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“God bless me,” murmured Sam.

“Poisoned,” added Bob, puffing serenely.

“Poisoned!”

Bob repeated the word poisoned.”This was the way of it,” he continued.”One morning the mother went out in the yard to collect her eggs, and she began calling out ‘Edie, Edie, here a minute, come and look where that hen have laid her egg; I would never have believed it’—she says. And when Edie went out her mother led her round the back of the outhouse, and there on the top of a wall this hen had laid an egg.’I would never have believed it, Edie’—she says—’scooped out a nest there beautiful, ain’t she; I wondered where her was laying. T’other morning the dog brought an egg round in his mouth and laid it on the doormat. There now, Aggie, Aggie, here a minute, come and look where the hen have laid that egg.’ And as Aggie didn’t answer the mother went in and found her on the sofa in the outhouse, stone dead.”

“How’d they account for it?” asked Sam, after a brief interval.

“That’s what brings me to the point about this young feller that’s going to be hung,” said Bob, tapping the newspaper that lay upon the bench.”I don’t know what would lie between two young women in a wrangle of that sort; some would get over it quick, but some would never sleep soundly any more not for a minute of their mortal lives. Edie must have been one of that sort. There’s people living there now as could tell a lot if they’d a mind to it. Some knowed all about it, could tell you the very shop where Edith managed to get hold of the poison, and could describe to me or to you just how she administrated it in a glass of barley water. Old Harry knew all about it, he knew all about everything, but he favoured Edith and he never budged a word. Clever old chap was Harry, and nothing came out against Edie at the inquest—nor the trial either.”

“Was there a trial then?”

“There was a kind of a trial. Naturally. A beautiful trial. The police came and fetched poor William, they took him away and in due course he was hanged.”

“William! But what had he got to do with it?”

“Nothing. It was rough on him, but he hadn’t played straight and so nobody struck up for him. They made out a case against him—there was some unlucky bit of evidence which I’ll take my oath old Harry knew something about—and William was done for. Ah, when things take a turn against you it’s as certain as twelve o’clock, when they take a turn; you get no more chance than a rabbit from a weasel. It’s like dropping your matches into a stream, you needn’t waste the bending of your back to pick them out—they’re no good on, they’ll never strike again. And Edith, she sat in court through it all, very white and trembling and sorrowful, but when the judge put his black cap on they do say she blushed and looked across at William and gave a bit of a smile. Well, she had to suffer for his doings, so why shouldn’t he suffer for hers. That’s how I look at it….”

“But God-a-mighty… !”

“Yes, God-a-mighty knows. Pretty girls they were, both, and as like as two pinks.”

There was quiet for some moments while the tiler and the mason emptied their cups of beer.”I think,” said Sam then, “the rain’s give over now.”

“Ah, that it has,” cried Bob.”Let’s go and do a bit more on this ‘bugging church or she won’t be done afore Christmas.”