The Shadow of the Rope

recognized the chamber at a glance; it was the one in which generations of metropolitan malefactors, and a few innocent persons like herself, had waited fo

her in a chair; the prison doctor s

s," said h

een conscious

ind. You

he restorative wi

face. The blood ran hot in her veins. In a m

pass further on your kindness, and I am s

to congratulate you. At the same time, my dear madam, and quite apart from your condition-which is wonderful to me after what

chel heard. Overheard-outside-in the world-the

at is

set her

ngly urge you not to court a demonstration of one sort or the other. You are best where you are for the time being, or a

ed Rachel, in a voic

ers for discussion between you, and he at least seems very anxious to discuss them. I

ndness and sympathy during these few minutes. But to him I owe nothing that I cannot pay in cash. He tried to keep me from telling my own story in the box-they all di

e first to admi

ilty to the very end; and I utt

hall tell

did Mrs. Minchin intend to do? Where did she propose to go? There were a hundred matters for explanation and arrangement. Her

I mean to do and where I may go, are entirely my own affair. And as for the hundred matters he mentions, he might have

o had secured the case for notoriety and nothing else. Rachel's soul sickened when she thought of her interviews, and especially her most recent interviews, with one whom she had never seen before her trouble, and whom she devoutly hoped never to see again

e had prepared herself rather for another life than for a new lease of this one; and, while seeking to steel her soul to the awful sequel of a conviction, in the other direction she had seldom looked bey

l friend. And yet, with the very independence to which this isolation was largely due, she m

he same might be said of the address. But it was enough for Rachel that she knew no one of the name. The Chief Warder, one of the kindliest mortals, displayed no little irritation under her repeated refusals; but it was the agent, and not the principal, who was so importunate; and the

was nothing to listen to. "The coast's as clear as the Criminal Court," explained this pleasant offic

rose

on't think I will take a cab, thank you, if there's an undergro

thin five minutes. But you wil

in; but you may give what I leave to any poor woman who cares to have them. And I hope

evertheless, Rachel's trifle was a piece of gold, and one of her last. Nor was this pure generosity. There was an u

beyond! Rachel raised her veil to see them better. Who would look for her afoot so near the scene of her late ordeal? And what did it matter who

after all; but the hansom was occupied, and the impulse passed. She put down her veil and turned into the str

' verdic'! Acquittal o' Mrs.

ain, she thought herself the luckiest woman in London, and revelled rather than otherwise in the very considerations which had appalled her in the precincts of the court. How good, after all, to be independent as well as free! How great to drift with the tide of innocent women and law-abiding men, once more one of themselves,

er an unnecessary look; and he called her "madam" into the bargain! After all, it was not every policeman who had

er right, she could scarcely have failed to recognize the good-looking, elderly man who was at her heels when she took her ticket at Blackfriars Bridge. His white hair was covered by his hat, but

entered an empty compartment in the first class, she

and in the comparatively fierce light of the first-class compartment, she was terribly afraid that he might look once too often at her. But this f

professional report was less full and less accurate than the one which she carried in her brain and would carry to her grave. Not that the speeches mattered now. It was no speech that had saved her; it was her own story, from her own lips, that the lawyers would have closed! Rachel forgave them now; she was almost grateful to them fo

you think o

hat station or the last. Rachel sat breathless behind her evening paper. Not to answer might be to fasten suspicion upon her widow's weeds; and, for all her right to look mankind in the face, she shrank instinctively from immediate recognition. T

aps a couple of seconds, and th

nd, for she had never an instant's doubt that

perfect courtesy; "it only struck me that we might both be read

the least interrogation in her tone. "Yes, I was reading it, as

ere was a sudden raising of the bushy eyebrows in the oppo

g into a smile; "I was not aware that I

were amazed," sa

int-blank. "Do you mean to tell me th

ng stare with one at least as steady, and yet holding her breath for very fear

you followe

ve," sighed

you believe this

d

an that; but Rachel was very fresh f

you do not," she merely

on; "on the contrary, my dear madam, I believe

inference from so pointed a pronouncement, and yet agai

now." The stations had come and gone, until now they were at Victoria. The speaker looked out of the window, until they were off again, and off b

ure. But there was a kindness in his look th

sition! I fear that everybody will not share your conviction, and, I may add, my own. If one can judge thus early by what one has heard and seen for oneself, this verd

ace, she heard it in his voice; and becoming gradually alive to his will to help her, as she instinctively was to his power, she had herself the will to consult one whose good intention and better tact were alike obvious. Mystery there was in her meeti

she must-if ever she did or will! Well, if she does,

rk eyes fascinated her. She began to feel a strange repugnance-and yet more strange attraction. But to the latter

almost whispered leaning towards her.

her limited capacity for pretence. She sat more upright in her corner, her shoulders fell in angles, and beneath t

efore," said Rachel, cool

ery possible

u at the

irst to

really broken by the light

dly; "I have seen that for some ti

a

o sent me his car

l bo

rfect st

o had watched you for a w

red the rel

, Mr. Steel, you have followed m

topped, and

versation," observed Steel; and he opened the door

ll, and that I above all women should feel supremely grateful; but

ial," said Steel, col

was no little sting in the intonation of the verb; but Mr. S