"Well, sir, she was a young creature, scarcely past childhood, if one might judge by her small size and soft, rosy skin. I asked her to let me take that black crape from her face and head, but she threw up her hands and exclaimed:
"'Oh, no; no, no! for my life, no!'
"Well, master, I hardly know how to tell you what followed," said the old woman, hesitating in embarrassment.
"Go right straight on like a car of Juggernaut, woman! Remember—the whole truth!"
"Well, master, in the next two hours there were twins born in that room—a boy and a girl; the boy was dead, the girl living. And all the time I heard the measured tramping of one of them willains up and down the passage outside of that room. Presently the steps stopped, and there was a rap at the door. I went and listened, but did not open it.
"'Is it all over?' the voice asked.
"Before I could answer a cry from the bed caused me to look round. There was the poor, masked mother stretching out her white arms toward me in the most imploring way. I hastened back to her.
"'Tell him—no—no,' she said.
"'Have you got through?' asked the man at the door, rapping impatiently.
"'No, no,' said I, as directed.