He thought she was right—the knowledge must inevitably come to her. “It may be better to tell you, Maria,” he said. “George used the bonds for his own purposes.”
A dread pause. Maria’s throat was working. “Then—it must have been he who took them from the strong-room!”
“It was.”
The shivering came on palpably now. “What will be the consequences?” she breathed.
“I do not know. I dread to think. Lord Averil may institute a prosecution.”
Their eyes met. Maria controlled her emotion, with the desperate energy of despair. “A—criminal—prosecution?”
“It is in his power to do it. He has not been near me to-day, and that looks unfavourable.”
“Does he know it yet—that it was George?”
“He must know it. In fact, I think it likely, he may have received official notice of it from town. The report has spread from thence—and that is how it has become known in Prior’s Ash.”
Maria moistened her dry lips, and swallowed down the lump in her throat ere she could speak. “Would it be safe for him to return here?”