That 's it . '' The red house was about a quarter of a mile from the station , and we saw it plainly . Accordingly , to the red house we betook ourselves . On nearer view it proved to be a trim , handsome place , with nice grounds and very fine old trees . We found the key under the kitchen doorstep and went in . The fire was black out , and somehow things wore a more cheerless look than I had expected to find . I may as well admit that we marched into the dining room first of all , to find our presents . There were three parcels , two very small and one pretty big , lying on the table , but when we came to look for names there were none . `` Evidently Aunt Jean , in her hurry and excitement , forgot to label them , '' said Elizabeth . `` Let us open them . We may be able to guess from the contents which belongs to whom . '' I must say we were surprised when we opened those parcels . `` We had known that Aunt Jean 's gifts would be nice , but we had not expected anything like this . There was a magnificent stone marten collar , a dear little gold watch and pearl chatelaine , and a gold chain bracelet set with turquoises . `` The collar must be for you , Elizabeth , because Mary and I have one already , and Aunt Jean knows it , '' said Alberta ; `` the watch must be for you , Mary , because I have one ; and by the process of exhaustion the bracelet must be for me . Well , they are all perfectly sweet . '' Elizabeth put on her collar and paraded in front of the sideboard mirror . It was so dusty she had to take her handkerchief and wipe it before she could see herself properly . Everything in the room was equally dusty . As for the lace curtains , they looked as if they had n't been washed for years , and one of them had a long ragged hole in it .
I could n't help feeling secretly surprised , XXXXX Aunt Jean had the reputation of being a perfect housekeeper .
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