it. And I
wondered, at every moment, how I could keep my promise. The boy was a
criminal, deserving to be hanged, no doubt, but the naked mother's heart
that had dabbed against my fingers overwhelmed me.

Almost in a flash, I thought, we were in the grounds and before Crewe's
house. Then I noticed lights and a confusion of voices. No one came to
meet us. And we got out of the motor and went in through the open door.
We found a group of excited servants. An old butler began to stammer to
Marion.

"It was his heart, Miss... the doctor warned the attendants. But he
got away to-night. It was overexertion, Miss. He fell just now as the
attendants brought him in." And he flung open the library door.

On a leather couch illumined by the brilliant light, Crewe lay; his
massive relentless face with the great bowed nose, like the iron cast
of what Marion had called a Nietzsche creature, motionless in death; his
arms straight beside him with the great gloved hands open.

And all at once, at the sight, with a heavenly inspiration, I kept my
promise.

"Look!" I cried. "Oh, everybody, how the palms of his gloves are covered
with rust!"

XIII. The Pumpkin Coach

The story of the American Ambassadress was not the only one related on
this night.

Sir Henry Marquis himself added another, in support of the contention of
his guest... and from her own country.

The lawyer walked about the room. The restraint which he had assumed was
now quite abandoned.

"That's all there is to it," he said. "I'm not trying this case for
amusement. You have the money to pay me and you must bring it up here
now, tonight."

The woman sat in a chair beyond the table. She was young, but she looked
worn and faded. Misery and the long strain of the trial had worn her
out. Her hands moved nervously in the frayed coat-cuffs.

"But we haven't any more money," she said. "The hundred dollars I paid
you in the beginning is all we have."

The man laughed without disturbing the muscles of his face. "You
can take your choice," he said. "Either bring the money up here now,
to-night, or I withdraw from the case when court opens in the morning."

"But where am I to get any more money?" the woman said.

The lawyer was a big man. His hair, black and thin, was brushed close to
his head as though wet with oil; his nose was thick and flattened at
the base. The office contained only a table, some chairs and a file for
legal papers. Night was beginning