case would inevitably come out; Emily had friends in Dunfield, and if her father’s guilt were once disclosed, there would be no reason for her concealment of what had happened; facts like these put forward in mitigation of punishment would supply the town with a fearful subject of comment—­nay, was he safe from the clutch of the law?  Of these things he had not troubled to think, so assured was he that the mere threat would suffice.  From his present point of view it was easy enough to see that the plot had been a wretched piece of bungling; in failing of its end it became the project of a simpleton.  Had the girl herself been cool enough to see this?  Did she defy him in knowledge of the weakness of his position?  Probably not; in that case she would have spoken differently she had granted, and clearly with sincerity, his power to do what he threatened.  And then the fact remained that he could injure Hood irremediably by means short of criminal proceedings.  Emily—­his reasoning was accurate enough—­had not been careful to distinguish between modes of injury, where each meant ruin.

What he dared to do, he would.  He was acquainted with the wretched story of struggle which had ended in Hood’s taking refuge, as a clerk with a mean salary, from the extremities of destitution.  To dismiss the man after private accusation would be to render his prospects worse than ever, for it was easy to whisper here and there the grounds of dismissal.  Emily’s mouth would be closed by the necessity of keeping secret her father’s dishonesty.  But this revenge fell short of his appetite for cruelty; it would strike the girl herself only indirectly.  And it was possible that her future husband might have it in his power to give her parents aid.  Yet he persuaded himself that the case was otherwise; Emily’s secrecy had impressed him with the belief that the match she contemplated was anything but a brilliant one.  Could he devise no graver hurt?  Through the Sunday afternoon and the night which followed, he pondered ceaselessly on means of evil, delighted to flesh his fangs even in imagination.  Many a vile plan dwelt with him which he knew he durst not put into practice.  Monday morning came and found him no further than the crime which had first suggested itself.  Fevered with eagerness to accomplish that at least, he left home earlier than usual.  It might be that the day would bring fresh counsel.

To Emily the hours following upon her visit to the house on the Heath had brought unnatural quietness.  Physical suffering troubled her, but the energies of her mind were for the time expended; the aching of her brow involved thought in sluggishness.  She did not shun her parents, and even talked with them in a listless way; solitude would have been irksome to her just now.  For once she felt glad of her mother’s way of spending Sunday; to sit inactive was all that she desired.  It was understood that her head distressed her.