ut it till it died down, and
then we went to bed.

"The next mornin' I was out in the yard weedin' out a bed o' clove
pinks, and Sam Amos come ridin' by on his big bay mare. I hollered to
him and asked him if he knew where the fire was the night before. And
says he, 'Yes, Aunt Jane; it was that old cabin on Harvey Andrews'
place.' He said that Amos Matthews happened to be goin' by at the time
and took down the fence-rails to keep it from spreadin', but that was
all he could do. Sam said Amos told him there was somethin' mysterious
about that fire. He said it must 'a' been started from the inside, for
the flames didn't burst through the windows and roof till after he got
there, and the whole inside was ablaze. But, when he tried to open the
door, it was locked fast and tight. He said Mary and her mother and
sister was all out in the yard, and Mary was standin' with her hands
folded in front of her, lookin' at the burnin' house jest as calm as
if it was her own fireplace. Amos asked her for the key to the cabin
door, and she went to the back porch and took one off a nail, but it
wouldn't fit the lock, and before she could get another to try, the
roof was on fire and cavin' in. Amos told Sam the cabin appeared to be
full of old plunder of all sorts, and you could smell burnt rags for a
mile around.

"Of course there was a good deal o' talk about the fire, and everybody
said how curious it was that it could catch on the inside when the
door was locked. I never said a word, not even to Abram, but I knew
well enough who set the old cabin afire, and why the key Mary gave
Amos wouldn't fit the lock. Harvey's clothes was packed away under the
old garret; the old cabin was burned, and the ashes and rubbish hauled
away, and there wasn't anything much left to remind Mary of the things
she was tryin' to forget. That's the best way to do. When a thing's
done and you can't undo it, there's no use in frettin' and worryin'
yourself. Jest put it out o' your mind, and go on your way and git
ready for the next trial that's comin' to you.

"But Mary never seemed like herself after Harvey died, until little
Harvey was taken with fever. That seemed to rouse her and bring her
senses back, and she nursed him night and day. The little thing went
down to the very gates of death, and everybody give up hope except
the old doctor. He'd fight death off as long as there was breath in
the body. The night the turnin' point was to come I set up with M