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“Mercy! What this experience has cost me!” sobbed Mrs. Bent.

“One dollar, please!” said Old Man Smith.

“It’s a perfect miracle!” said everybody.

“It ’tain’t neither!” said Old Man Smith. “It’s plain Hoss Sense! There’s laws about findin’ things same as there is about losin’ ’em! Things has got regular habits and haunts same as Folks! And Folks has got regular haunts and habits same as birds and beasts! It ain’t the Possible Places that I’m arguin’ about!–The world is full of ’em! But the Probable Places can be reckoned most any time on the fingers of one hand!–That’s the trouble with folks! They’re always wearin’ themselves out on the Possible Places and never gettin’ round at all to the Probable ones!–Now, it’s perfectly possible, of course,” said Old Man Smith, “that you might find a trout in a dust-pan or a hummin’ bird in an Aquarium–or meet a panther in your Mother’s parlor!–But the chances are,” said Old Man Smith, “that if you really set out to organize a troutin’ expedition or a hummin’ bird collection or a panther hunt–you wouldn’t look in the dust pan or the Aquarium or your Mother’s parlor first!–When you lose something that ain’t got no Probable Place–then I sure am stumped!” said Old Man Smith.

But when Annie Halliway lost her mind, everybody in the village was stumped about it. And everything was all mixed up. It was Annie Halliway’s mother and Annie Halliway’s father and Annie Halliway’s uncles and aunts and cousins and friends who did all the worrying about it! While Annie Halliway herself didn’t seem to care at all! But just sat braiding things into her hair!

Some people said it was a railroad accident that she lost her mind in. Some said it was because she’d studied too hard in Europe. Some said it was an earthquake. Everybody said something.

Annie Halliway’s father and mother were awful rich. They brought her home in a great big ship! And gave her twelve new dresses and the front parlor and a brown piano! But she wouldn’t stay in any of them! All she’d stay in was a little old blue silk dress she’d had before she went away!

Carol and I got excused from school one day because we were afraid our heads might ache, and went to see what it was all about.

It seemed to be about a great many things.

But after we’d walked all around Annie Halliway twice and looked at her all we could and asked how old she was and found out that she was nineteen, we felt suddenly very glad about something.–We felt suddenly very glad that if she really was obliged to lose anything out of her face, it was her mind that she lost! Instead of her eyes! Or her nose! Or her red, red mouth! Or her cunning little ears! She was so pretty!

She seemed to like us very much too. She asked us to come again.

We said we would.

We did.

We went every Saturday afternoon.

They let us take her to walk if we were careful. We didn’t walk her in the village because her hair looked so funny. We walked her in the pleasant fields. We gathered flowers. We gathered ferns. We explored birds. We built little gurgling harbors in the corners of the brook. Sometimes we climbed hills and looked off. Annie Halliway seemed to like to climb hills and look off.

It was the day we climbed the Sumac Hill that we got our Idea!

It was a nice day!

Annie Halliway wore her blue dress! And her blue scarf! Her hair hung down like two long, loose black ropes across her shoulders! Blue Larkspur was braided into her hair! And a little tin trumpet tied with blue ribbon! And a blue Japanese fan! And a blue lead pencil! And a blue silk stocking! And a blue-handled basket! She looked like a Summer Christmas Tree. It was pretty.

There were lots of clouds in the sky. They seemed very near. It sort of puckered your nose.