ourse the talk spread all over the
neighborhood, and every week there'd be some new happening till folks
begun to say the place was ha'nted and nobody liked to pass it after
dark.

"Well, one day about the last day of August Abram went to town on some
business or other, and I went with him. I ricollect the drouth had
broke, and the grass and flowers and trees buddin' out made it look
jest like spring. Well, we went joggin' along the pike, laughin' and
talkin', and as we passed Miles Crawford's place we saw Miles come out
on the front porch and look up and down the road. When he saw us, he
come runnin' down the path and motioned to us to stop, and when he got
within speakin' distance he called out, 'If you're goin' to town, stop
by Dr. Pendleton's and tell him to come out here as quick as he can,
for Hannah's lost her senses.' Says he, 'She's been at the bottom of
all the devilment that's been done on the farm for the last month, and
this mornin',' says he, 'I set a watch and caught her at it, and she's
crazy as a loon.' With that I jumped out o' the buggy, and says I,
'Drive on, Abram, I'm goin' to stay with Hannah till the doctor
comes.' So Abram drove off, and I went on to the house with Miles. He
was mighty excited and put out, and kept talkin' about the trouble
he'd had and blamin' Hannah for it. And Hannah was rockin' herself
back and forth, laughin' and cryin' and sayin', 'An eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth.' I saw in a minute she was in a mighty bad fix,
and I was jest wonderin' what on earth I would do till the doctor got
there, and I put up a prayer that Abram wouldn't be long findin' him;
but that very minute I heard the sound of two buggies on the pike.
Abram had met the doctor comin' out to Goshen, and turned around and
come back with him, and the minute I saw the doctor's old
broad-brimmed hat, I says to myself, 'It's all right now.' I don't
reckon there ever was a man that understood women like the old doctor
did, and him an old bachelor at that. I used to think it was a pity he
hadn't married; he'd 'a' made such a good, kind husband. But then,
bein' the man he was, he couldn't marry."

There was both paradox and enigma in this statement, and I asked for
an explanation.

"Now, child," said Aunt Jane, "you're throwin' me clear off the track.
For pity's sake let me get through with one story before you start me
on another. As I was sayin', the old doctor come; but with Miles
ragin' around and thre