That he was a hard man, austere to utter pitilessness, everybody averred.

No transgressor need look to him for pardon.
When Roland Sefton had laid his hands upon the private personal securities belonging to his senior partner, it was with no idea that he would escape the most rigorous prosecution, should his proceedings ever come to the light.

But it was with the fixed conviction that Mr.
Clifford would never return to England, or certainly not to Riversborough, where this hard report had been circulated and partly accepted concerning him.

The very bonds he had dealt with, first borrowing money upon them, and at last selling them, had been bequeathed to him in Mr.Clifford's will, of which he was himself the executor.

He had, as he persuaded himself, only forestalled the possession of them.
But a letter he had received from Mr.Clifford, informing him that he was on his way home, with the purpose of thoroughly investigating the affairs of the bank, had fallen like a thunderbolt upon him, and upon Acton, through whose agency he had managed to dispose of the securities without arousing any suspicion.
Early the next morning Mr.Clifford arrived at the bank, and heard to his great surprise that his partner had started for London, and had been away the day before; possibly, Madame Sefton suggested with some anxiety, in the hope of meeting him there.