I rushed to gather her up. “Help me!” I yelled when Esther stood back watching.

So Esther did help me, though with such a look of distaste that I wanted to slap her.

Cate was heavy despite how thin she was, but we managed to carry her back into the cabin while Captan danced along beside us, whining darkly.

She moaned a little as we laid her on the bed and covered her up. “There’s firewood in the yard, Esther. Go get some.”

Which she did while I ripped pages from the big book on the desk and shredded them on the hearth. I hoped they taught nothing more important than the benefits of fresh air and clean water, which I already knew.

When Esther came back, I twisted a whole page into a wick and lit it in the lantern, laying it gently on the hearth.

“Careful,” I said, as she reached out with a handful of twigs. “You’ll smother it. Just one at a time to start. Like this.” I laid a single twig across the bricks I’d pushed into place on either side of the flame. “It’s not like the oven at home.” Which could handle a heavy hand.

In this way, I taught my sister how to build a fire on a cold hearth.

Before long, we had a good blaze going, and I opened the cabin door just a crack so the smoke would rise straight up into the wide mouth of the chimney.

Then I fetched a clean nightdress from the wash line and took it inside to warm by the fire.

While Esther stood and watched, I went to Cate and pulled the blankets away from her leg.

The wound gaped like a terrible red mouth, but it wasn’t bleeding much anymore.

“The bath must have melted the honey, opened the cut. Maybe she fell. Maybe she fainted. We’ll know when she tells us,” I said. “But I don’t know why she let it get wet in the first place.”

Captan stood beside the bed and laid his head next to Cate’s.

“Why did you open the door if you’re trying to warm her up?” Esther said.

“To increase the draw, for the fire,” I replied. “The draft. The flow of air.”

“I don’t know what that means.” She sounded cranky and subdued at the same time.

“When the fire eats the air inside, the smoke comes back down the chimney instead of going up it.” My father had taught me that. I wondered why he hadn’t taught Esther, but I knew that it was easier to teach a thing to someone who wants to know it.

“I thought you said she was getting better.”

“She was. But she’s stubborn. And she’s used to doing for herself. And she didn’t wait for me to help with her bath.”