`` Besides , what was the need ? I could go down as well as you . '' `` No doubt , '' I said , more sharply than I had any business to . `` I do n't dream of disputing your ability to do anything you may take it into your head to do . Most young ladies are not in the habit of going down wells , however . '' `` Perhaps not , '' she rejoined , with freezing calmness . `` But , as you may have discovered , I am not ` most young ladies . ' I am myself , Augusta Ashley , and accountable to nobody but myself if I choose to go down the well every day for pure love of it . '' She walked off in her wet dress with her muddy cat . Gussie Ashley was the only girl I ever saw who could be dignified under such circumstances . I was in a very bad humour with myself as I went off to see about having the well cleaned out . I had offended Gussie and I knew she would not be easily appeased . Nor was she . For a week she kept me politely , studiously , at a distance , in spite of my most humble advances . Rev. Carroll was a frequent caller , ostensibly to make arrangements about a Sunday school they were organizing in a poor part of the community . Gussie and he held long conversations on this enthralling subject . Then Gussie went on another visit to her friend , and when she came back so did Rev. Carroll . One calm , hazy afternoon I was coming slowly up from the mills . Happening to glance at the kitchen roof , I gasped . It was on fire in one place .
Evidently the dry shingles had caught fire XXXXX a spark .
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