Everybody said it was high time for Mr. Moore to return home. All Briarfield wondered at his strange absence, and Whinbury and Nunnely brought each its separate contribution of amazement.
Was it known why he stayed away? Yes. It was known twenty--forty times over, there being at least forty plausible reasons adduced to account for the unaccountable circumstance. Business it was not--_that_ the gossips agreed. He had achieved the business on which he departed long ago. His four ringleaders he had soon scented out and run down. He had attended their trial, heard their conviction and sentence, and seen them safely shipped prior to transportation.

Everybody said it was high time for Mr. Robert Moore to return home. The gossips agreed that it was not business that kept him away. He had finished that long ago. He had soon run down his four ringleaders; he had attended their trial, heard their conviction and sentence, and seen them safely shipped prior to transportation.
