I could not imagine why Captain Nichols had married her, and having married her why he had not deserted her. Perhaps he had, often, and his melancholy arose from the fact that he could never succeed. However far he went and in howsoever secret a place he hid himself, I felt sure that Mrs. Nichols, inexorable as fate and remorseless as conscience, would presently rejoin him. He could as little escape her as the cause can escape the effect.

上面最后一句：

He could as little escape her as the cause can escape the effect.

我理解有困难，

1) 第一个疑惑就是as little escape her 怎么理解和分析？如果写成 He could escape her as little as the cause can escape the effect. 可否？

2) 第二个疑惑就是这里的little是副词，修饰动词escape的程度吗？是“几乎不“的否定意思吗？比较的就是“几乎不”的程度吗？

3) 第三个疑惑就是为什么前面是could,后面用了can呢？