Wild-eyed faces peered from the polished windows.

A second later, in the speech of a bystander, "she was sweating passengers at every pore!" Then came a full-throated scream of terror from the menaced house, and there in the doorway, clad in a bed gown, but erect and defiant, was the person of long-bedridden Grandma Dodwell herself.

She brandished her lace cap at Starling Tucker and threatened to have him in jail if there was any law left in the land.

Excited citizens gathered to the scene, for the picket fence had not succumbed without protest, and the crash had carried well.

Even more than at the plight of Starling, they marvelled at the miracle that had been wrought upon the aged sufferer--her that hadn't put foot to floor in twenty years.