I shall not be called again until the trial.""Then you had better go to the magistrates tomorrow morning and take back your evidence," she declared boldly, "for if you do not, I shall be there and I shall tell the truth.""Zoe," he gasped, "don't try me too high. This thing has upset me.
I'm ill. Can't you see it, Zoe? Look at me. I haven't slept for weeks. Night and day I've had the fear - the fear always with me.
You don't know what it is - you can't imagine. It's like a terrible ghost, keeping pace with you wherever you go, laying his icy finger upon you whenever you would rest, mocking at you when you try to drown thought even for a moment. Don't you try me too far, Zoe.
I'm not responsible. Laverick isn't the man you think him to be.
He isn't the man I believed. He did have that money - he did, indeed.""That," she said, "is to be explained. But he is not a murderer.""Listen to me, Zoe," Morrison continued, leaning across the table.
"Come and stay with me for a time and we will go away for a week - somewhere to the seaside. e will talk about this and think it over. I want to get away from London. We will go to Brighton, if you like. must do something for you, Zoe. I'm afraid I've neglected you a good deal. Perhaps I could get you a better part at one of the theatres. I must make you an allowance. You ought to be wearing better clothes."She drew a little away.
"I want nothing from you, Arthur," she said, "except this - that you speak the truth."He wiped his forehead and struck the table before her.
"But, good God, Zoe!" he exclaimed, "do you know what it is that you are asking me? Do you want me to go into court and say - 'That isn't the man... It is I who am the murderer'? Do you want me to feel their hands upon my shoulder, to be put there in the dock and have all the people staring at me curiously because they know that before very long I am to stand upon the scaffold and have that rope around my neck and - "He broke off with a low cry, wringing his hands like a child in a fit of impotent terror. But the girl in front of him never flinched.
"Arthur," she said, "crime is a terrible thing, but nothing in the world can alter its punishment. If it is frightful for you to think of this, what must it be for him? And you are guilty and he is not.""I was mad!" Morrison went on, now almost beside himself. "Zoe, Iwas mad! I called there to have a drink. We were broke, - the firm was broke. I'd a hundred or so in my pocket and I was going to bolt the next day. And there, within a few yards of me, was that man, with such a roll of notes as I had never seen in my life. Five hundred pounds, every one of them, and a wad as thick as my fists.
Zoe, they fascinated me. I had two drinks quickly and I followed him out. Somehow or other, I found that I'd caught up a knife that was on the counter. I never meant to hurt him seriously, but Iwanted some of those notes! I was leaving the next day for Africa and I hadn't enough money to make a fair start. I wanted it - my God, how I wanted money!""It couldn't have been worth - that!" she cried, looking at him wonderingly.
"I was mad," he continued. "I saw the notes and they went to my head. Men do wild things sometimes when they are drunk, or for love. I don't drink much, and I'm not over fond of women, but, my God, money is like the blood of my body to me! I saw it, and Iwanted it and I wanted it, and I went mad! Zoe, you won't give me away? Say you won't!""But what am I to do?" she protested. "He must not suffer.""He'll get off," Morrison assured her thickly. "I tell you he'll get off. He's only to part with the document, which never belonged to him, and the charge will be withdrawn. They know who the murdered man was. They know where the money came from which he was carrying. I tell you he can save himself. You wouldn't dream of sending me to the gallows, Zoe!""Stephen Laverick will never give up that document to those people,"she declared. "I am sure of that.""It's his own lookout," Morrison muttered. "He has the chance, anyway."She turned toward the door.
"I must go away," she said. "I must go away and think. It is all too horrible."He came round the table swiftly and caught at her wrists.
"Listen," he said, "I can't let you go like this. You must tell me that you are not going to give me up. Do you hear?""I can make no promises, Arthur," she answered sadly, "only this -I shall not let Stephen Laverick suffer in your stead."He opened his hand and she shrank back, terrified, when she saw what it was that he was holding. Then he struck her down and without a backward glance fled out of the place.