Once, and once only, did he break
down. On the Wednesday evening he met Barrington Erle, and was asked
by him to go to The Universe. At the moment he became very pale, but
he at once said that he would go. Had Erle carried him off in a cab
the adventure might have been successful; but as they walked, and as
they went together through Clarges Street and Bolton Row and Curzon
Street, and as the scenes which had been so frequently and so
graphically described in Court appeared before him one after another,
his heart gave way, and he couldn't do it. "I know I'm a fool,
Barrington; but if you don't mind I'll go home. Don't mind me, but
just go on." Then he turned and walked home, passing through the
passage in which the murder had been committed.
"I brought him as far as the next street," Barrington Erle said to
one of their friends at the club, "but I couldn't get him in. I doubt
if he'll ever be here again."
It was past six o'clock in the evening when he reached Matching
Priory. The Duchess had especially assured him that a brougham should
be waiting for him at the nearest station, and on arriving there he
found that he had the brougham to himself.
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