But what harm could the telling of such a secret do him? The girl was his own daughter! The money had been his own money! The man had been his own servant! There had been no fraud; no robbery; no purpose of peculation. Melmotte, as he thought of this, became almost proud of what he had done, thinking that if the evidence were suppressed the knowledge of the facts could do him no harm. But the evidence must be suppressed, and with the view of suppressing it he took the little bag and all the papers down with him to the study. Then he ate his breakfast,--and suppressed the evidence by the aid of his gas lamp.

But what harm could the telling of such a secret do him? The girl was his own daughter! The money had been his own money! There had been no fraud; no robbery. Melmotte, as he thought of this, became almost proud of what he had done. But the evidence must be suppressed, so he took the bag and all the papers down with him to the study. Then he ate his breakfast - and suppressed the evidence by the aid of his gas lamp.
