"Hush," she said, flushing scarlet for one brief moment, and putting out her hand. "No more. All is over, and done with. The past is dead, and I am dead with it. Not a word of me."
"But if--if--" he touched his coat-pocket. "I must first know what is to become of you."
"Must you?" she said, and the faintest possible alteration came in her voice--a little, little softening, and a slight touch of surprise. "I think you might have known that I shall live until I know you are no longer living."
"Sorry to interrupt you, ma'am," said the policeman who had brought Harriet to the cell, unlocking the door with sharp suddenness--"very sorry, I'm sure; but--"
"I am quite ready," said Harriet; and, as Routh started up, she turned, and was outside the door in an instant. Two policemen were in the passage; at the door through which she had been led from the court, Routh's solicitor was standing. He took her arm in his, and brought her away by a private entrance. They did not speak till she was in the street, where she saw, at a little distance, a crowd collected to watch the exit of the prison-van. He called a cab.
"Where to?"
"My house."
"I will go with you."
"No, thank you. Indeed, I would rather go alone."
"I shall see you this evening."