“I told them that I did not care what happened to me. There was nothing on earth that would induce me to agree. Larry laughed and went away. Adèle reviled me like a mad thing for ten minutes or more, and to escape the vituperation I went to bed and pretended to go to sleep. She cooled down at last and I actually did go to sleep. I woke sometime in the middle of the night and found her bending over me. She said I had been moaning and muttering in my sleep and that she had got up to see if there was anything that she could do⁠—but, Harry, there was a knife in her hand. I could swear to that. I feigned to accept her explanation, but I slept no more. In fact, since then I have had very little sleep except at odd hours. I have been afraid.”

“Ah.” Labar’s face was stern. “That was the only direct attempt on your life that you know of?”

“That was all. She was as friendly as possible in the morning, although both she and Hughes were persistent in trying to persuade me to alter my decision. But I was spared much from him because he has been busy making arrangements to get away.”