Dorothy made no attempt to deny the terrible imputation which the speaker's words conveyed. The thing was so continually present to her own mind that the idea did not occur to her of even pretending not to understand. The question she put tacitly admitted the truth of the whole tale of horror at which the other only remotely hinted. "Do--do the others know?" "You mean--the family? I should think by now they do; I know Mr Parkes started off to tell 'em." "Perhaps--perhaps that's--why no one's been near me. "I daresay. I shouldn't be surprised if I was the only friend you'd got in the house, truly! The truth is--though, mind you, there's no one in the place so much as guesses at it--the truth is, I have had trouble in my own family, so that gives me a sort of fellow-feeling--I know from bitter experience what them police are; no one sha'n't get into trouble if I can help it, I don't care who it is; so, if you take my advice, off you go as far as ever you can; because it's no use waiting till them police come before you start--not much it's not!" "Why--why should I go?" "Why? Well, if you don't know, I don't!--why!" "Mrs Vernon herself may have sent for the police." "Of course she may; I expect a hundred pounds is a hundred pounds to her as well as to anybody else." "Then, if you think so, why shouldn't I let them come and find me here? I'm tired of--of running away--of hiding!" "Don't be so silly. It makes me feel as if I'd got the rope round my own neck to hear you talk. You don't know what hanging is--I do! My--a relative of mine was hanged, he was; and my mother, she's told me, often and often, that the last three months she was carrying me she used to wake every night feeling that the rope was round her neck, and she used to have to get it off quick for fear it choked her. It happened just before I came--see? And before I was born she used to wonder if I should feel it because she did--and I have; ever since I was a small kid I have; and I shall again to-night. I lay I shall; I shall be as nearly hanged to-night as I can be without being quite. And that's why I say to you, don't be silly--you don't know what it feels like to be hanged." The speaker paused; she would have laid her hand on the other's arm, only Dorothy shrank back, shivering. She noted the action, commenting on it in a fashion of her own. "You needn't be afraid of me, miss; you needn't really. There's no harm about me; not a morsel. I couldn't help what happened, it was before my time; and I can't help feeling like that--can I?" She waited, as if for an answer; when none came she went on: "What I was going to say is--I'm told that Miss Frances is a friend of yours!" "We--we were at school together."