Lord Rufford was very angry about the poison in the covert and would probably be ready to pay very handsomely for having the criminal found and punished.
The criminal of course was Goarly.

Nickem did not doubt that for a moment, and would not have doubted it whichever side he might have taken.

Nickem did not suppose that any one for a moment really doubted Goarly's guilt.

But to his eyes such certainty amounted to nothing, if evidence of the crime were not forthcoming.

He probably felt within his own bosom that the last judgment of all would depend in some way on terrestrial evidence, and was quite sure that it was by such that a man's conscience should be affected.