He did not wish now to avoid it.

A prison was a place as safe from certain unlawful vengeances as the grave, with this advantage, that in a prison there is room for hope.

What he saw before him was a term of imprisonment, an early release and then life abroad somewhere, such as he had contemplated already, in case of failure.

Well, it was a failure, if not exactly the sort of failure he had feared.

It had been so near success that he could have positively terrified Mr Vladimir out of his ferocious scoffing with this proof of occult efficiency.