But I could not let Mr.
Wilding go to his death.

I sought to detain him, warning him only when I thought it would be too late for him to warn others.

But you delayed overlong, and..." A hoarse inarticulate cry from him came to interrupt her at that point.
One glimpse of his face she had and of the hand half raised with sword pointing towards her, and she closed her eyes, thinking that her sands were run.

And, indeed, Blake's intention was just then to kill her.

That he should owe his betrayal to her was in itself cause enough to enrage him, but that her motive should have been her desire to save Wilding--Wilding of all men!--that was the last straw.
Had he been forewarned that Wilding was to be one of Monmouth's party at Mr.Newlington's, his pulses would have throbbed with joy, and he would have flung himself into his murderous task with twice the zest he had carried to it.