"If I tell you where it is will you let me get it?" she asked.
"Let you get it? And then get away with it? I should say not. I'll get it myself."
She shook her head stubbornly.
"No. We'll get it together. You can stand over me, you can watch every move I make, but——I take the bills out and divide 'em. Don't make any mistake about that."
He frowned at this ultimatum, but she saw the spirit of greed shining in his eyes. Thank God, the other danger was past.
"You can divide the bills. Come on."
Anton went to the green door and turned the key.
"You go first. And remember, kid, if you try any crafty work, I'm right at your back and—if I don't get that money, the police get you."
She nodded indifferently and led the way along a dark passage, then down a narrow servants' staircase that ended in a door opening into the conservatory. As they moved on cautiously Anton kept his hand firmly on the girl's shoulder and, somehow, Hester was glad of this, for the half-darkness and the violence of the storm frightened her. She had no thought any longer of escaping. She had done her best and failed. She had played her last card and lost.
This man had forced her to choose between being a thief and a wanton and—well, she had been a thief before. To save her body from prison and—a worse fate, she was ready to give Anton half of this stolen money, she must give it to him, she had no choice, and the other half, her half, she would return this to the bishop. That was all she could do.