who was supposed to know more than she was willing
to tell. The dressmaker denied all responsibility for
the story, but admitted that she had once seen them
on the beach "settin' as close together as they could
git, with the red cloak she had made for Miss Jane
wound about 'em.

"'Twarn't none o' my business, and I told Martha
so, and 'tain't none o' my business now, but I'd
rather die than tell a lie or scandalize anybody, and
so if ye ask me if I saw 'em I'll have to tell ye I did.
I don't believe, howsomever, that Miss Jane went
away to oblige that good-for-nothin' or that she's ever
laid eyes on him since. Lucy is what took her. She's
one o' them flyaways. I see that when she was
home, and there warn't no peace up to the Cobdens'
house till they'd taken her somewheres where she
could git all the runnin' round she wanted. As for
the baby, there ain't nobody knows where Miss Jane
picked that up, but there ain't no doubt but what
she loves it same's if it was her own child. She's
named it Archie, after her grandfather, anyhow.
That's what Martha and she calls it. So they're not
ashamed of it."

When the fire had spent itself, only one spot remained
unscorched: this was the parentage of little
Archie. That mystery still remained unsolved.
Those of her own class who knew Jane intimately
admired her kindness of heart and respected her