Silas Marner Chapter 18

Godfrey returns home just then with startling news: Dunsey's skeleton has been found in the Stone-pits, now that the Stone-pit has suddenly gone dry from the draining. Dunsey had fallen into the waters and drowned; he was the robber of Silas Marner's money.

Unable to keep his secret past to himself, Godfrey finally confesses his past to Nancy, for Dunsey's death makes him realize that the truth will always come out, one way or the other. He tells her that the dead woman Silas had found in the snow was his wife, and that Eppie is his child. Godfrey admits shamefully that he should have taken the child in, but he was scared that he might lose Nancy's love if he did so. When Nancy speaks, she is not angry, only regretful. She tells him that she would not have refused to take Eppie in, if she had known that she is his daughter. She then becomes angry with him for not telling her sooner - she might have had a daughter to love, and Godfrey might have been happier with her. Godfrey declares that they can still take Eppie in, now that he does not mind if the town knows the truth. Nancy acknowledges that it will be different for them and for Eppie, as she is a young woman fully able to make her own choices and go by her own free will. They decide to see Silas Marner that very night.