The kitchen was quiet after dinner and the work, before supper, done. I
threw my head back, in the large chair in which I was resting, and
drowsed.
The women sat buzzing, on low stools, just behind me. I had been too
sleepy to notice what they were saying; finally a word or two that I
heard attracted me to listen.
"Was you here, O'Brien?" asked Maggie; "when Ida Jones was pulled into
the hospital by the hair of her head?"
"Yes, I was, and I saw it with my two eyes. The Master pulled her by the
hair of her head, and kicked her as he went along the walk; and she a
poor, half-witted thing too. That was six weeks ago, and she has been in
the hospital ever since."