XXV
THE WORK OF AN INSTANT
I did not take the car at the corner. I was sure that Jupp was somewherearound, and I had a new mission for him of more importance than any hecould find here now. I was just looking about for him when I heard criesand screams at my back, and, turning, saw several persons all runningone way. As that way was the one by which I had just come, I commencedrunning too, and in another moment was one of a crowd collected beforethe doctor's door. I mean the great front door which, to myastonishment, I had already seen was wide open. The sight which theremet my eyes almost paralyzed me.
Stretched on the pavement, spotted with blood, lay the two figures I hadseen within the last five minutes beaming with life and energy. The oldman was dead, the child dying, one little hand outstretched as if insearch of the sympathetic touch which had made the last few hoursperhaps the sweetest of his life. How had it happened? Was it suicide onthe doctor's part or just pure accident? Either way it was horrible,but--I looked about me; there was a man ready to give explanations. Hehad seen it all. The doctor had been racing with the child in the longhall. He had opened the door, probably for air. A sudden dash of thechild had brought him to the verge, the doctor had plunged to save him,and losing his balance toppled headlong to the street, carrying thechild with him.
It was all the work of an instant.
One moment two vigorous figures--the next, a mass of crushed humanity!
A sight to stagger a man's soul! But the thought which came with itstaggered me still more.
The force which had been driving Mrs. Ocumpaugh to her fate was removed.Henceforth her secret was safe if--if I chose to have it so.