the scaffold and have that rope
around my neck and--"

He broke off with a low cry, wringing his hands like a child in a
fit of impotent terror. But the girl in front of him never flinched.

"Arthur," she said, "crime is a terrible thing, but nothing in the
world can alter its punishment. If it is frightful for you to
think of this, what must it be for him? And you are guilty and he
is not."

"I was mad!" Morrison went on, now almost beside himself. "Zoe, I
was mad! I called there to have a drink. We were broke,--the firm
was broke. I'd a hundred or so in my pocket and I was going to bolt
the next day. And there, within a few yards of me, was that man,
with such a roll of notes as I had never seen in my life. Five
hundred pounds, every one of them, and a wad as thick as my fists.
Zoe, they fascinated me. I had two drinks quickly and I followed
him out. Somehow or other, I found that I'd caught up a knife that
was on the counter. I never meant to hurt him seriously, but I
wanted some of those notes! I was leaving the next day for Africa
and I hadn't enough money to make a fair start. I wanted it--my
God, how I wanted money!"

"It couldn't have been worth--that!" she cried, looking at him
wonderingly.

"I was mad," he continued. "I saw the notes and they went to my
head. Men do wild things sometimes when they are drunk, or for
love. I don't drink much, and I'm not over fond of women, but, my
God, money is like the blood of my body to me! I saw it, and I
wanted it and I wanted it, and I went mad! Zoe, you won't give me
away? Say you won't!"

"But what am I to do?" she protested. "He must not suffer."

"He'll get off," Morrison assured her thickly. "I tell you he'll
get off. He's only to part with the document, which never belonged
to him, and the charge will be withdrawn. They know who the
murdered man was. They know where the money came from which he was
carrying. I tell you he can save himself. You wouldn't dream of
sending me to the gallows, Zoe!"

"Stephen Laverick will never give up that document to those people,"
she declared. "I am sure of that."

"It's his own lookout," Morrison muttered. "He has the chance,
anyway."

She turned toward the door.

"I must go away," she said. "I must go away and think. It is all
too horrible."

He came round the table swiftly and caught at her wrists.

"Listen," he said, "I can't let you go like this. You must tell me
that you are