But now,--how was it now?
Could it still be done?
Then the whole thing might have been hidden, buried in darkness.

Now it was already in the mouths of all men.

But still, if these witnesses were made to disappear,--if this woman herself by whom the charge was made would take herself away--then the trial must be abandoned.

There would be a whispering of evil,--or, too probably, the saying of evil without whispering.

A terrible injury would have been inflicted upon her and his boy;--but the injury would be less than that which he now feared.
And there was present to him through all this a feeling that the money ought to be paid independently of the accusation brought against him.
Had he known at first all that he knew now,--how he had taken their all from these people, and how they had failed absolutely in the last great venture they had made,--he would certainly have shared their loss with them.