Page:Gaskell - North and South, vol. II, 1855.djvu/349

 rick, they ca'ad him—her brother as was over here, yo' known."

"Over here."

"Ay, to be sure, at th' missus's death. Yo' need na be feared of my telling; for Mary ad me, we knowed it all along, only we held our peace, for we got it through Mary working in th' house."

"And he was over. It was her brother!"

"Sure enough, and I reckoned yo' knowed it, or I'd never ha' let on. Yo' knowed she had a brother?"

"Yes, I know all about him. And he was over at Mrs. Hale's death?"

"Nay! I'm not going for to tell more. I've maybe getten them into mischief already, for they kept it very close. I nobbut wanted to know if they'd getten him cleared?"

"Not that I know of. I know nothing. I only hear of Miss Hale, now, as my landlord, and through her lawyer."

He broke off from Higgins, to follow the business on which he had been bent when the latter first accosted him; leaving Higgins baffled in his endeavour.

"It was her brother," said Mr. Thornton to himself. "I am glad. I may never see her again; but it is a comfort—a relief—to know that much. I knew she could not be unmaidenly; and yet I yearned for conviction. Now I am glad!"

It was a little golden thread running through the dark web of his present fortunes; which were growing ever gloomier and more gloomy. His agent had largely trusted a house in the American trade,