Law had entered the crowd, and its presence was immediately recognized by submission. Henry dropped to the bridge-floor and muttered a curse as he addressed the squire:
"Yer hev spoiled a good job; ef yer'd b'en a minit later the devil'd hed Gill, sure."
Lizzī, seeing Gill would not be injured, turned and fled through the darkness to the refuge of her home.
She entered it with bowed head, her queenliness having gone from her forever.
The child was crying petulantly. Blind Benner, lying on the floor, supported his head with one hand and feebly rocked the cradle with the other.
A pool of blood lay on the white quilt that covered the infant, and another was forming on the floor under the cradle.
The child wailed as the cradle rocked slowly and unevenly.
The blood flowed noiselessly from Blind Benner's lips. He knew Lizzī had come back, but he would not speak until she did. He was afraid to know what had happened in the bridge, and would die in ignorance, obeying her last command to him.
With eyes cast down she moved slowly towards the cradle. The blood on the quilt was lighted by the unsteady flame of the candle. Suddenly she saw the scarlet pool. Her head swam and she sank on her knees. Taking the blind man's head impulsively yet tenderly in her hands, she laid it against her heart, bursting with this new grief.
Soothed by the mother's presence or frightened by the nearness of Death, the infant ceased its wail.