Roy’s Theft of Morphine
The Master Butchers Singing ClubRoy risks arrest to obtain pain relief for Eva, then faces a belated legal charge that briefly revives Delphine’s fear of losing him.
increasing
Bearing strength in each event
decreasing
The Medicine Is Missing

A Painful Shortage
The vial disappears
Delphine opens the icebox and finds Eva’s morphine missing. Eva is in severe pain, and the usual dose of opium wine cannot help.
Urgency drives the search
Delphine tries to locate Doctor Heech and the pharmacist. The crisis turns a household task into a desperate race against Eva’s suffering.
Tante Refuses Relief

Care Becomes an Argument
A moral judgment
Delphine finds the medicine in Tante’s home and learns that Tante has thrown it away, fearing Eva is addicted.
Delphine demands mercy
Delphine pleads with Tante to help Eva, then forces her back to the sickroom. Their conflict centers on whether comfort is a duty or a shame.
Roy Breaks into the Drugstore

A Father Acts
Delphine searches in vain
Delphine drives around Argus trying to find medication, consumed by fear and anger. Roy is also away from the house.
Morphine arrives
Roy appears with a bottle stolen from the drugstore. He has broken a lock to obtain the medicine that can ease Eva’s pain.
A Final Dose

Relief at the House
Delphine takes control
Delphine prevents Eva from hurting herself and prepares the medicine. She directs the boys to help keep Eva calm while the dose is made.
A desperate act of care
Roy’s theft allows treatment to continue. The episode reveals a capable, loving action beneath his long history of failure.
An Arrest Months Later

The Charge Returns
Hock uses the old theft
Sheriff Hock arrests Roy months after the theft, even though Fidelis had already explained the circumstances and paid for the medicine.
Delphine’s fears resurface
Roy confirms that he stole the morphine to help Eva. Delphine realizes that the charge is largely a formality, but the arrest revives her anxiety for her father.
Fourth of July, during Eva’s illness
That evening
That night
After Roy returns
The following autumn