Chapter 23 - Page 2

remember," I said, "is how you got out of the
window. But I didn't know when I saw you, it was you or anyone else.
That was my Second State then. The shot seemed to end all. What
comes next is quite different. It belongs to the new world. There,
my life stopped dead short and began all over again."

There was a moments silence. Jack was the first to break it.

"And now will you give yourself up to the police, Una?" he asked me
quietly.

The question brought me back to the present again with a bound.

"Oh! what ought I to do?" I cried, wringing my hands. "I don't quite
know all yet. Jack, why did you run away that last moment and leave
me?"

Jack took my hand very seriously.

"Una, my child," he said, fixing his eyes on mine, "I hardly know
whether I can ever make you understand all that. I must ask you at
first at least just simply to believe me. I must ask you to trust me
and to accept my account. When you rushed upon me as I stood there,
all entangled in that hateful apparatus, and unable to move, I
didn't know where you had been; I didn't know how you'd come there.
But I felt sure you must have heard at least your false father's
last words--that he'd stifle me with the chloroform and burn my
body up afterwards to ashes with his chemicals. You seized the
pistol before I could quite recover from the effects of the fumes.
He lay dead at my feet before I realised what was happening.

"Then, in a moment, as I looked at you, I took it all in, like a
flash of lightning. I saw how impossible it would be ever to
convince anybody else of the truth of our story. I saw if we both
told the truth, no one would ever believe us. There was no time then
to reflect, no time to hesitate. I had to make up my mind at once to
a plan of action, and to carry it out without a second's delay. In
one burst of inspiration, I saw that to stop would be to seal both
our fates. I didn't mind so much for myself; that was nothing,
nothing: but for your sake I felt I must dare and risk everything.
Then I turned round and looked at you. I saw at one glance the
horror of the moment had rendered you speechless and almost
senseless. The right plan came to me at once as if by magic. 'Una,'
I cried, 'stand back! Wait till the servants come!' For I knew the
report of the revolver would soon bring them up to the library. Then
I waited myself. As they reached the door, and forced it open, I
jumped up to the window. Just outside, my bicycle stood propped
against the wall. I let them purposely catch just a glimpse of my
back--an unfamiliar figure. They saw the pistol on the floor,--Mr.
Callingham dead--you, startled and horrified--a man unknown,
escaping in