"How did he escape?" demanded the doctor. And I held my breath. I wondered that the desperado's wife could talk so quietly. "How did he escape?" asked the doctor again.
"Mr. West?" queried the woman. "Oh," she said, with great simplicity, "'e went away.
"It was like this yere," said Mr. West's wife:—
"I was asleep, you see—in this bed yere, an' it was dark—all in the middle o' the night, you see. An' he struck a match an' he woke me up.
"'What's that?' I says, with a start like, an' when I see it was Mr. West I lay down again.
"'Ann,' 'e says, 'wake up. I've got some money 'ere,' 'e says. An' 'e lights a bit o' candle, an' I sits up, an' there on the table—that very table—there was a 'eap o' sovereigns what 'e'd rolled out of a sack. 'I've took these from the company. I'm goin' away,' says Mr. West.
"An' 'e gets into 'is Sunday shoot an' 'e shaves 'isself. An' 'e puts a lot o' the money more'n four 'undred pounds—into a little brown bag, an' 'e puts the rest in the coal cupboard. 'The perlice 'll come for that in the mornin',' says Mr. West. 'Let 'em find it there. An' you,' 'e says, 'you don't know nothink.'
"'An' what about you?' I says.
"'I'm goin' away,' says Mr. West. 'I'll write you when it's safe. Give my love to Rosa.'
"Rosa is my sister's niece, what 'e'd always carried on with—innocent like, in a jokin' sort o' way, if you understand me.