Then,
suddenly, he had again the feeling that it was all a nightmare; Larry
had never done it; the police had got the right man! But instantly the
memory of the girl's awe-stricken face, her figure huddling on the sofa,
her words "I see him always falling!" came back. God! What a business!
He felt he had never been more clear-headed and forcible than that
morning in court. When he came out for lunch he bought the most
sensational of the evening papers. But it was yet too early for news,
and he had to go back into court no whit wiser concerning the arrest.
When at last he threw off wig and gown, and had got through a conference
and other necessary work, he went out to Chancery Lane, buying a paper
on the way. Then he hailed a cab, and drove once more to Fitzroy Street.
V
Laurence had remained sitting on his bed for many minutes. An innocent
man in no danger! Keith had said it--the celebrated lawyer! Could
he rely on that? Go out 8,000 miles, he and the girl, and leave a
fellow-creature perhaps in mortal peril for an act committed by himself?
In the past night he had touched bottom, as he thought: become ready to
face anything. When Keith came in he would without murmur have accepted
the advice: "Give yourself up!" He was prepared to pitch away the end of
his life as he pitched from him the fag-ends of his cigarettes.
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