dily as
possible, to ascertain the cause of these unusual events.

"Henry," she cried, as she entered the room, "what are you about there?"

"Sawing wood, my dear," he replied, as he looked up panting from his
labours.

"But how in the world did you come by that saw, and this famous piece of
wood?"

"I remembered," answered Henry, "having seen in the loft above us, soon
after we came here, in one of my voyages of discovery, a saw and a
hatchet, belonging, I suppose, to some previous tenant of our apartment,
or perhaps to our old landlord. So much for these brave tools. As to
this noble piece of wood, it was till this morning the banister to our
staircase. Observe what solid, substantial men our ancestors were! What
a broad, magnificent piece of oak! This will make a quite different sort
of fire from your deal shavings and slips of fir."

"But," cried Clara, "the damage to the house!"

"No one comes to see us," said Henry. "We know these steps, and indeed
seldom or never go down them. The old Christina is the only person who
will miss it, and I will say to her very gravely--Look you, old lady, do
you think that a noble oak of the forest is to be hewn down, and then
planed and polished by carpenters and joiners, merely that you may come
up and down these steps a little more easily? No, no, such a magnificent
banister is a most palpable superfluity."

"Since it is done," said Clara, "I will at least take my share in this
new species of woodcraft."

So they laid the beam, which filled the apartment, on two chairs, and
first they sawed with united efforts at the middle to make it the more
manageable. It was hard work, for the oak was tough, and the saw was
old, and the workmen were more willing than skilful; but at length it
came in two with a crash.

"Well," said Clara, as she looked up, and threw her ringlets aside, her
face glowing with the unwonted exercise, "this work has one advantage at
least; we want no fire this morning to warm us."

After sawing off several square blocks, Henry set to work with his
hatchet to cleave them into pieces fit for the stove. It was fortunate
that, during this operation, which made the walls of their little
dwelling re-echo, their landlord was absent. Nor were the neighbours
likely to be much surprised at the noise, as many handicraftsmen
inhabited that locality.

On this eventful day breakfast had been forgotten; dinner and breakfast
were consolidated into one meal. This bei