Your dear aunt wished to keep the
matter quiet, for the sake of poor Eliza, and her future chances. But I
said--No. Let us have it all out. If there is wrong, we have suffered,
not done it. Concealment is odious to every honest mind."
"Deeply, deeply odious. Upon that point there can be no two
opinions"--he forgets his barrels, thought the Rector--"but surely this
man, whatever his name is--Charleygoes--must have been hiding from you
something in his own history. Probably he had a wife already. City men
often do that when young, and then put their wives somewhere when
they get rich, and pay visits, and even give dinners, as if they were
bachelors to be sought after. Was Charleygoes that sort of a man?"
"His name is 'Shargeloes,' a name well known, as I am assured, in the
highest quarters. And he certainly was not sought after by us, but came
to me with an important question bearing on ichthyology. He may be a
wanderer, as you suggest, and as all the ladies seem to think. But my
firm belief is to the contrary. And my reason for asking you about him
is a very clear one. He had met you twice, and felt interest in you as
a future member of our family. You had never invited him to the castle;
and the last intention he expressed in my hearing was to call upon you
without one. Has he met with an accident in your cellars? Or have your
dogs devoured him? He carried a good deal of flesh, in spite of all he
could do to the contrary; and any man naturally might endeavour to hush
up such an incident.
Pages:
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552