“Drink it,” shouted the officer fiercely. “Do you want to die? Open your mouth!”
Used to a fear of the law in all her days, she obeyed now, even in death. The lips parted, the fresh milk was drained to the end, some spilling on neck and cheek.
While they were working old Rogaum came back and stood looking on, by the side of his wife. Also Officer Delahanty, having heard the peculiar wooden ring of the stick upon the stone in the night, had come up.
“Ach, ach,” exclaimed Rogaum rather distractedly, “und she iss oudt yet. I could not find her. Oh, oh!”
There was a clang of a gong up the street as the racing ambulance turned rapidly in. A young hospital surgeon dismounted, and seeing the woman’s condition, ordered immediate removal. Both officers and Rogaum, as well as the surgeon, helped place her in the ambulance. After a moment the lone bell, ringing wildly in the night, was all the evidence remaining that a tragedy had been here.
“Do you know how she came here?” asked Officer Delahanty, coming back to get Rogaum’s testimony for the police.
“No, no,” answered Rogaum wretchedly. “She vass here alretty. I vass for my daughter loog. Ach, himmel, I haf my daughter lost. She iss avay.”
Mrs. Rogaum also chattered, the significance of Theresa’s absence all the more painfully emphasized by this.
The officer did not at first get the import of this. He was only interested in the facts of the present case.
“You say she was here when you come? Where was you?”