She had relinquished her post as governess, and was staying temporarily in a room near the coach-office, where she expected him to call in the morning to carry out the business of their union and departure.
'Wisely or foolishly, Mademoiselle V--- came to a resolution: that her only safety lay in flight.

His contiguity influenced her too sensibly; she could not reason.

So packing up her few possessions and placing on the table the small sum she owed, she went out privately, secured a last available seat in the London coach, and, almost before she had fully weighed her action, she was rolling out of the town in the dusk of the September evening.
'Having taken this startling step she began to reflect upon her reasons.
He had been one of that tragic Committee the sound of whose name was a horror to the civilized world; yet he had been only one of several members, and, it seemed, not the most active.

He had marked down names on principle, had felt no personal enmity against his victims, and had enriched himself not a sou out of the office he had held.

Nothing could change the past.