He returned at once to Holloway, all but
resolved to throw up the game--to abandon the effort to defend
himself, and wait for what might result from the judicial
investigations. Adela resisted this to the uttermost. She understood
that such appearance of fear would be fatal to him. With a knowledge
of Demos which owed much to her last night's experience, she urged
to him that behind his back calumny would thrive unchecked, would
grow in a day to proportions altogether irresistible. She succeeded
in restoring his courage, though at the same time there revived in
Mutimer the savage spirit which could only result in harm to
himself.
'This is how they repay a man who works for them!' he cried
repeatedly. 'The ungrateful brutes! Let me once clear myself, and
I'll throw it up, bid them find someone else to fight their battles
for them. It's always been the same: history shows it What have I
got for myself out of it all, I'd like to know? Haven't I given them
every penny I had? Let them do their worst! Let them bark and bray
till they are hoarse!'
He would have kept away from Clerkenwell that evening, but even this
Adela would not let him do. She insisted that he must be seen and
heard, that the force of innocence would prevail even with his
enemies. The couple of hours he passed with her were spent in
ceaseless encouragement on her side, in violent tirades on his.
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