She thought her Pa wuz dead.

It seemed that he had cut his head dretfully with a tree branch a-fallin’ onto it, and had jest made out to git to the house before he fainted; and his little girl, havin’ never seen a faint, thought it wuz death; and it is its first cousin.

Wall, here wuz a place for Arvilly’s patience, and pluck, and faculty, to soar round in.

The first thing, she took up the little lame girl in her arms—­a sweet little creeter of five summers—­and sot her in a chair, and comforted her by tellin’ her that her Pa would be all right in a few minutes.

And she then, (and I don’t spoze that she had ever been nigher to a good-lookin’ man than from three to five feet,) but she had to lift up his head and wash the blood from the clusterin’ brown hair, with some threads of silver in it, and tear her own handkerchief into strips to bind up his wounds; and she had some court-plaster with her and other neccessaries, and some good intment, and she is handy at everything, Arvilly is.

Wall, by the time that a pair of good-lookin’ blue eyes opened agin on this world, Arvilly had got the pretty little girl all washed and comforted, and a piller under his head; and the minute his blue eyes opened a spark flew out of ’em right from that piller that kindled up a simultanous one in the cool gray orbs of Arvilly.

Wall, although he had his senses, he couldn’t move or be moved for a day and a half.  He didn’t want nobody sent for, and Arvilly dassent leave ’em alone to go; so as a Christian she had to take holt and take care on ’em.

Wall, Arvilly always wuz, and always will be, I spoze, as good a housekeeper and cook as ever wuz made.

So I spoze it wuz a sight to see how quick she got that disordered settin’-room to lookin’ cozy and home-like, and a good supper on a table drawed up to the side of the little lame girl.

And I spoze that it wuz one of the strangest experiences that ever took place on this planet, and I d’no as they ever had any stranger ones in Mars or Jupiter.  Arvilly had to kinder feed the invalid man, Cephus Shute by name—­had to kinder kneel down by him and hold the plate and teacup, and help him to eat.

And, strange to say, Arvilly wuzn’t skairt a mite—­she ruther enjoyed it of the two; for before two days wuz over she owned up that if there wuz any extra good bits she’d ruther he’d have ’em than to have ’em herself.

[Illustration:  And, strange to say, Arvilly wuzn’t skairt a mite—­she ruther enjoyed it.]

The world is full of miracles; Sauls breathin’ out vengeance are dropped down senseless by the power of Heaven.

Pilgrim Arvilly’s displayin’ abroad the “Wild, Wicked, and Warlike Deeds of Man” are struck down helpless and mute by the power of Love.

In less than three days she had promised to marry Cephus in the Fall.

He had a good little property—­his wife had been dead two years.  His hired girl—­a shiftless creeter—­had flown the day Arvilly got there, and nothin’ stood in the way of marriage and happiness.