How long was
this going to last?
It lasted about half an hour. The nurse laid down the volume with a
yawn, stretched herself, yawned again, crossed her hands, and closed
her eyes. She was going to sleep. If she would only fall so fast asleep
that the woman behind the curtain could creep away!
But sometimes at the sleepiest moment sleep is driven away by an
accident. The accident in this case was that the nurse before finally
dropping off remembered that she was nursing a sick man, and sat up to
look at him before she allowed herself to drop off.
Stung with sudden inspiration she sprang to her feet and bent over the
man. "Does he breathe?" she asked. She bent lower. "His pulse! does it
beat?" she caught his wrist.
"Doctor!" she shrieked, running into the garden. "Doctor! Come--come
quick! He is dead!"
Fanny Mere stepped from her hiding-place and ran out of the back door,
and by the garden gate into the road.
She had escaped. She had seen the crime committed. She knew now at
least what was intended and why she was sent away. The motive for the
crime she could not guess.
CHAPTER LI
WHAT NEXT?
WHAT should she do with the terrible secret?
She ought to inform the police.
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