. You couldn't. Come along! Quick! I'll do this much for you, just
this once. Never again! You can get down the back steps into the alley
if you hurry. Then beat it for home. And never let me see your face
again."

Three minutes later he was scuttling down the alley as fast as his
eager legs could carry him.

Nellie was holding the front door against the thunderous assault of a
half dozen men, giving him time to escape. All the while she was
thinking of the depositions she could take from the witnesses to his
deliberate attempt to kill her. He had made it very easy for her.

CHAPTER VII

THE LAWYER

He was dismally confident that he would be arrested and thrown into
jail on Friday. It was always an unlucky day for him. The fact that
Nellie had aided and abetted in his undignified flight down the
slippery back steps did not in the least minimise the peril that still
hung like a cloud over his wretched head. Of course, he understood:
she was sorry for him. It was the impulse of the moment. When she had
had time to think it all over and to listen to the advice of Fairfax
and the others, she would certainly swear out a warrant.

As a measure of precaution he had slyly tossed the revolver from a car
window somewhere north of Spuyten Duyvil, and, later on at home,
stealthily disposed of the box of cartridges.

All evening long he sat huddled up by the fireplace, listening with
all ears for the ominous sound of constabulary thumpings at the front
door. The fierce wind shrieked around the corners of the house,
rattling the shutters and banging the kitchen gate, but he heard
nothing, for his own heart made such a din in response to the
successive bursts of noise that all else seemed still by comparison.

His efforts to amuse the perplexed Phoebe were pitiful. The child took
him to task for countless lapses of memory in his recital of oft-told
and familiar fairy tales.

But no one came that night. And Friday, too, dragged itself out of
existence without a sign from Nellie or the dreaded officers of the
law. You may be sure he did not poke his nose outside the door all
that day. Somehow he was beginning to relish the thought that she
would be gone on Sunday, gone forever, perhaps. He loved her, of
course, but distance at this particular time was not likely to affect
the enchantment. In fact, he was quite sure he would worship her a
great deal more comfortably if she were beyond the border of the
State.

The t