We may take it that Jellicoe is of the same opinion as I am: that John Bellingham is dead." "Still," I urged, "men do disappear from time to time, and turn up again after years of absence." "Yes, but for a definite reason.

Either they are irresponsible vagabonds who take this way of shuffling off their responsibilities, or they are men who have been caught in a net of distasteful circumstances.

For instance, a civil servant or a solicitor or a tradesman finds himself bound for life to a locality and an occupation of intolerable monotony.
Perhaps he has an ill-tempered wife, who, after the amiable fashion of a certain type of woman, thinking that her husband is pinned down without a chance of escape, gives a free rein to her temper.

The man puts up with it for years, but at last it becomes unbearable.

Then he suddenly disappears; and small blame to him.