Yer thought Ada wasn't goin'ter hell fast enough,an'yer'd give 'er a shove.An'I see now why yer did it.Yer wanted ter step into 'er shoes,an''andle my money.It wasn't me yer wanted.I might 'ave known that.
It was the shop that yer were always talkin'about.An'if yer 'adn't walked in at that door just now,I should never 'ave suspected.Screamin'funny,ain't it?She wasn't much loss,but she was a thousand times better than the ladylike devil that killed her.I don't know 'ow the law stands in a case like this.Yer may be safe from that,but yer've got me ter deal with first.Yer led me on with yer damned airs to believe in things I've never dreamt of before.An'now yer've killed the best in me as sure as yer murdered my wife.Well,yer must pay for that,too."Clara sat on the chair like one in a trance.She understood in a numbed kind of way that something dreadful was going to happen.O God,she had never meant to do wrong!And if this was the punishment,let it come quickly.Jonah had been walking backwards and forwards with nervous steps,and she noted every detail of his person with a fixed stare.The early repugnance to his deformity returned with horror as she studied the large head,wedged between the shoulders as if a giant's hand had pressed it down,the projecting hump,and the unnaturally long arms ending in the hard,hairy fist of the shoemaker.
She felt that he was going to kill her.She wanted to speak,to cry out that she was not so guilty as he thought,but her tongue was like a rasp.
Suddenly Jonah stopped in front of her.Her stony silence had maddened him,and in a moment he was transformed into the old-time larrikin,accustomed to demand an eye for an eye,a tooth for a tooth.He rushed at her with a cry like an animal,and caught her by the throat with his powerful hands.But the contact of his fingers with that delicate flesh that he had never dared to touch before brought him to his senses.Aviolent shudder shook him like ague,his fingers relaxed,and with a sobbing cry,dreadful to hear,he dragged the fainting woman to her feet and pushed her towards the door,crying "Go,go,for God's sake!"She walked unsteadily through the shop with a face the colour of chalk,hearing and seeing nothing.The red-letter sale was in full swing.Acrowd of customers jostled one another as they passed in and out;the coins clinked merrily in the till.Miss Giltinan caught sight of her face,and wondered.Half an hour later,growing suspicious,she ran upstairs,and knocked at the door on a pretext of business.Hearing nothing,she opened the door,with her heart in her mouth,and looked in.