Amid the morbid excitations of the fear of death, he had
forgotten that in strict truth he had not stolen a penny from his
great-aunt, that he was utterly innocent. He now vividly remembered
that his sole intention in taking possession of the bank-notes had
been to teach his great-aunt a valuable lesson about care in the
guarding of money. Afterwards he had meant to put the notes back where
he had found them; chance had prevented; he had consistently acted for
the best in very sudden difficulties, and after all, in the result, it
was not he who was responsible for the destruction of the notes, but
Rachel.... True, that in the night his vision of the affair had been
less favourable to himself, but in the night illness had vitiated his
judgment, which was not strange, seeing the dreadful accident he had
experienced.... He _might_ have died, and where would Rachel
have been then?... Was it not amazing that a young wife who had just
escaped widowhood so narrowly could behave to a husband, a seriously
sick husband, as Rachel was behaving to him?
He wished that he had not used the word "collar" in confessing to
Rachel. It was equal to "steal." Its significance was undebatable.
Yes, "collar" was a grave error of phrasing.
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