k what would happen if they strung Jim up;
Should I ... you can't hang any man alone ...
Think what would happen should I ... Don't you see,
We cannot let them string up Michael's uncle?
Respectable ... it wouldn't be respectable ...
And I ... I slutted, fifteen ... I'd an inkling
There must be blood, somewhere ... I thought I smelt it ...
And it tastes salt on the lips ... It's choking me ...
It's fire and salt and candle-light for me
This time, and Whinny Muir and Brig-o'-Dread ...
I'm done for, Judith ... It's all up with me ...
It's been a fine ploy, while it lasted ...

JUDITH:
Come ...

BELL:
Life with a smack in it: death with a tang ...

JUDITH:
I'll help you into bed.

(_BELL HAGGARD gazes about her in a dazed fashion, as JUDITH raises her
and supports her across the floor towards the inner room._)

BELL:
Bed, did you say?
Bed, it's not bedtime, is it? To bed, to bed,
Says Sleepyhead: tarry awhile, says Slow:
Put on the pot, says Greedygut ... I swore
I'd not lie down ... You cannot dodge your luck:
It had to be ... And I must dree my weird.
When first I came to Krindlesyke, I felt
These walls ... these walls ... They're closing on me now!
Let's sup before we go!

(_They pass into the other room, but BELL HAGGARD's voice still sounds
through the open door._)

BELL:
Nay! not that bed--
Eliza's bed! The old witch lay in wait
For me ... and now she has me! Well, what odds?
Jim called me witch: and the old spaewife and I
Should be the doose bedfellows, after all.
Early to bed and early to rise ... I've never
Turned in, while I could wink an eye, before:
I've always sat late ... And I'd sit it out
Now ... But I'm dizzy ... And that old witch, Eliza--
I little guessed she'd play this cantrip on me:
But what a jest--Jerusalem, what a jest!
She must be chuckling, thinking how she's done me:
And I could laugh, if it wasn't for the pain ...
It doesn't do to rattle broken ribs--
But I could die of laughing, split my sides,
If they weren't split already. Yet my clapper
Keeps wagging: and I'm my own passing-bell--
They knew, who named me ... Talking to gain time ...
It's running out so quick ... And mum's the word:
I mustn't rouse her ... She sleeps couthily,
Free of the coil of cumber and trouble ... I never
Looked on a lonelier face ... The flames ... the flames ...
They're roaring to the stars ... roar