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at the Light Street chapel．He realized how his once lonely life had changed since Eppie had come to him Now he had friends，and trusted people，and was happy． And he began to see that the God in the Raveloe church was the same God he had been so angry with，the last time he had been to the chapel．It seemed to him that there had been some mistake in his past，which had thrown a dark shadow over his early life Perhaps now he would never know whether Mr Paston，the chapel minister，still thought he was guilty of stealing．And he would never dis－cover why the drawing of the lots had seemed to prove his guilt．‘But there must be a Good of goodness in this world，’he thought，‘because He sent Eppie to me．I must just trust，and believe that He is right。'
He had told Eppie how her mother had died in the snow，and he had given her the dead woman's wedding ring．Eppie was not at all interested in who her real father was，as she thought she had the best father in the world already．At the moment she was sitting close to Silas outside their door in the sunshine．Neither of them had spoken for a while．
‘Father，'she said gently，‘if I get married，do you think I should wear my mother's ring？’
‘Oh，Eppie！'said Silas，surprised．‘Are you thinking of get－ting married，then？’
‘Well，Aaron was talking to me about it，'replied Eppie，blushing．‘You know he's nearly twenty…four now，and is earning good money， and he'd like to marry soon．’
‘And who would he like to marry？’asked Silas with rather a sad smile．
‘Why，me，of course，daddy！'said Eppie，laughing and kiss－ing her father．‘He won't want to marry anyone else！’
‘And you'd like to marry him，would you？’asked Silas．
‘Yes，one day．I don't know when．Aaron says everyone's married some time．But I told him that's not true，because you haven't ever been married，have you，daddy？’
‘No，child，'said Silas．‘I was a lonely man before you were sent to me．’
‘But you'll never be lonely again，father，'said Eppie loving－ly．‘That's what Aaron said．He doesn't want to take me away from you．He wants us all to live together，and he'll do all the work，and you needn't work at all，father．He'll be like a son to you．’
‘Well，my child，you're young to be married，'said Silas．‘But he's a good young man．We'll ask his mother what we should do．She always gives us good advice．You see，Eppie，I'm getting older，and I'd like to think of you with a strong young husband to take care of you for the rest of your life．Yes，we'll ask Dolly Winthrop for her opinion．’
9 Godfrey confesses at last
At the Red House Nancy was waiting patiently for God－frey to come home to tea．Suddenly one of the servants ran into the sitting…room，crying excitedly，‘Madam，there are lots of people in the street！They're all running the same way，towards the quarry！Perhaps there's been an accident！’
‘Jane，don't get so excited，'replied Nancy calmly．‘I ex…pect it's nothing serious．Go and get the tea ready．Mr Godfrey will be back soon．’But secretly she was saying to herself，‘I hope nothing's happened to Godfrey！’
So when he came into the room，a few minutes later，she was very relieved．‘My dear，I'm so thankful you've come，'she said，going towards him．‘I was beginning to think—’
She stopped suddenly when she saw Godfrey's shaking hands and white face．She put her hand on his arm，but he did not seem to notice，and threw himself into a chair．
‘Sit down—Nancy，’he said with difficulty．‘I came back as soon as I could，to prevent anyone telling you except me． It's terrible news for me， but I'm more worried about how you will feel about it．’
‘It isn't father or Priscilla？'said Nancy，trying to control her trembling lips．
‘No，it's nobody living，'said Godfrey．‘It's Dunstan，my brother，who left home sixteen years ago and never came back．We've found him…found his body—all that's left of it—in the old quarry．
Nancy felt calmer now．That was not terrible news．
‘You know the men have been draining our fields near the quarry．Well，as a result， the quarry has suddenly gone dry，and we've found him lying at the bottom． We know it's him be－cause he's wearing his watch and his rings．’
Godfrey paused．It was not easy to say what came next．
‘Do you think he drowned himself？’asked Nancy，wonder－ing why her husband was so shaken by the death of a brother he had never loved．
‘No，he fell in，'replied Godfrey in a low voice．‘Dunstan was the man who robbed Silas Marner．The bags of gold were found with his body．’
‘Oh Godfrey！I am sorry！'said Nancy．She understood how ashamed her husband must be．The Casses were so proud of their family name．
‘I had to tell you．I couldn't keep it from you，’Godfrey continued，and then stopped，looking at the ground for two long minutes．Nancy knew that he had something more to say．Finally Godfrey lifted his eyes to her face，and said，‘Every－body's secrets are discovered sooner or later，Nancy．I've lived with a secret ever since I married you，but I'm going to confess it now．I don't want you to discover it from someone else，or hear about it when I'm dead，I was weak and hesitating when I was younger—I'm going to be firm with myself now．’
Nancy could not speak．She stared at her husband in horror．What secret could he possibly have from her？
‘Nancy，'said Godfrey slowly，‘when I married you，I hid something from you—I was wrong not to tell you．That woman Silas Marner found dead in the snow—Eppie's moth er—that poor woman—was my wife．Eppie is my child．’
He paused，looking worriedly at Nancy．But she sat quite still，although her face looked rather white．
Perhaps you won't be able to love me any more，’he said，his voice trembling a little．
She was silent．
I was wrong，I know I was wrong to marry Molly and then to keep it a secret．But I loved you，Nancy，I only ever wanted to marry you．
Still Nancy was silent，looking down at her hands．And God frey almost expected her to get up and say she would leave him and go to live with her father and sister．She was so religious，and so firm in her ideas of right and wrong！
But at last she lifted her eyes to his and spoke．She did not sound angry，but only sad．‘Oh Godfrey，why didn't you tell me this long ago？ I didn't know Eppie was yours and so I re fused to adopt her．Of course I'd accept your child into our home！But—oh，Godfrey—how sad to think we've spent all these years with no children！Why didn't you confess the truth before we married？We could be so happy now，with a beautiful daughter，who would love me as her mother！'tears were running down Nancy's face But Nancy，’cried Godfrey，bitterly angry with himself，‘ I couldn't tell you everything！I was in danger of losing you if I told you the truth！’
‘I don't know about that，Godfrey．I certainly never want－ed to marry anyone else But it wasn't worth doing wrong just so that you could marry me．And our marriage hasn't been as happy for you as you thought it would be There was a sad smile on Nancy's face as she said the last words．
‘Can you ever