Jims never asked questions but he was a wide-awake chap , and , taking one thing with another , he found out a good deal about the occupants of the old stone house . Miss Avery never went anywhere and no one ever went there . She lived all alone with two old servants , man and maid . Except these two and Jims nobody had ever seen her for twenty years . Jims did n't know why , but he thought it must be because of the scar on her face . He never referred to it , but one day Miss Avery told him what caused it . `` I dropped a lamp and my dress caught fire and burned my face , Jims . It made me hideous . I was beautiful before that -- very beautiful . Everybody said so . Come in and I will show you my picture . '' She took him into her big parlor and showed him the picture hanging on the wall between the two high windows . It was of a young girl in white . She certainly was very lovely , with her rose-leaf skin and laughing eyes . Jims looked at the pictured face gravely , with his hands in his pockets and his head on one side . Then he looked at Miss Avery . `` You were prettier then -- yes , '' he said , judicially , `` but I like your face ever so much better now . '' `` Oh , Jims , you ca n't , '' she protested . `` Yes , I do , '' persisted Jims . `` You look kinder and -- nicer now . ''
It was the nearest XXXXX could get to expressing what he felt as he looked at the picture .
Avery Jims deal fire girl one questions rose-leaf wall years