"There are other embarrassments and dangers of which you are not aware. Welbeck is pursued by many persons whom he has defrauded of large sums. By these persons you are deemed an accomplice in his guilt, and a warrant is already in the hands of officers for arresting you wherever you are found."
"In what way," said Mervyn, sedately, "do they imagine me a partaker of his crime?"
"I know not. You lived with him. You fled with him. You aided and connived at his escape."
"Are these crimes?"
"I believe not, but they subject you to suspicion."
"To arrest and to punishment?"
"To detention for a while, perhaps. But these alone cannot expose you to punishment."
"I thought so. Then I have nothing to fear."
"You have imprisonment and obloquy, at least, to dread."
"True; but they cannot be avoided but by my exile and skulking out of sight,—evils infinitely more formidable. I shall, therefore, not avoid them. The sooner my conduct is subjected to scrutiny, the better. Will you go with me to Welbeck?"