"No, it was not in the village." The girl hesitated a moment, quickly making up her mind how much of the truth to tell. "You see," she continued presently, "I was only the servant girl there, and I saw that the people meant to let him die, because he was a burden on them. So I wrapped him in a blanket and carried him downstairs in the night."
"You carried him down?" The Superintendent look at her in admiration.
"Oh, yes," answered Regina quietly. "I could carry you up and down stairs easily. Do you wish to see?"
The Superintendent laughed, for she actually made a movement as if she were going to leave her seat and pick him up.
"Thank you," he said. "I quite believe you. What a nurse you would make! You say that you carried him down in the night—and then? What did you do?"
"I laid him on the tail of a cart. The carter was asleep. I walked behind to the gate, for I was sure that when he was found he would be brought here, and that he would have care, and would get well."
"Was it far to walk?" inquired the Superintendent, delighted with the result of his efforts as a detective. "You must have been very tired!"
"What is it to walk all night, if one carries no load on one's head?" asked Regina with some scorn. "I walk as I breathe."
"You walked all night, then? That was Friday night. I do not wish to keep you, my dear child, but if you would tell me how long Botti has been ill—" he waited.
"This is the forty-ninth day," Regina answered at once.