s in Enderby this
morning no undue anger, no contempt which could excite anger in
another;--no doubt cast by him upon Hope's honour, or Margaret's purity
of mind, as the world esteems purity. However this might have been
before their meeting of yesterday, it was now clear that, though
immoveably convinced of their mutual attachment, he supposed it to have
been entertained as innocently as it was formed;--that Hope had been
wrought upon by Mrs Grey, and by a consciousness of Hester's love; that
he had married from a false sense of honour, and then discovered his
mistake;--that he had striven naturally, and with success, to persuade
himself that Margaret loved his friend, while Margaret had made the same
effort, and would have married that friend for security and with the
hope of rest in a home of her own, with one whom she might possibly love
and to whom she was bound by his love of herself.

As for the evidence on which his belief was founded, there seemed to be
no end to it. Hope could do little but listen to the detail. If he had
been sitting in judgment on the conduct of an imputed criminal, he would
have wrestled with the evidence obstinately and long; but what could he
do, when it was the lover of his sister-in-law who was declaring why his
confidence in her was gone, and he must resume his plighted faith? None
but those who had done the mischief could repair it; and least of all,
Hope himself. He could only make one single, solemn protestation of his
belief that Margaret had loved none but Enderby, and deny the truth of
every statement that was inconsistent with this.

The exhibition of the evidence showed how penetrating, how sagacious, as
well as how industrious, malice can be. There seemed to be no
circumstance connected with the sisters and their relation to Mr Hope,
that Mrs Rowland had not laid hold of. Mrs Grey's visit to Hope
during his convalescence; his subsequent seclusion, and his depression
when he reappeared--all these were noted; and it was these which sent
Enderby to Mrs Grey for an explanation, which she had not had courage
or judgment to withhold--which, indeed, she had been hurried into
giving. She had admitted all that had passed between herself and Mr
Hope--his consternation at finding that it was Hester who loved him, and
whom he must marry, and the force with which Mrs Grey had felt herself
obliged to urge that duty upon him. Enderby connected with this his own
observations and fee