“Mary, maybe the stranger knows him better than this village does.”
“Much THAT would help Burgess!”
The husband seemed perplexed for an answer; the wife kept a steady eye upon him, and waited. Finally Richards said, with the hesitancy of one who is making a statement which is likely to encounter doubt,
“Mary, Burgess is not a bad man.”
His wife was certainly surprised.
“Nonsense!” she exclaimed.
“He is not a bad man. I know. The whole of his unpopularity had its foundation in that one thing—the thing that made so much noise.”
“That 'one thing,' indeed! As if that 'one thing' wasn't enough, all by itself.”
“Plenty. Plenty. Only he wasn't guilty of it.”
“How you talk! Not guilty of it! Everybody knows he WAS guilty.”
“Mary, I give you my word—he was innocent.”
“I can't believe it and I don't. How do you know?”
“It is a confession. I am ashamed, but I will make it. I was the only man who knew he was innocent. I could have saved him, and—and—well, you know how the town was wrought up—I hadn't the pluck to do it. It would have turned everybody against me. I felt mean, ever so mean; but I didn't dare; I hadn't the manliness to face that.”
Mary looked troubled, and for a while was silent. Then she said stammeringly:
“I—I don't think it would have done for you to—to—One mustn't—er—public opinion—one has to be so careful—so—” It was a difficult road, and she got mired; but after a little she got started again. “It was a great pity, but—Why, we couldn't afford it, Edward—we couldn't indeed. Oh, I wouldn't have had you do it for anything!”
“It would have lost us the good-will of so many people, Mary; and then—and then—”
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