Sevenoaks turned the cold shoulder to him.

Nobody went to him with the reports that connected him with the flight and fate of the crazed inventor, yet he knew, through instincts which men of his nature often possess in a remarkable degree, that he was deeply blamed for the causes of Benedict's misfortunes.

It has already been hinted that at first he was suspected of knowing guiltily more about the disappearance of the fugitives than he would be willing to tell, but there were only a few minds in which the suspicion was long permitted to linger.

When the first excitement passed away and men began to think, it was impossible for them to imagine motives sufficiently powerful to induce the rich proprietor to pursue a lunatic pauper to his death.
Mr.Belcher never had encouraged the neighborly approaches which, in an emergency like this, might have given him comfort and companionship.
Recognizing no equals in Sevenoaks--measuring his own social position by the depth of his purse and the reach of his power--he had been in the habit of dispensing his society as largess to the humble villagers.

To recognize a man upon the street, and speak to him in a familiar way, was to him like the opening of his purse and throwing the surprise of a dollar into a beggar's hat.