A House to Let by Adelaide Anne Procter;Charles Dickens;Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell;Wilkie Collins
page 48 of 126 (38%)
page 48 of 126 (38%)
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the man was, and in this he was baffled. He was, consequently, much
irritated. He returned to his uncle and aunt in a state of great annoyance and perplexity, and told them he could get nothing out of the woman; that some man had been in the house the night before; but that she refused to tell who he was. At this moment his wife came in, greatly agitated, and asked what had happened to Norah; for that she had put on her things in passionate haste, and had left the house. "This looks suspicious," said Mr. Chadwick. "It is not the way in which an honest person would have acted." Mr. Openshaw kept silence. He was sorely perplexed. But Mrs. Openshaw turned round on Mr. Chadwick with a sudden fierceness no one ever saw in her before. "You don't know Norah, uncle! She is gone because she is deeply hurt at being suspected. O, I wish I had seen her--that I had spoken to her myself. She would have told me anything." Alice wrung her hands. "I must confess," continued Mr. Chadwick to his nephew, in a lower voice, "I can't make you out. You used to be a word and a blow, and oftenest the blow first; and now, when there is every cause for suspicion, you just do nought. Your missus is a very good woman, I grant; but she may have been put upon as well as other folk, I suppose. If you don't send for the police, I shall." "Very well," replied Mr. Openshaw, surlily. "I can't clear Norah. She won't clear herself, as I believe she might if she would. Only I wash my hands of it; for I am sure the woman herself is honest, and she's lived a long time with my wife, and I don't like her to come to shame." |
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