She was horrified when she thought of what might happen if nothing were done.

She entreated Van Torp to answer that he would take steps to defend himself; and that, if possible, he would come to town so that they might consult together.
She finished her letter and went to bed; but her good nerves failed her for once, and it was a long time before she could get to sleep.
It was absurd, of course, but she remembered every case she had ever heard of in which innocent men had been convicted of crimes they had not committed and had suffered for them; and in a hideous instant, between waking and dozing, she saw Rufus Van Torp hanged before her eyes.
The impression was so awful that she started from her pillow with a cry and turned up the electric lamp.

It was not till the light flooded the room that the image quite faded away and she could let her head rest on the pillow again, and even then her heart was beating violently, as it had only beaten once in her life before that night..