The Cupboard

It's a board carved wooden cupboard; the ancient dark-coloured oak has taken on that pleasant air that old people have; the cupboard is open, and gives off from its kindly shadows inviting aromas like a breath of old wine; full to overflowing, it's a jumble of quaint old things: fragrant yellowed linen, rags of women's or children's clothes, faded laces, grandmothers' kerchiefs embroidered with griffins; - here you could find lockets, and locks of white or blonde hair, portraits and dried flowers whose smell mingles with the smell of fruit. - O cupboard of old times, you know plenty of stories; and you'd like to tell them; and you clear your throat every time your great dark doors slowly open.