CHAPTER VII.
RUSHEDGE, A CONFESSIONAL.
Everybody said it was high time for Mr. Moore to return home: all Briarfield wondered at his strange absence, and Whinbury and Nunnely brought each its separate contribution of amazement.
Was it known why he stayed away? Yes: it was known twenty—forty times over; there being, at least, forty plausible reasons adduced to account for the unaccountable circumstance. Business, it was not—that the gossips agreed: he had achieved the business on which he departed long ago: his four ringleaders he had soon scented out and run down; he had attended their trial, heard their conviction and sentence, and seen them safely shipped prior to transportation.
This was known at Briarfield: the newspapers had reported it: the "Stilbro' Courier" had given every particular, with amplifications. None applauded his perseverance or hailed his success; though the mill-owners were glad of it, trusting that the terrors of Law vindicated would henceforward paralyze the sinister valour of disaffection. Disaffection, however,
