Close by her side lay the still warm body of the boy. She placed her hands over his face, and, feeling the warmth, opened the tattered, bloody little night-dress and pressed her ear over the heart—pressed it closer and closer, but the heart was still.
She did not cry, this woman. Why should she? She knew the child was better off. She lifted a corner of her garment and wiped the thick blood from the face, then she pressed her lips to the lips, the cheeks, the forehead, in long, loving, mother kisses. She drooped her head close over the childish body, and drawing the soft arms around her neck held them there. She stroked back the hair, and her hands were bloodstained.
Resting the child's body tenderly on the hard floor, she raised her face of misery and her bloodstained hands toward Heaven.
"God!" she cried. "Look at my hands! See God! Here it is—my baby's blood. Come, God, and see my boy. He's getting stiff—but come, God—come! See the bruises and the blood! See the face—the little face, all full of pain and fear—and feel the crushed bones, God! He is getting cold—cold—cold! The boy's dead!"
She caught up one of the child's hands and pressed it convulsively. After a moment's silence she began again, suddenly, fiercely:
"Is there any God? Where is he? Where does he stay? Not with Christians. They have the power, if God were with them, to stop the curse. No, not with them. They do not stop it. No. They license it, they do. 'Woe, woe to him that puts the bottle to his neighbor's lips.' They do! They do! But God must be somewhere. God come out of somewhere!"
The wind blew and the light flickered. Allison and Sammie, looking in, seemed riveted to the spot. It was not a pleasant picture, yet they gazed.
"My husband a murderer!" wailed the woman. "The boy's blood on his hands? Lord God! I never want to see his face again! Have mercy on his soul! Perhaps he cannot help it now—he is a madman. Love him if you can—I loved him once."
Something like a sob sounded in the woman's voice, but she choked it back. After a moment of silence she moved a short distance from the little corpse, and, raising herself upright on her knees, with her hands clasped at arm's length over her head, she prayed.