It set me trying to trace the
explanation of her conduct, at the time of the loss of the Moonstone,
out of the strange avowal which had just escaped her. I might perhaps
have done it when I was younger. I certainly couldn't do it now.
I tried a last remonstrance before we returned to the house. She was
just as immovable as ever. My mind was in a strange conflict of feelings
about her when I left her that day. She was obstinate; she was wrong.
She was interesting; she was admirable; she was deeply to be pitied. I
made her promise to write to me the moment she had any news to send.
And I went back to my business in London, with a mind exceedingly ill at
ease.
On the evening of my return, before it was possible for me to receive
my promised letter, I was surprised by a visit from Mr. Ablewhite the
elder, and was informed that Mr. Godfrey had got his dismissal--AND HAD
ACCEPTED IT--that very day.
With the view I already took of the case, the bare fact stated in the
words that I have underlined, revealed Mr. Godfrey Ablewhite's motive
for submission as plainly as if he had acknowledged it himself. He
needed a large sum of money; and he needed it by a given time.
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