"There wasn't much damage then?"
"If I hadn't opened the window and thrown it out on the sidewalk the whole house might have been burned. Why, the study was nothing but a tinder-box with the books on the shelves and magazines and papers always thrown about."
"After the fire had once started, I can see how it would spread. But the mystery is, how did it start? You never followed the first fire up?"
"Indeed we did. The professor was careful to follow it up, but they could find nobody then and they'll find nobody now. It was just the will of heaven."
"I wish you could have told about this other fire at the examination, Bertha."
"I had it in my mind to tell, but the little thread of a man made me so cross with his nagging, it all flew out of my head."
"Robert—was Robert in the house when the other fire happened?"
"Yes. I remember calling him, and he flew downstairs four at a time and stamped out the sparks on the carpet."
"What time of day was it?"
"I'm not good to remember time. It was daytime, I know."