’ItisverywellforEamestogoabroad——though，uponmyword，Idon’tknowwhetherIshouldnothavegivenhimdifferentadviceifIhadknownhowmuchIwastobetormentedbyhisabsence。Thethingcouldn’thavehappenedatamoreunfortunatetime；——theMinistrygoingoutandeverything。But，asIwassaying，itisallverywellforhimtodowhathecan。Heisrelatedtothem，andisboundtosavethehonourofhisrelationsifitbepossible。Ilikehimforgoing。Ialwayslikedhim。
AsIsaidtomyfriendDeGuest，\"Thatyoungmanwillmakehisway。\"AndIratherfancythatthechancewordwhichIspokethentomyvaluedoldfriendwasnotthrownawayinEames’sfavour。But，mydearMissDale，wheredidMrCrawleygetthatcheque？That’swhatIwanttoknow。Ifyoucantellmethat，thenIcantellyouwhetherornohewillbeacquitted。’
LilydidnotfeelastrongprepossessioninfavourofSirRaffle，inspiteofhispraiseofJohnEames。Theharshvoiceofthemanannoyedher，andhisegotismoffendedher。When，muchlaterintheevening，hischaractercameonfordiscussionbetweenherselfandMrsThorneandEmilyDunstable，shehadnotawordtosayinhisfavour。Butstillshehadbeenpleasedtomeethim，becausehewasthemanwithwhomJohnny’slifewasmostspeciallyconcerned。Ithinkthataportionofherdisliketohimarosefromthefactthatincontinuingtheconversationhedidnotreverttohisprivatesecretary，butpreferredtoregaleherwithstoriesofhisowndoingsinwonderfulcaseswhichhadpartakenofinterestsimilartothatwhichnowattacheditselftoMrCrawley’scase。
Hehadknownamanwhohadstolenahundredpounds，andhadneverbeenfoundout；andanothermanwhohadbeenarrestedforstealingtwo—and—sixpencewhichwasfoundafterwardsstickingtoabitofbutteratthebottomofaplate。MrsThornehadheardallthis，andhadansweredhim，’Dearme，SirRaffle，’shehadsaid，’whatagreatmanythievesyouhavehadamongstyouracquaintance！’Thishadratherdisconcertedhim，andthentherehadbeennomoretalkingaboutMrCrawley。
IthadbeenarrangedonthismorningthatMrDaleshouldreturntoAllingtonandleaveLilywithMrsThorne。Somespecialneedofhispresenceathome，realorassumed，hadarisen，andhehaddeclaredthathemustshortenhisstayinLondonbyabouthalftheintendedperiod。