I 've had nothing since yesterday morning , and maybe cold is easier to bear than hunger . ' '' ` Have you nothing better than that to sell ? ' I says , not quite sure that she was n't all a humbug , like so many of 'em . She seemed to see that , and looked up at me again with such innocent eyes , I could n't doubt her when she said , shivering with something beside the cold , -- '' ` Nothing but myself . ' Then the tears came , and she laid her head clown on my arm , sobbing , -- ` Keep me ! oh , do keep me safe somewhere ! ' '' Thorn choked here , steadied his voice with a resolute hem ! but could only add one sentence more , -- `` That 's how I found my wife . '' `` Come , do n't stop thar . I told the whole o ' mine , you do the same . Whar did you take her ? how 'd it all come round ? '' `` Please tell us , Thorn . '' The gentler request was answered presently , very steadily , very quietly . `` I was always a soft-hearted fellow , though you would n't think it now , and when that little girl asked me to keep her safe , I just did it . I took her to a good woman whom I knew , for I had n't any women folks belonging to me , nor any place but that to put her in . She stayed there till spring working for her keep , growing brighter , prettier , every day , and fonder of me , I thought . If I believed in witchcraft , I should n't think myself such a fool as I do now , but I do n't believe in it , and to this day I ca n't understand how I came to do it . To be sure I was a lonely man , without kith or kin , had never had a sweetheart in my life , or been much with women since my mother died . Maybe that 's why I was so bewitched with Mary , for she had little ways with her that took your fancy and made you love her whether you would or no .
I found her father was an honest fellow enough , a fiddler in some theatre ; that he 'd taken good care of Mary till he XXXXX , leaving precious little but advice for her to live on .
's belonging come died knew put stayed thought took working