"I suppose so. Well, it was decided that we should sleep in the same room. That evening when we were alone together she used every artifice and argument that was possible to persuade me to agree to marry him. I haven't the faintest doubt that some of the reasons she tried to urge on me were supplied by Hughes himself. She would not have thought of them by herself. The more I resisted the more vehement she became. She pointed out how much I owed to her and her husband. It was the only chance of safety she had. If I did not marry him, he would most likely abandon her to the chances of the law. If I had the faintest shred of gratitude or friendship for her I ought to do this thing. Why should I hesitate to help her? He was a wealthy man. You can probably imagine the kind of persuasion that she would use." "I can," said Labar, grimly. "Go on." "She lost all control over herself at last. She swore like a fish-wife, and ended by taking an oath that if I did not agree she would accuse me of being her confederate in the forgery of her husband's cheque, and the person who attempted to kill you near Grape Street police station. No one would believe, she said, that I was not mixed up in the crime. In a frenzy she fetched Larry Hughes who, smiling and sardonic, promised that he also would manufacture proof that I was concerned in the Streetly House robbery." "You poor kid," murmured Labar. "And what did you say?" "I told them that I did not care what happened to me. There was nothing on earth that would induce me to agree. Larry laughed and went away. Adèle reviled me like a mad thing for ten minutes or more, and to escape the vituperation I went to bed and pretended to go to sleep. She cooled down at last and I actually did go to sleep. I woke sometime in the middle of the night and found her bending over me. She said I had been moaning and muttering in my sleep and that she had got up to see if there was anything that she could do--but, Harry, there was a knife in her hand. I could swear to that. I feigned to accept her explanation, but I slept no more. In fact, since then I have had very little sleep except at odd hours. I have been afraid." "Ah." Labar's face was stern. "That was the only direct attempt on your life that you know of?" "That was all. She was as friendly as possible in the morning, although both she and Hughes were persistent in trying to persuade me to alter my decision. But I was spared much from him because he has been busy making arrangements to get away." "Yes. I am going to talk to you about that. Tell me now what would you have done had not the chance presented itself for you to escape?" She looked down at her feet and shook her head doubtfully. "I don't know. If I could summon up courage I had made up my mind to kill myself. But I am afraid that if it came to the point I shouldn't have had enough nerve."