Her heart was too pure, her nature too trusting, to entertain a suspicion of wrong.

She had seen him engaged in transactions she did not understand; she had seen him associate with men she did not like, but she never enquired what his motive for so doing was.

How he became acquainted with, and what his business with Topman and Gusher was, had been a mystery to her.

The object was clear enough to her now.

The conversation she had overheard one night between her father and Topman, relative to a meeting at Hanz's house, and getting him to sign a paper purporting to sell them a secret, was all explained.