Silas preferred to suspect a thief

Silas preferred to suspect a thief But when he took up the floorboards near the loom，and saw the empty hole，he did not understand at once．His heart beat violently as his trembling hands felt all round the hole．There was nothing there！He put his hands to his head and tried to think．Had he put his gold in a different place，and forgotten about it？He searched every corner of his small cottage，until he could not pretend to himself any more．He had to accept the truth－his gold had been stolen！

He gave a wild，desperate scream，and stood still for a mo－ment．Then he turned towards his loom，and almost fell into the seat where he always worked．He touched the loom to make sure it，too，had not been stolen．Now he was beginning to think more clearly．‘A thief has been here！If I can find him，he'll have to give back my gold！But I was only away for a short time，and there's no sign of anyone entering the cottage．’He wondered whether it was really a thief who had taken his money，or whether it was the same cruel God who had already destroyed his happiness once．

But Silas preferred to suspect a thief，who would perhaps return the money．He began to think it must be Jem Rodney，a local poacher，who had known about Silas's money，and who sometimes visited the cottage．Silas felt stronger now that he thought he knew the thief．‘I must go and tell the Squire，and the police！’he said to swiped himself．‘They'll make Jem give me back the money！'so he hurried out in the rain without a coat，and ran towards the Rainbow．