"
"To what place?"
"Ben asked no questions. If he doesn't know where Mr. Hallam went to,
he can't say as he does. It's best to know nowt, if you are asked."
"O Martha!"
"Hush, dearie! Thou must go and sleep now. Thou's fair worn out.
To-morrow'll do for crying."
But sleep comes not to those who call it. Elizabeth in the darkness
saw clearly, in the silence felt, the stir and trouble of a stormy
sea surging up to her feet. It was not sleep she needed, so much as
that soul-repose which comes from a decided mind. Her attitude toward
her own little world and toward Richard was still uncertain. She had
not felt able to face either subject as yet.
Two days after her return the papers were full of her brother's failure
and flight. Many hard things were said of Antony Hallam; and men
forgave more easily the reckless speculation which had robbed them,
than the want of manly courage which had made him fly from the
consequences of his wrongdoing. It was a bitter ordeal for a woman
as proud as Elizabeth to face alone. But she resented most of all that
debt of shame which had prevented her devoting the income of Hallam
to the satisfaction of her brother's creditors. For them she could
do nothing, and some of them were wealthy farmers and traders living
in the neighborhood of Hallam, and who had had a blind faith in the
integrity and solvency of a house with a Hallam at the head of it.
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