Aletta whispered:
“Poor Mamma! She’s sleeping, isn’t she?”
Keith turned as if his neck were of marble and stared with a statue’s eyes. She ran past him and knelt by RoBards. He protected his eyes from the innocent trust in hers by drawing his eyelids over them.
Then he hoisted himself to his feet. Life came back to his every member in a searing current. His mind turned traitor to itself, and he felt that he was the most hideous criminal that ever soiled the earth.
To make sure that he had not merely dreamed it all, he bent and touched the hand of Patty, set his finger where her pulse had once throbbed like a little heart, felt no stir there; kissed her lips and found them cold.
He turned to Aletta and said:
“Your mamma—your mamma—our darling is—is——”
Aletta screamed and ran to the bed and verified the message, then dashed from the room aghast, crying for help. Soon the house was awake, trembling with feet. Lamps were lighted, children whimpered questions sleepily.
Keith took his father’s hand and murmured before anyone else could come:
“I saw what you did.”