You can see the ventilator on our barn from your place , ca n't you ? You 'd be able to make out a flag or something tied to it , would n't you , through that spy-glass of yours ? '' Stephen thought he could . `` Well , you take a squint at it every now and then , '' I said . `` Just as soon as Emmeline leaves Prissy alone I 'll hoist the signal . '' The chance did n't come for a whole fortnight . Then , one evening , I saw Emmeline striding over the field below our house . As soon as she was out of sight I ran through the birch grove to Prissy . `` Yes , Em ` line 's gone to sit up with Jane Lawson to-night , '' said Prissy , all fluttered and trembling . `` Then you put on your muslin dress and fix your hair , '' I said . `` I 'm going home to get Thomas to tie something to that ventilator . '' But do you think Thomas would do it ? Not he . He said he owed something to his position as elder in the church . In the end I had to do it myself , though I do n't like climbing ladders . I tied Thomas ' long red woollen scarf to the ventilator , and prayed that Stephen would see it . He did , for in less than an hour he drove down our lane and put his horse in our barn . He was all spruced up , and as nervous and excited as a schoolboy . He went right over to Prissy , and I began to tuft my new comfort with a clear conscience . I shall never know why it suddenly came into my head to go up to the garret and make sure that the moths had n't got into my box of blankets ; but I always believed that it was a special interposition of Providence .
I went up and happened to look out of the east window ; and there I saw XXXXX Strong coming home across our pond field .
Emmeline Providence Thomas evening fortnight garret hour ladders muslin woollen