"Do so at your peril."
"You threaten me, vile wretch? Be careful. The measure of your iniquity is nearly full. Punishment must soon overtake you; your misdeeds are well known; your complicity with—"
Why should he tell her? Why warn her of the net that was closing round her, and thus help her to escape from the toils?
But she had caught at his words.
"Complicity?" she repeated, anxiously. "With whom?"
"No matter. Only look to yourself. It is war, war to the knife, unquenchable war between us, remember that."
And with these words he left the house.
Although she had shown a bold front, Mrs. Wilders, as we shall still call her, was greatly agitated by this stormy scene, and it was with a blanched cheek and faltering step that she sought her confederate in the next room.
Mr. Hobson was gone.
"Coward! he has easily taken alarm. To desert me at the moment that I most need advice and help!"