"We went into the sitting-out room. 'Some one will be coming in here,' he
objected. 'Is there a room upstairs where we can talk?'
"'There is a room up there,' I answered, as steadily as my indignation
would let me, and unheeding the idea of compromising myself I went up the
dark staircase in front of him. Naturally the idea that our stormy
interview was to have a witness would have been the last thing to enter
my mind; it never occurred to me to make sure no one was already in the
room when we entered it.
"You know what happened, Mr. Gifford, so I need not go through that. The
man showed himself the cowardly bully that he was. Somehow up there
alone with him, as at least I thought, in the dark, my courage gave way,
and it was only when the man sought in his vehemence to take hold of me
that anger and disgust cast out fear. It was quite by accident that I
touched and caught up the chisel lying on the window-sill. As the man's
hand sought me it struck the edge of the chisel, and got a wound; that
must have been how the blood came upon my dress. He seized my arm, and
after a struggle wrenched the implement away.
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