Would that I need not tell you! The
house was still and I thought at first that no one was awake, but
when I opened the sitting-room door the child ran towards me and
took my hand as the woman came in from the sick-room. 'Go into
the kitchen, Rodman,' she said, 'and lace up your boots; you're
going right out with this lady. Hetty died in the night,' she
continued impassively. 'The doctor was here about ten o'clock and
I've never seen her so bad. He gave her a big dose of sleeping
powder and put another in the table drawer for me to mix for her
towards morning. She was helpless to move, we thought, but all
the same she must have got out of bed when my back was turned and
taken the powder dry on her tongue, for it was gone when I looked
for it. It didn't hasten things much and I don't blame her. If
ever there was a wild, reckless creature it was Hetty Rodman, but
I, who am just the opposite, would have done the same if I'd been
her.'
"She hurriedly gave me a cup of coffee, and, putting a coat and a
cap on the boy, literally pushed me out of the house. 'I've got
to report things to the doctor,' she said, 'and you're better out
of the way. Go down that side street to the station and mind you
say the boy belonged to your sister who died and left him to you.
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