to take him, an' they h'isted him onto the bed. Cyrus harnessed up our
horse an' went after Dr. Parks, an' by the time he come, we'd got the
room so's to look decent. An'--if you'll b'lieve it! Lyddy Ann was in
the bedroom tryin' to warm Josh up an' make him take some hot drink;
but when I begun to sweep up, an' swop towards that gravel-pile in the
middle o' the floor, she come hurryin' up, all out o' breath. She
ketched the broom right out o' my hand.

"I'll sweep, byme-by,' says she. 'Don't you touch that gravel, none on
ye!' An' so the gravel laid there, an' we walked round it, watchers an'
all.

"She wouldn't have no watcher in his bedroom, though; she was
determined to do everything but turn him an' lift him herself, but
there was al'ays one or two settin' round to keep the fires goin' an'
make sure there was enough cooked up. I swan, I never see a woman so
happy round a bed o' sickness as Lyddy Ann was! She never made no fuss
when Josh was awake, but if he shet his eyes, she'd kind o' hang over
the bed an' smooth the clo'es as if they was kittens, an' once I
ketched her huggin' up the sleeve of his old barn coat that hung
outside the door. If ever a woman made a fool of herself over a man
that wa'n't wuth it, 'twas Lyddy Ann Marden!

"Well, Josh he hung on for a good while, an' we couldn't make out
whether he had his senses or not. He kep' his eyes shet most o' the
time; but when Lyddy Ann's back was turned, he seemed to know it
somehow, an' he'd open 'em an' foller her all round the room. But he
never spoke. I asked the doctor about it.

"'Can't he speak, doctor?' says I. 'He can move that hand a leetle