The general opinion was that she must have been murdered, and every pond was dragged, every ditch examined, for a distance round the farm.

In the meantime George Lechmere held his tongue.
"It is better," he said to himself, "that her parents and friends should think her dead than know the truth." He seldom spoke to anyone, but went doggedly about his work.

His father and mother, knowing how passionately he had been attached to Martha, were not surprised at his strange demeanour, though they wondered that he took no part in the search for her.
They had their trouble, too, for although they never breathed a word of their thoughts even to each other, there was, deep down in their hearts, a fear that George knew something of the girl's disappearance.

His intense jealousy had been a source of grief and trouble to them.

Previous to his engagement to Martha he had been everything they could have wished him.