My sister twisted as one who is in terrible pain. At first I thought that she had not recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly screamed out in a voice which I shall never forget, "Oh, my God! Helen! It was the band! The speckled band."

There was something else which she wanted to say, and she stabbed with her finger into the air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion seized her and choked her words. I rushed away, calling loudly for my step-father, and I met him coming from his room in his dressing gown.

When he reached my sister's side she was unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for she sank and died without ever having recovered consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister.