Wimsey gently released himself.
"Don't do that, Mrs. Grimethorpe. We might be seen. I am deeply sorry for you, and, if I can get my brother out of this without bringing you in, I promise you I will. But you see the difficulty. Why don't you leave this man? He is openly brutal to you."
She laughed.
"Do you think he'd leave me alive while the law was slowly releasing me? Knowing him, do you think so?"
Wimsey really did not think so.
"I will promise you this, Mrs. Grimethorpe. I will do all I can to avoid having to use your evidence. But if there should be no other way, I will see that you have police protection from the moment that the subpoena is served on you."
"And for the rest of my life?"
"When you are once in London we will see about freeing you from this man."
"No. If you call upon me, I am a lost woman. But you will find another way?"
"I will try, but I can promise nothing. I will do everything that is possible to protect you. If you care at all for my brother—"