Archie's
flight, you see, made further investigation impossible; and there
was no putting on oath, no cross-examination."
"Then you think those three had it?"
"We can think nothing else, knowing Archie as we did. Raymond
showed his suspicions so strongly, that old Proudfoot threw up all
agencies for our property, and there has been a kind of hostility
ever since. Poor Vivian, as you know, came to his sad end the next
year, but he had destroyed all his papers; and George Proudfoot has
been dead four or five years, but without making any sign. Moy has
almost risen above the business, and--see, there's Proudfoot Lawn,
where he lives with the old man. He claims to compete with the
county families, and would like to contest Wils'bro' with Raymond."
"And Jenny?" asked Anne. "Did she bear it as a Christian? I know
she would."
"She did indeed--most nobly, most patiently. Poor girl! at her own
home she knew she stood alone in her faith in Archie's innocence;
but they were kind and forbearing, and kept silence, and the
knowledge of our trust in him has bound her very close to us.
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