every blow, instead of only when you gave it a jerk. "And you were roughly handled by Sergeant Simpkins?" he suggested eagerly. "Very," she said, with a certain reluctance. "But I expect the poor fellow was as excited as I was when I tried to beat him off." "I suppose you hardly knew what you were doing, Lady Vera?" "Not only that, Doctor Dollar, but I didn't know what I had done." "Thank God for that!" "But did you imagine it for a moment? That's the whole point and explanation of everything that has happened. The worst was over in a few seconds, in the thick of that awful fog, but, of course I never dreamt what I had done. I did think that I had knocked him out. But that was all that ever entered my head until this very morning."[Pg 49] [Pg 49] "Were you close to your broken window at the time?" "Very close, and yet out of sight in the fog." "And you had seen nothing of this man Croucher, and his hand in the affair?" "Not after I'd done my part. I did just before. I'm certain it was the same huge man that they describe. But I heard the whole thing while we were struggling. They were blowing a police-whistle and calling out 'Thieves!' I remember hoping that the policeman would hear them, and let me go. But I suppose his blood was up, as well as mine." "And after you had—freed yourself?" said the doctor, trying not to set his teeth. "I ran off, of course! I knew that I had done much more than I ever intended; but that's all I knew, or suspected, even when I found this horrid thing open in my hand. I tried to shut it again, but couldn't. So I hid it in my dress, and ran up Dover Street to my club, where I put it straight into a bag that I had there. Then I made myself decent and—turned out again with a proper hammer."[Pg 50] [Pg 50] The doctor groaned; he could not help it. Yet it was his first audible expression of disapproval; he had restrained himself while all the worst was being told; and the girl's face acknowledged his consideration. Her color had come at last. Thus far, in
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