He was acquainted with the wretched story of struggle which had ended in Hood's taking refuge, as a clerk with a mean salary, from the extremities of destitution.

To dismiss the man after private accusation would be to render his prospects worse than ever, for it was easy to whisper here and there the grounds of dismissal.

Emily's mouth would be closed by the necessity of keeping secret her father's dishonesty.

But this revenge fell short of his appetite for cruelty; it would strike the girl herself only indirectly.
And it was possible that her future husband might have it in his power to give her parents aid.

Yet he persuaded himself that the case was otherwise; Emily's secrecy had impressed him with the belief that the match she contemplated was anything but a brilliant one.