Sir George seized upon this indiscreet admission as soon as it suited his purpose. She did not know how the two exactly apportioned the money they wrung from her, but she had an idea that the greater part of it went to the elder man, who lost it at the gaming-table almost as quickly as it came into his hands. The five thousand pounds handed over to her by her first husband’s instructions, together with the few hundreds left her by her father, had gone to satisfy the insatiable demands of this pair of miscreants. There were still a few pieces of jewellery which had not yet been realized, amongst them the “birthday” necklace. Soon these would have to go the way of the others. It was necessary to find some other sources of supply; to Sir George’s acute mind the safe presented an obvious solution, there was always something of value inside it. For a long time she fought obstinately against their efforts to make her a criminal, but in the end—cowed by that terrible threat of exposure, her will-power weakened by these long years of secret suffering—she gave in. Fully conversant with the safe’s mechanism, fully acquainted with the movements of her husband and his secretary, having free access to his room during the absence of both, it was for her a comparatively easy task. She carried out the first robbery, a most fruitful one for those who engineered it, and this resulted in the disgrace of Croxton and his banishment from his benefactor’s house. She carried out the second, although she vehemently warned the two scoundrels that as Richard was no longer a member of the household, suspicion might easily be diverted into other quarters. Her arguments had no influence on them. Morrice, while sure of the guilt of his secretary, had spared him. If discovery did ensue, he would be equally sure to keep silence about his own wife. The third time she opened the safe on her own initiative, driven to do so by a fit of remorse. The second robbery, it will be remembered, had produced poor results, the booty being inconsiderable and a portion of it valueless to the persons into whose hands it fell. It struck the distraught woman that in putting back the Swiss notes and the packet of private papers, she was making an act of reparation. CHAPTER XXIX SIR GEORGE IS ARRESTED The long narrative was finished. Three times had Miss Buckley opened the door, intimating by that action that it was time the interview was concluded, and each time Mrs. Morrice had signalled to her to withdraw. It only remained now for the wretched woman to sign the confession admitting her guilt, and clearing Richard Croxton in the eyes of those who held him in regard. Had Rosabelle been present she would have shed compassionate tears over those passages in which Mrs. Morrice described the mental tortures she had suffered through the machinations of this evil pair.