It is not that he is a bigamist and betrayer
of innocence that his redemption seems impossible through the means
employed; but how can Catharine Gaunt love a coward and sneak, even in
the wisdom which a court of justice has taught her? This furious and
stupid traitor is afraid to appear and save his wife lest he be branded
in the hand; and we are to pardon him because, at no risk to himself, he
gives the worthless blood of his veins to rescue her from death. If the
fable teaches anything in Griffith Gaunt's case, it is this: Betray two
noble women, and after some difficulty you shall get rid of one, be
forgiven by the other, come into a handsome property, and have a large
and interesting family. If the reader will take the fate of Griffith
Gaunt and contrast it with that of Tito Melema, in "Romola," he shall
see all the difference that passes between an artificial and an artistic
solution of a moral problem.
Defective art is noticeable in the minor as well as the principal
features of the _denouement_ of Griffith Gaunt. There is the case of the
unhappy little baby of Mercy. It is plain that the infant is a
stumbling-block in its mother's path to Neville Cross; but we have
scarcely begun to lament its presence, when it is swiftly put to death
by a special despatch from the obliging destiny of the _denouement_.
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