"Well, they sent for the doctor in great haste, and then tried to pull off my boot; but my foot was so badly swollen, and bleeding so fast, that it took a great while. I can't tell how long, for I fainted. When the doctor saw the wound they said he looked very sober."
"'So, so, little girl,' said he (that was after I came to myself), 'you thought you'd make me a good job while you were about it. There's no half-way work about you. You are the child that had the tip of a finger clipped off in the corn-sheller, hey?'"
"I was always afraid of Dr. Foster, so I only buried my face in my apron, and cried."
"'She must have brought the hatchet down with a great deal of force,' said the doctor. 'See, Mrs. Parlin, how deep it went into the bone.'"
"'I fell and hit my foot,' I sobbed out. 'I never touched the hatchet!'"
"I knew well enough that the doctor didn't believe me."
"'So, so,' said he. 'Very well, never mind how 'twas done, but keep your foot still, little one, and we'll talk about the hatchet another time. Mrs. Parlin, if it goes to bleeding again, be sure to send for me.'"
"It was ever so long before I could walk a step. Every time any body spoke of my hurt, I said, 'Why, I was just coming into the house with those clams, and my foot slipped, and I fell and hit me on something. I don't know whether it was a hatchet or a stick of wood; but I never touched the hatchet!'"
"There, I shouldn't have thought that of you, auntie," said Grace.
"Poh!" cried Horace, "they must have known you was a-foolin'; of course they did!"