Page:Tom Beauling (1901).pdf/32

 and have done with it. I hoped my body would sink and never be found. I don't know quite what happened, but suddenly I knew that it wasn't myself I loved any more, but some one else. And then I couldn't bear to die. Things got easier after that, because I was standing them for some one else—for my little son. And now—now that I have done my best and worked my hardest for him, and it wasn't good enough or hard enough—what is to become of him—what is to become of him? That's why I have come to you to help me. Won't you tell me what will become of him?"

"Do I understand that you are out of work now?" said the judge.

"Out of work!" she cried excitedly. "It isn't that—you don't understand. I'm dying!"

Judge Tyler could not find anything to say. He stuttered a word, and waited for her to finish.

"Don't you suppose," she said, "that people know when they are dying? I have known for three years that it had