I could neither reason nor cry out, and I had an agonised hope that I was not really awake, and that this was just such a nightmare as had afflicted me on the night of the murder at our door. I crouched on the lower stairs, and listened.... "Yes, I've got it," said my grandfather, answering an eager question. "There it is. Look at that--count the notes." I heard a hasty scrabbling of paper. "Right?" asked my grandfather. "Quite right," Viney answered; and there was exultation in his voice. "Pack 'em up--put 'em safe in your pocket. Quite safe? There's the watch, too; I paid for that." "Oh, the watch? Well, all right, I don't mind having that too, since you're pressing.... You might ha' saved a deal of trouble, yours an' mine too, if you'd done all this before." "Yes, you're right; but I clear up all now. You've got the notes all quite safe, have you?" "All safe." There was the sound of a slap on a breast-pocket. "And the watch?" "Ay; and the watch." "Good!..." I heard a bounce and a gasp of terror; and then my grandfather's voice again. "Come! Come, Viney! We'll be quits to the end. We're bad men both, an' we'll go to the police together. Bring your papers, Viney! Tell 'em about the _Florence_ an' Dan Webb, an' I'll tell 'em about the _Juno_ an' my boy! I've got my witnesses--an' I'll find more--a dozen to your one! Come, Viney! I'll have justice done now, on both of us!" I could stay no longer. Viney was struggling desperately, reasoning, entreating. I pushed open the staircase door, but neither seemed to note me. My grandfather had Viney by arm and collar, and was shaking him, face downward. "I'll go halves, Kemp--I'll go halves," Viney gasped hoarsely. "Divide how you like--but don't, don't be a fool! Take five hundred! Think o' the boy!" "I've thought of the boy, an' I've thought of his father! God'll mind the boy you've made an orphan! Come!" My grandfather flung wide the door, and tumbled Viney up the steps into the court. The little table with the lamp on it rocked from a kick, and I saved it by sheer instinct, for I was sick with terror. I followed into the court, and saw my grandfather now nearly at the street corner, hustling and dragging his prisoner. "Dan! Dan!" Viney was crying, struggling wildly. "Dan! I've got it! Draw him off me, Dan! Go for the kid an' draw him off! Go for the kid on the stairs!" And I could see a man come groping between the wall and the posts, a hand feeling from one post to the next, and the stick in the other hand scraping the wall. I ran out to the farther side of the alley. Viney's shout distracted my grandfather's attention, and I saw him looking anxiously back. With that Viney took his chance, and flung himself desperately round the end post. His collar went with a rip, and he ran. For a moment my grandfather stood irresolute, and I ran toward him. "I am safe here," I cried. "Come away, grandfather!"