Page:Eliot - Adam Bede, vol. III, 1859.djvu/81

Rh one—by sea—and no soul would know where he was gone. If anything happened to him? or, if he absolutely needed help in any matter concerning Hetty? Mr Irwine was to be trusted; and the feeling which made Adam shrink from telling anything which was her secret, must give way before the need there was that she should have some one else besides himself, who would be prepared to defend her in the worst extremity. Towards Arthur, even though he might have incurred no new guilt, Adam felt that he was not bound to keep silence when Hetty's interest called on him to speak.

"I must do it," said Adam, when these thoughts which had spread themselves through hours of his sad journeyig, now rushed upon him in an instant, like a wave that had been slowly gathering; "it's the right thing. I can't stand alone in this way any longer."