She was a good woman, and one that couldn't do things enough for
other folks. It seemed as if that was what she lived on. I don't
think she was ever so scared by that poor little ghost, as much as
she pitied it, and she was 'most heartbroken because she couldn't
do anything for it, as she could have done for a live child.
"'It seems to me sometimes as if I should die if I can't get that
awful little white robe off that child and get her in some clothes
and feed her and stop her looking for her mother,' I heard her say
once, and she was in earnest. She cried when she said it. That
wasn't long before she died.
"Now I am coming to the strangest part of it all. Mrs. Bird died
very sudden. One morning--it was Saturday, and there wasn't any
school--I went downstairs to breakfast, and Mrs. Bird wasn't there;
there was nobody but Mrs. Dennison. She was pouring out the coffee
when I came in. 'Why, where's Mrs. Bird?' says I.
"'Abby ain't feeling very well this morning,' says she; 'there
isn't much the matter, I guess, but she didn't sleep very well, and
her head aches, and she's sort of chilly, and I told her I thought
she'd better stay in bed till the house gets warm.
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