It 's nonsense to say I 'm a woman-hater , Augusta . But that experience has robbed me of the power to care for another woman . '' `` Well , this is n't a proper conversation for a child to hear , '' said Aunt Augusta , recollecting herself . `` Jims , go out . '' Jims would have given one of his ears to stay and listen with the other . But he went obediently . And then , the very next day , the dreaded something happened . It was the first of August and very , very hot . Jims was late coming to dinner and Aunt Augusta reproved him and Jims , deliberately , and with malice aforethought , told her he thought she was a nasty old woman . He had never been saucy to Aunt Augusta before . But it was three days since he had seen Miss Avery and the Black Prince and Nip and he was desperate . Aunt Augusta crimsoned with anger and doomed Jims to an afternoon in the blue room for impertinence . `` And I shall tell your uncle when he comes home , '' she added . That rankled , for Jims did n't want Uncle Walter to think him impertinent . But he forgot all his worries as he scampered through the Garden of Spices to the beech tree . And there Jims stopped as if he had been shot . Prone on the grass under the beech tree , white and cold and still , lay his Miss Avery -- dead , stone dead ! At least Jims drought she was dead . He flew into the house like a mad thing , shrieking for Martha . Nobody answered .
Jims recollected , XXXXX a rush of sickening dread , that Miss Avery had told him Martha and Edward were going away that day to visit a sister .
At as for if in since through to under with