Nor was there anyone in the court beyond, near enough or interested enough to note my presence or observe any effort I might make at immediate departure.

With the hope riding high within my breast that I should yet reach the street before my crime was discovered, I made for the nearest exit.

But I was not destined to reach it.

When I was only some half a dozen paces from the great door, Correy's cry rang loudly through the building, with the result that all egress was shut off, and I was left, with no other aid than my own assurance, to face my hideous deed with all its appalling consequences.
"How it served me, you have seen.

Steeled by a sense of my own danger, I was able to confront the woman whom I had so deeply wronged,--whom I had even endeavored to kill,--and ply her with those questions upon whose answers depended not only my honor, but my very life.
"My cold-blooded absorption in my own security, and her almost superhuman devotedness, must have given the Powers cognizant of mortal lives a new lesson in human nature.