"Could you not take the money you owe him out of my fortune? Oh, I would give him the half of all I possess—nay, the whole of it, if that would satisfy him."
"Kitty," said Eversleigh, in so despairing a voice, that it made her start in a sudden terror that he was about to do something desperate. "Kitty, I see I must tell you everything. Indeed, I should have told you everything sooner, but I am a weak, cowardly wretch. For nearly two months I have endured tortures every hour and every moment, ever since the day Silwood told me that he had embezzled—that is the bitter word—and appropriated to his own use for speculations on the Stock Exchange the money and property of our clients—yours, Kitty, along with the rest. And I, fool that I was, never knew anything of it! I suspected nothing. It was the expected coming of your father which made Silwood speak out. Kitty, the part of your fortune which was in our charge has gone—it does not exist."
Kitty was silent.
"Why do you not reproach me?" inquired Eversleigh. "There is nothing you would say that I should not deserve."
And then he saw she was crying quietly. But it was not for the loss of the greater part of her fortune.
"How you must have suffered!" she said, through her tears.
And now the man broke down helplessly and wept like a child.
"I must save him," she said to herself with determination. "If there is no other way, then I must marry Mr. Bennet."
But even while she felt strong enough to carry out her purpose, there was a great cry of desolation in her heart; she tried to still it with the thought that there was something in the world even higher than love.