Visions of the old days rose before her.

As she stood there with her hands wrapped in her apron, it was not the moon-flooded night she looked into, but the warm, living daylight of a golden past.
At last, with a sigh, she turned to take the chairs into the house.
Lifting the big rocker high in front of her, she stepped over the threshold and started to shuffle her way along to the candle shelf.

The chair came down in the middle of the floor with a sudden bang, as she caught her foot in John Jay's pillow and sprawled across him.
The boy's first waking thought was that there had been an earthquake and that the cabin had caved in.

He never could rightly remember the order of events that followed, but he had a confused memory of a shriek, a scratching of matches, and the glimmer of a candle that made him sit up and blink his eyes.

Then something struck him, first on one ear, then the other, cuffing him soundly.