University of Virginia Library

And Tommy got lave for the mother and aunt
To see this Nelly. And so they went,
And Tommy with them, in a car,
And into the Castle; but didn' dar'
To go in the place where Nelly was,
But pretended to be lookin' after the hoss.
And Mrs. Quine was weepin' a dale,
And the sisther, of course she wouldn' fail—
Aw, dacent women! But when they were done,
And just sittin' together, the mother begun
To ask a hape of questions, you know;
And this and that, and terrible though—
Till at last she said, “And, Nelly, then,
What did ye give her the pison in?”
Aw, Nelly jumped to her feet, and she turned
Away from them, and the cheeks of her burned
With fire and shame; and she wouldn' spake,
And didn'—and so they had to make
Tracks of coorse; and—“She's very queer!”
Says the mother to the jailer theer.
But just it was goin' about a week
To the trial, Duddon sent to speak
With Tommy. And—everythin' was in train;
But he'd like to have a talk with this Cain.
And would Tommy go with him at once? and statin'
The for. And the two of them off in the phaeton.
So when they got there, it was—“How do ye do, sir?”
“You know me,” says Duddon. “Who wouldn' know you, sir?”
Says Cain, very smilin'. But when he seen
Tommy there, his face got as keen
As keen; and—“Thomas Gelling, is it?”
He says, and “What's the cause of this visit,
May I ax?”—quite stiff, ye know. But Duddon
Wasn' the chap to wait for the puddin',
But in it at once: and—“A pessin is lyin'
In the Castle, by the name of Quine—
A servant of yours—in custody,
Upon your information, it seems to be,
For murderin' your wife by pison.
Now, Mr. Cain, it's very surprisin'
You don't perceive how much better
It would have been for ye all to have dropped this matter.
If your respected pardner had died
By her own hand, by suicide,”
There you were: but there was people enough
That didn' know when they were well off.
And the jury hadn' seen their way
To “temporal sanity,” and he dare say
He could guess the raison. “But I don't care a toss,
It was suicide, and you know it was!
That's my conviction, and you can't remove it;
You know it, my friend, and you can prove it—
Yes, you can. And look here, Mr. Cain—”
And he eyed him sharp—“Look here, I'll be plain.
There's no doubt at all the law will considher
The two of you to be in it together,
Her the insthrument, and you—
Well, Mr. Cain! But here's my view—
Mr. Cain, Mr. Cain, the law'll go furdher,
And bring you in yourself for the murdher—
Yourself alone!” (Ould Cain gave a jerk)—
“So just you set your wits to work,
And give me that proof—you know what I mane—
Or I'll have you arrested, Mr. Cain.
By this time to-morrow—the proof! d'ye hear?
So now you know the way to steer.
Good-day, Mr. Cain—” and turns on his heel.