f,' he went on--'not near 'arf. Do yer 'ear? What did
yer do with the rest? I'll not answer for keepin my 'ands off yer if yer
won't tell.'

In his trance of rage and agony, he was incapable of pity. He had small
need to threaten her with blows--every word stabbed.

But her turn had come to strike back. She raised her head; she measured
her news against his; and she did it with a kind of exultation.

'Then I _will_ tell yer--an I 'ope it ull do yer good. _I_ took
thirty-one pound o' Bolderfield's money then--but it warn't me took the
rest. Some one else tuk it, an I stood by an saw 'im. When I tried to
stop 'im--look 'ere.'

She raised her hand, nodding, and pointing to the wound on her brow.

Isaac leant heavily on the table. A horrible suspicion swept through
him. Had she wronged him in a yet blacker way? He bent over her,
breathing fast--ready to strike.

'Who was it?'

She laughed. 'Well, it wor _Timothy_ then--yur precious--beautiful son--
Timothy!'

He fell back.

'Yo're lyin,' he cried; 'yer want to throw it off on some one. How cud
Timothy 'ave 'ad anythin to do with John's money? Timothy's not been
near the place this three months.'

'Not till lasst night,' she said, mocking him; 'I'll grant yer--not till
lasst night. But it _do_ 'appen, as lasst night Timothy took forty-one
pound o' John Borroful's money out o' that box, an got off--clean. I'm
sorry if yer don't like it--but I can't 'elp that; yo listen 'ere.'

And lifting a quivering finger she told her tale at last, all the
beginning of it confused and almost unintelligible, but the scene with
Timothy vivid, swift, convincing--a direct impression from the ugly
immediate fact.

He listened, his face lying on his arms. It was true, all true. She
might have taken more and Timothy less; no doubt she was making it out
as bad as she could for Timothy. But it lay between them--his wife and
his son--it lay between them.

'An I 'eard yer comin,' she ended; 'an I thought I'd tell yer--an I wor
frightened about the 'arf-crowns--people 'ad been talkin so at
Dawson's--an I didn't see no way out--an--an--'

She ceased, her hand plucking again at the comforter, her throat
working.

He, too, thought of the loving words he had said to her, and the memory
of them only made his misery the more fierce.

'An there ain't no way out,' he said violently, raising his head.
'Yer'll be took before the magistrates next week, an the assizes ull be
in February, an y