Oh, it was cruel." Mrs.Rickett wiped away some indignant tears.

"Not as she wanted him--never even mentioned his name.
She only asked for Dick, and he was with her just at the end.

He was only a lad of thirteen, miss, but he was a man grown from that night on.

She begged him to look after the babies, and he promised her he would.

And then she just lay holding his hand till she died.