ith 'em. They was twenty,--when I come to count 'em so's
to keep track,--twenty little girls with short, thick hair, or soft,
short curls, an' every one with something baby-like left to 'em. An'
when we set on the floor round the stove, the coals shone through the
big open draft into their faces, an' they looked over their shoulders to
the dark creepin' up the room, an' they come closer 'round me--an' the
closest-up ones _snuggled_.

"Well, o' course that was at first, when they was some dazed. But as
fast as their blue little hands was warm an' pink again, one or two of
'em begun to whimper, natural an' human, an' up with their arm to their
face, an' then begun to cry right out, an' some more joined in, an' the
rest pipes up, askin' for Mr. Middie. An' I thought, 'Sp'osin' they
_all_ cried an' what if Abel Halsey stayed away hours.' I donno. I done
my best too. Mebbe it's because I'm use' to children with my heart an'
not with my ways. Anyhow, most of 'em was cryin' prime when Abel finally
got there.

"When he come in, I see Abel's face was white an' dusty, an' he had his
other coat off an' gone too, an' his shirt-sleeves was some tore. But he
comes runnin' up to them cryin' children an' I wish't you could 'a' seen
his smile--Abel's smile was always kind o' like his soul growin' out of
his face, rill thrifty.

"'Why, you little kiddies!' s'e, 'cryin' when you're all nice an' warm!
Le's see now,' he says grave. 'Anybody here know how to play
Drop-the-handkerchief? If you do,' he tells 'em, 'stand up _quick_!'

"They scrambled 'round like they was beetles an' you'd took up the
stone. They was all up in a minute, an' stopped cryin', too. With that
he catches my handkerchief out o' my hand an' flutters it over his head
an' runs to the middle o' the room.

"'Come on!' he says. 'Hold o' hands--every one o' you hold o' hands. I'm
goin' to drop the handkerchief, an' you'd better hurry up.'

"That was talk they knew. They was after him in a secunt an' tears
forgot,--them poor little things,--laughin' an' hold o' hands, an'
dancin' in a chain, an' standin' in a ring. An' when he hed 'em like
that, an' still, Abel begun runnin' 'round to drop the handkerchief; an'
then he turns to me.

"'Only two killed, thank God,' he says as he run; 'the conductor an'
M-i-d-d-l-e-t-o-n,' he spells it, an' motions to the children with the
handkerchief so's I'd know who Middleton was. 'An' not a scrap o' paper
on him,' he goes on, 'to tel