That her boy's heart was turned from her forever.
She kept the lane, past Spindle's, past the Callows',
Her lips still muttering prayers against the worst,
And there were people coming from the sallows,
Along the wild duck patch by Beggar's Hurst.
Being in moonlight mother saw them first,
She saw them moving in the moonlight dim,
A woman with a sweet voice saying 'Jim.'
Trembling she grovelled down into the ditch,
They wandered past her pressing side to side.