Naturally, the subeditor of _Stock and Share_' preserved a certain reticence in the matter; but one could hardly be mistaken in assuming that the directors of the Britannia Company--two or three of them, at all events--had an opportunity of surveying their position long before the hour when this momentous news got abroad.
With regard to the company's affairs, only conjecture could be as yet indulged in.

In view of the immediate stoppage of business, it was pretty safe to surmise that alarming disclosures awaited the public.

No one, of course, would be justified in prejudging the case against the unhappy man who, amid seemingly brilliant circumstances, had been driven to so desperate an act.
And so on, and so on, in one journal after another, in edition upon edition.

Harvey Rolfe read them till he was weary, listened to the gossip of the club till he was nauseated.

He went home at length with a headache, and, having carefully avoided contact with Buncombe or Mrs Handover, made an effort to absorb himself in a volume of Gregorovius, which was at present his study.