Fenton with a sharp inquisitive glance.
"In other words, you would imply that Percival Nowell may have made away
with his daughter. You must have a very bad opinion of human nature, Mr.
Fenton, to conceive anything so horrible."
"My suspicions do not go quite so far as that," said Gilbert. "God forbid
that it should be so. I have a firm belief that Marian Holbrook lives.
But it is possible to get a person out of the way without the last worst
crime of which mankind is capable."
"It would seem more natural to suspect the husband than the father, I
should imagine," Mr. Medler answered, after a thoughtful pause.
"I cannot see that. The husband had nothing to gain by his wife's
disappearance, and everything to lose."
"He might have supposed the father to be dead, and that he would step
into the fortune. He might not know enough of the law of property to be
aware of the difficulties attending a succession of that kind. There is a
most extraordinary ignorance of the law of the land prevailing among
well-educated Englishmen. Or he may have been tired of his wife, and have
seen his way to a more advantageous alliance. Men are not always
satisfied with one wife in these days, and a man who married in such a
strange underhand manner would be likely to have some hidden motive for
secrecy.
Pages:
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422