and admire drove to drink in the old days i loved it i it drowned all the of your and teaching � it sent the to my cheeks aim made me wild why the very time dan me i was drunk and so was he a sickening shock ran s he at her as she lay back on her cushions a of indolent beauty with her lovely skin clear eyes and rose red lips and he at her � and his voice almost failed him well that s me that s you i know he said in low tense accents of strong pain � would it were ru f you i for god s sake do not speak to me of dan � you forget no � i remember she answered slowly � i remember a dan killed your wife but � i killed dan you you killed dan every of colour fled from his face and he sprang up amazed and she however did not move from her position how tragic you look i she said � i believe you think i am an escaped not quite when i say i killed dan i mean that it was my car that ran over him nobody knows it of course � it was pure accident he was lying in the middle of a high road in � drunk as usual i suppose my husband and i were � we were racing at night against time in order to reach a house where the tragedy of a quiet life car i made the stop � and i got out and went to see what mischief we had done then i saw dan he was quite dead i had never seen a dead man before � and well it was not a pleasant sight but i recognised dan at once and he would have been glad if he had known stood staring at her bewildered by the calm entirely matter of fact way in which she had related the whole incident had her car crushed a or a worm she could not have spoken more indifferently than she did of the horrid end of her first lover glad i he echoed glad if he had known that it was i � i and her voice rang out silver clear as a note of triumph music � that it was i who had driven over him and crushed him to death i that it was i who looked down at his bleeding face and rested my foot upon it he would have been glad and proud he would have wished no better end i poor parson you seem quite frightened i suppose you do not know in the life you lead that a even a brute man such as dan was � may a woman as he would never god i every hair of my head every inch of my body was gold and honey to dan gold and honey � life and death i did not care for him � no not a i that is why he cared so much for me i he made me drink with him because he knew that drink would do with me what he never could do with me himself why � and she lifted her head from the cushions and drew her slim throat upwards with a swan like gesture of pride and defiance � do you even think that if i had not been drunk i would have given myself to dan he was speechless who could find reply to such a question what man seeing her and hearing her wild words could utter of regret pity or reproach all the ordinary things of life seemed to his mind � drink only � drink the black death of the nation loomed before him like a wide spreading cloud of in which all honest efforts for the of humanity were absorbed into mere and and he stood stricken by the o holy orders i i utter of it � the despair of it she rose nd went to him laying both her hands in a half way upon his � arm not at me uke that � she said quite gently seem so sorry � and there is no need to be there is to pity me for his heart thrilled with a sudden agony nothing to pity yoa he � oh if i had been told the truth i might have saved you her lovely eyes opened widely upon him in something of amusement then she shook her head impossible i never wanted to be saved � she said i don t understand the process i was never a girl that any parson could teach though i used to come to your sunday class and listen to your kind talk just as i would have listened to a play you were always so good � you are so good � and i m ever so much for you than you ought to be for me because you see your goodness has brought you a lot of misfortune and my if it is has brought me nothing but luck and � i ve never forgotten you � i ve always thought of that day when i met you in the pouring rain and when you trusted me � actually trusted me to keep dan from the drink � and told me you hoped i would be the best girl in the village do you remember there was a mist before his eyes as they met hers i remember he answered simply it was so strange she went to be trusted in that way i laughed at you for it but i liked you all the same you seemed such a child in your faith and in your wish to believe good of everybody the best girl in the village now think for a moment mr suppose i had been the best girl what sort 