er. That's how I feel towards Miriam. I thought of you
being dragged off by a couple of bobbies to quod, and of how she would
suffer; and I remembered--which was a precious lucky thing for you--that
there was no one to suffer on my account. I thanked God--for the first
time--I'd no one belonging to me. That thought made it easier for me to
do what I am doing."

He tossed the end of the cigarette into the fire.

"I am going to make a bolt for it; and I looked in just to say a few
words to you, Heyton. I'm standing between you and a complete bust-up.
I'm doing it for Miriam's sake, not yours; and I want you to bear this
in mind: that if ever I hear of your treating her badly--oh, you needn't
look so virtuously indignant; I know your sort; you'd treat her badly
enough presently, if you hadn't a check on you. And I'm going to be that
check. Let me hear even a whisper of your acting on the cross with her,
and I'll come back, if it's from the other end of the world, to denounce
you. I've proofs enough. Oh, I'm not such a fool as you think; and, if
you don't treat Miriam fairly, I'll show you up, and probably give you,
into the bargain, the thrashing that's owing to you."

"You needn't talk about Miriam like that," said her husband, sullenly,
and with an affectation of righteous resentment. "I'm fond of her; I
shouldn't have done--well, what I have done, if I hadn't been. You
needn't insult me."

"My good man, I couldn't," said Dene. "One word more and, you'll be
relieved to hear, I'm off. For some reason or other the police, the
detectives, have been slow, or have failed to track me."

As he spoke, Heyton turned his head and looked at him curiously, with a
furtive, cunning expression; but he said nothing; indeed, his lips
closed tightly, as if in repression of speech.

"I shall leave England to-night," continued Dene; "and I may succeed in
giving them the slip. I know one or two out-of-the-way places--but I
needn't trouble you with my plans. All I want to say is that if I'm
caught I shall continue to hold my tongue. And you hold yours, as much
as you can; for, though you think you're pretty clever, you'd make a
silly kind of ass in a witness-box."

He got off the table, buttoned his coat, and took up his cap. The other
man rose and stood, fidgeting with a silver cigarette-box on the table
and looking from Dene's pale, haggard face to the floor.

"You're--you're behaving like a brick--you're doing me a good turn,
Dene