets as black with smoke as this , and that wo n't be these hundred years . How much do you mean to lay out on the house , Mr. Peter ? '' `` What is that to the purpose ? '' exclaimed Peter , loftily . `` Did not my great-grand-uncle , Peter Goldthwaite , who died seventy years ago , and whose namesake I am , leave treasure enough to build twenty such ? '' `` I ca n't say but he did , Mr. Peter , '' said Tabitha , threading her needle .
Tabitha well understood that Peter had reference to an immense hoard of the precious metals which was said to exist somewhere XXXXX the cellar or walls , or under the floors , or in some concealed closet or other out-of-the-way nook of the old house .
As by from in into on that though till with