ealizing that Marner is out of the cottage, Dunstan takes the opportunity and goes in and steals
             all his money. After finding out that he has been robbed, Silas Marner walks downtown to the Rainbow Inn, and tells the town what has happened. This becomes the talk of the town. Many men pitch in to help him figure out who could be the theft. Meanwhile, Dunstan does not return home and no one knows where he is. On a snowy New Years Eve, a little toddler wonders into Silas Marner's cottage and falls asleep by the fire. Marner is very nearsighted, so when he sees the little girl's blonde curls, he mistakes it for his stolen gold. When he realizes that it is a little girl, he walks outside, follows her footsteps in the snow, and comes upon a dead woman on the ground. Marner carries the little girl down to Squire Cases house where the town is having a big New Year's Eve party. He tells them what has happened, and when Godfrey looks up, he recognizes the little girl, because she is his daughter. To no surprise, when Godfrey gets to Marner's cottage, he sees that the dead woman is his secret wife. The men of the town agree to let Silas Marner keep the little girl. Marner names her Eppie after his late sister. He raises her, takes her to church, and comes to love her as his very own daughter. The people of Raveloe start talking to Marner and even help him out with raising Eppie. Dolly Winthrop, in particular, gives Marner advice about how to raise Eppie and frequently comes over with her little boy named Aaron. After sixteen years have passed, Eppie is eighteen years old. She is very fond of Aaron Winthrop and even talks of marriage with him. Godfrey and Nancy are married, but are childless. One day, when Marner is working in his yard, he starts pulling out stones from the stone-pit beside his cottage and finds Dunstan's skeleton and the bag of gold laying beside him. He had drowned the night he stole...