My sister twisted her body in terrible pain. At first I thought that she did not recognise me. then, as I bent over her she suddenly screamed out "Oh, my God! Helen! It was the band! The speckled band." I will never forget the horror in her voice.

There was something else which she wanted to say. She pointed 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 hurried away, calling loudly for my step-father, and I met him coming from his room.

When he reached my sister she was unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent for medical help from the village, all efforts were in vain, for she died without ever recovering consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my sister.