"No, but her head struck on the ice, and the blow knocked all the bit of sense out of her that drink had left. If she ever came to herself, she would have little chance of getting out of the bed of the stream without help, for the banks are very straight up near the bridge, but those that found her thought she had never moved after her head struck the ice."
The speaker's face was full of horror, and tears were streaming down little Mrs. Brown's cheeks as she heard the sad tale.
"How dreadful!" she exclaimed. "To think of falling down helpless and senseless, with nobody near to save or to hear if she had been able to cry for assistance. To die there, all alone. And so unfit to die. Poor old Ann! I have grieved for her many a time when she was living, but I am most sorry for her now."
Mr. Duff's looks expressed the shock the news had given him. And only just before he had been praising Mr. James Burton for his generosity to this unfortunate old woman.
"She never could resist the drink whilst she had a penny in her pocket," said the woman who had brought the news. "It's an awful curse to some folks; and those that don't feel it a temptation cannot tell what a blessing they have to thank God for. Shame on those that put it into poor old Ann's power to stupefy herself with what could do her no good. If, instead of giving her money, they had done as you have done many a time, Mrs. Brown, called her in to have a comfortable meal, or sent her nice bits by the children, or a bundle of sticks to light her fire with, that would have been showing her real kindness. It seems to me that in putting money into her hand they gave her the means of killing herself by inches. I should lay the old woman's death at the door of whoever did it yesterday."
"Come, come, Mrs. Preston, that is going a little too far," said the baker. "Nobody could foresee that old Ann would fall from the bridge. Besides, no doubt Mr. James Burton meant to be kind when he made his little presents to Ann. I think she died from the cold and the fall, not from anything she had taken."
"But the fall and the cold were caused by the drink, and she could not have had the drink but for Mr. James, and such as he who would say, 'Poor old creature! she wants something to warm and comfort her.' Comfort! I pray that I and mine may always be kept from seeking comfort in such a way. The sight of that poor dead face and the lifeless body frozen all on a heap, as one may say, will be a warning to me while I live."
"You saw her, then, and that was what turned you white and faint?" said Mrs. Brown.
"Ay, and I should like to forget that picture," replied Mrs. Preston. "Well, you have nothing to reproach yourself with," added the woman, turning to Mrs. Brown. "You were her real friend, as you have been to many besides, and may God reward you."
Good Mrs. Brown blushed at words of praise, which came straight from her neighbour's heart. She had no desire that attention should be called to her quiet good-doing, and shrank from its being made public. But it was perhaps by examining her own motives and manner of helping others according to her means, that Mrs. Brown had learned to estimate the givings of Mr. Burton and Mr. James at something like their right value.