'Only one more condition. _J'y suis. J'y reste._ You will call your servant and inform him that I am your wife, and the mistress of this establishment. I think there will be no more earthquakes and broken panels. Alec'--she laid her hand upon his arm--'you should have done this three years ago. I should have saved you. I should have saved myself. Now, whatever happens, we are on the same level--we cannot reproach each other. We shall walk hand in hand. It was done for you, Alec. And I would do it again. Yes--yes--yes. Again!' She repeated the words with flashing eyes. 'Fraud--sham--pretence--these are our servants. We command them. By them we live, and by them we climb. What matter--so we reach the top--by what ladders we have climbed?' She looked around with a gesture of defiance, fine and free. 'The world is all alike,' she said. 'There is no truth or honour anywhere. We are all in the same swim.' The man dropped into his vacant chair. 'We are saved!' he cried. 'Saved!' she echoed. 'Saved! Did you ever see a Court of Justice, Alec? I have. Once, when our company was playing at Winchester, I went to see the Assizes. I remember then wondering how it would feel to be a prisoner. Henceforth I shall understand his sensations. There they stand, two prisoners, side by side--a man and a woman--a pair of them. Found out at last, and arrested and brought up for trial. There sits the Judge, stern and cold: there are the twelve men of the jury, grave and cold: there are the policemen, stony-hearted: there are the lawyers, laughing and talking: there are the people behind, all grave and cold. No pity in any single face--not a gleam of pity--for the poor prisoners. Some people go stealing and cheating because they are driven by poverty. These people did not: they were driven by vanity and greed. Look at them in the box: they are well dressed. See! they are curiously like you and me, Alec'--she was acting now better than she ever acted on the stage--'The man is like you, and the woman--oh! you poor, unlucky wretch!--is like me--curiously, comically like me. They will be found guilty. What punishment will they get? As for her, it was for her husband's sake that she did it. But, I suppose, that will not help her. What will they get, Alec?' He sat up in the chair and heaved a great sigh of relief. 'What are you talking about, my dear? I was not listening. Well; we are saved. It has been a mighty close shave. Another day, and I must have thrown up the sponge. We have a world of work before us; but if you are only half or quarter as clever as you think yourself, we shall do splendidly.' He laid his arm round her waist, and drew her gently and kissed her again. 'So--now you are sensible--what were you talking about prisoners for? No more separations now. Let me kiss away these tears. And now, Zoe--now--time presses. I am anxious to repair my losses. Where are we to find these ghosts? Sit down. To work! To work!' CHAPTER XXIII THE HOUR OF TRIUMPH