I allow it to myself as mere shameless indulgence. More
is known against you than this--things which have gone farther and
fared worse. You are not young and you are facing years of life
in prison. Your head will be shaved--your hands worn and blackened
and your nails broken with the picking of oakum. You will writhe
in hopeless degradation until you are done for. You will have
time, in the night blackness if of your cell, to remember--to see
faces--to hear cries. Women such as you should learn what hell on
earth means. You will learn."
When he ended, the woman hung with her back to the wall she had
staggered against, her mouth opening and shutting helplessly but
letting forth no sound.
He took out an exquisitely fresh handkerchief and touched his
forehead because it was damp. His eyes were still appalling, but
his voice suddenly dropped and changed.
"I have allowed myself to feel like a madman," he said. "It has
been a rich experience--good for such a soul as I own."
He went downstairs and walked home because his carriage had taken
Robin and Mademoiselle back to the slice of a house.
CHAPTER XXIV
Von Hillern made no further calls on Mrs. Gareth-Lawless. His return
to Berlin was immediate and Fraulein Hirsch came no more to give
lessons in German. Later, Coombe learned from the mam with the
steady, blunt-featured face, that she had crossed the Channel on
a night boat not many hours after Von Hillern had walked away from
Berford Place.
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