“’"I gave him the notes, and he folded them and put them in his pocket-book.  Then I turned towards the door, and, without the slightest warning, I felt myself suddenly gripped by the shoulder, while a handkerchief was pressed to my nose and mouth.  I struggled as best I could, but the handkerchief was saturated with chloroform, and I soon lost consciousness.  I hazily remember the man saying to me in short, jerky sentences, spoken at intervals while I was still weakly struggling: 

“’"’What a fool you must think me, my dear sir!  Did you really think that I was going to let you quietly walk out of here, straight to the police-station, eh?  Such dodges have been done before, I know, when a man’s silence has to be bought for money.  Find out who he is, see where he lives, give him the money, then inform against him.  No you don’t! not this time.  I am off to the Containing with this L10,000, and I can get to Newhaven in time for the midday boat, so you’ll have to keep quiet until I am the other side of the Channel, my friend.  You won’t be much inconvenienced; my landlady will hear your groans presently and release you, so you’ll be all right.  There, now, drink this—­that’s better.’  He forced something bitter down my throat, then I remember nothing more.

“’"When I regained consciousness I was sitting in an arm-chair with some rope tied round me and a wool shawl round my mouth.  I hadn’t the strength to make the slightest effort to disentangle myself or to utter a scream.  I felt terribly sick and faint."’

“Mr. Reginald Pepys had finished reading, and no one in that crowded court had thought of uttering a sound; the magistrate’s eyes were fixed upon the handsome lady in the magnificent gown, who was mopping her eyes with a dainty lace handkerchief.

“The extraordinary narrative of the victim of so daring an outrage had kept every one in suspense; one thing was still expected to make the measure of sensation as full as it had ever been over any criminal case, and that was Mrs. Morton’s evidence.  She was called by the prosecuting counsel, and slowly, gracefully, she entered the witness-box.  There was no doubt that she had felt keenly the tortures which her husband had undergone, and also the humiliation of seeing her name dragged forcibly into this ugly, blackmailing scandal.

“Closely questioned by Mr. Reginald Pepys, she was forced to admit that the man who blackmailed her was connected with her early life in a way which would have brought terrible disgrace upon her and upon her children.  The story she told, amidst many tears and sobs, and much use of her beautiful lace handkerchief and beringed hands, was exceedingly pathetic.