Page:Gaskell--A dark night's work.djvu/152

Rh which was generally attributed to Dunster’s disappearance with a good large sum belonging to the firm in his possession. But Mr. Corbet thought otherwise; he had accustomed himself to seek out the baser motives for men’s conduct, and to call the result of these researches wisdom. He imagined that Dunster had been well paid by Mr. Wilkins for his disappearance, which was an easy way of accounting for the derangement of accounts and loss of money that arose, in fact, from Mr. Wilkins’s extravagance of habits and growing intemperance.

On the Monday afternoon he said to Ellinor, “Mr. Ness interrupted us yesterday in a very interesting conversation. Do you remember, love?”

Ellinor reddened and kept her head still more intently bent over a sketch she was making.

“Yes; I recollect.”

“I have been thinking about it. I still think she ought to tell her lover that such disgrace hung over him—I mean, over the family with whom he was going to connect himself. Of course, the only effect would be to make him stand by her still more for her frankness.”

“Oh! but, Ralph, it might perhaps be something she ought not to tell, whatever came of her silence.”

“Of course there might be all sorts of cases. Unless I knew more I could not pretend to judge.”