Henderson daily dispatch., 1937-05-15
foot nearer to the land.

| foot nearer TO the IaHQ.
The water was terribly cold, too
Her hands were already numb. and
each time that she bent an elbow
it seemed harder to straighten her
arm again. as if her joints were
rapidly becoming rigid. Her skirt
became appallingly heavy and ner
feet felt like two Jumps of lead
that grew heavier with every kick.
For some minutes she struggled
on, gasping for breath and trying
desperately to keep arms and legs
moving with some sort Of rhythm.
Then suddenly came the conviction
that she could struggle no more.
that this WEAKNESS and numbness
must have their way and the river
do as it liked with her. She had
no more strength to fight. She
just wanted to stop struggling and
close her eyes and listen to the
singing in her ears. She was
drowning, she supposed. But it
didn't seem to matter. All that
mattered was to be free of this
awful strain that was dragging her
arms from their sockets.
She stopped swimming and
turned onto her back, . 1t was over
now. She would swim no more
go without protest wherever the
river wanted to take her. Tilbury.
she supposed. Mrs. Joplin had said
so. and she ought to know. 1t
would please Colonel Lutman, any
way. He would marry her mother
and get the money and live hap
PLY ever after. Probably not with
her mother-not for long, anyhow.
And then her mother would shed
floods of tears and go to see
Charles and say it was all his fault
because proper lawyer would
have known that Colonel Lutman
was a scoundrel, and what did
Charles care if she did have to
spend the rest of her life in cheap
hotels where the bath water was
never hot?
Poor old Charles! Funny name,
"Mouthpiece." But Of course
Charles never should have had a
musty old Office in Rotherhithe and
been known as The Mouthpiece.
He should have had grand Office,
with clerks and typewriters and
things, and worn spats, and
lunched with the Master Of the
Rolls. Something had messed
Charles up. Not drink. She had
inspected his nose very carefully
and there were no signs of drink
none of those little purple veins
such as she had detected in Col
onel Lutman's nose. 1t was a pity
about old Charles. She would have
liked to see him again-just to do
what she had always so badly
wanted to do: run her fingers
through his hair and touch that
little mole on his left temple.
A new sound reached :, her
through the singing in her ears.
She was aware of it for some time
before she consciously paid atten-
ton to it. Then, as she concen-
trated on it, she realized that it
was a vaguely familiar sound. She
had heard it quite recently-when
she was on the barge, looking
through the window just before
Joplin had grabbed her. Yes, she
remembered now: it was the chug-
ging of a motor boats engine. It
was getting louder, too-much
louder. The boat must be quite
close, coming toward her. If she
could she must somehow muster
the energy to shout.
She made a supreme effort,
opened her eyes, and saw the boat
only few yards away. She saw
it's lights and figure seated in the
stern. Somehow she managed to
shout and wave a hand. She saw
the boats nose turn and come to-
ward her in a sweeping curve.
The next moment her hands had
grasped the side and she was
clinging to it desperately.
The figure seated in the stern
stood up. She felt her wrists
seized.
Loose your grip" said mans
voice, land I'll pull you in"
d.