We interviewed a "machine," and drove out to Little Kirkton. There, we told our tale in the fewest words possible to the obliging and good-natured U.P. minister. He looked, as the station-master had said, "soft-hearted"; but he dashed our hopes to the ground at once by telling us candidly that unless we had had our residence in Scotland for twenty-one days immediately preceding the marriage, it would not be legal. "If you were Scotch," he added, "I could go through the ceremony at once, of course; and then you could apply to the sheriff to-night for leave to register the marriage in proper form afterward: but as one of you is English, and the other I judge"--he smiled and glanced towards Harold--"an Indian-born subject of Her Majesty, it would be impossible for me to do it: the ceremony would be invalid, under Lord Brougham"s Act, without previous residence."
This was a terrible blow. I looked away appealingly. "Harold," I cried in despair, "do you think we could manage to hide ourselves safely anywhere in Scotland for twenty-one days?"
His face fell. "How could I escape notice? All the world is hunting for me. And then the scandal! No matter where you stopped--however far from me--no, Lois darling, I could never expose you to it."
The minister glanced from one to the other of us, puzzled. "Harold?" he said, turning over the word on his tongue. "Harold? That doesn"t sound like an Indian name, does it? And----" he hesitated, "you speak wonderful English!"
I saw the safest plan was to make a clean breast of it. He looked the sort of man one could trust on an emergency. "You have heard of the Ashurst will case?" I said, blurting it out suddenly.
"I have seen something about it in the newspapers; yes. But it did not interest me: I have not followed it."
I told him the whole truth; the case against us--the facts as we knew them. Then I added, slowly, "This is Mr. Harold Tillington, whom they accuse of forgery. Does he look like a forger? I want to marry him before he is tried. It is the only way by which I can prove my implicit trust in him. As soon as we are married, he will give himself up at once to the police--if you wish it, before your eyes. But married we must be.
_Can"t_ you manage it somehow?"
My pleading voice touched him. "Harold Tillington?" he murmured. "I know of his forebears. Lady Guinevere Tillington"s son, is it not? Then you must be Younger of Gledcliffe." For Scotland is a village: everyone in it seems to have heard of every other."
"What does he mean?" I asked. "Younger of Gledcliffe?" I remembered now that the phrase had occurred in Mr. Ashurst"s will, though I never understood it.
"A Scotch fashion," Harold answered. "The heir to a laird is called Younger of so-and-so. My father has a small estate of that name in Dumfriesshire; a _very_ small estate: I was born and brought up there."
"Then you are a Scotchman?" the minister asked.
"Yes," Harold answered frankly: "by remote descent. We are trebly of the female line at Gledcliffe; still, I am no doubt more or less Scotch by domicile."
"Younger of Gledcliffe! Oh, yes, that ought certainly to be quite sufficient for our purpose. Do you live there?"
"I have been living there lately. I always live there when I"m in Britain. It is my only home. I belong to the diplomatic service."
"But then--the lady?"
"She is unmitigatedly English," Harold admitted, in a gloomy voice.
"Not quite," I answered. "I lived four years in Edinburgh. And I spent my holidays there while I was at Girton. I keep my boxes still at my old rooms in Maitland Street."
"Oh, that will do," the minister answered, quite relieved; for it was clear that our anxiety and the touch of romance in our tale had enlisted him in our favour. "Indeed, now I come to think of it, it suffices for the Act if one only of the parties is domiciled in Scotland. And as Mr.
Tillington lives habitually at Gledcliffe, that settles the question.
Still, I can do nothing save marry you now by religious service in the presence of my servants--which const.i.tutes what we call an ecclesiastical marriage--it becomes legal if afterwards registered; and then you must apply to the sheriff for a warrant to register it. But I will do what I can; later on, if you like, you can be re-married by the rites of your own Church in England."
"Are you quite sure our Scotch domicile is good enough in law?" Harold asked, still doubtful.
"I can turn it up, if you wish. I have a legal handbook. Before Lord Brougham"s Act, no formalities were necessary. But the Act was pa.s.sed to prevent Gretna Green marriages. The usual phrase is that such a marriage does not hold good unless one or other of the parties either has had his or her usual residence in Scotland, or else has lived there for twenty-one days immediately preceding the date of the marriage. If you like, I will wait to consult the authorities."
"No, thank you," I cried. "There is no time to lose. Marry us first, and look it up afterwards. "One or other" will do, it seems. Mr. Tillington is Scotch enough, I am sure; he has no address in Britain but Gledcliffe: we will rest our claim upon that. Even if the marriage turns out invalid, we only remain where we were. This is a preliminary ceremony to prove good faith, and to bind us to one another. We can satisfy the law, if need be, when we return to England."
The minister called in his wife and servants, and explained to them briefly. He exhorted us and prayed. We gave our solemn consent in legal form before two witnesses. Then he p.r.o.nounced us duly married. In a quarter of an hour more, we had made declaration to that effect before the sheriff, the witnesses accompanying us, and were formally affirmed to be man and wife before the law of Great Britain. I asked if it would hold in England as well.
"You couldn"t be firmer married," the sheriff said, with decision, "by the Archbishop of Canterbury in Westminster Abbey."
Harold turned to the minister. "Will you send for the police?" he said, calmly. "I wish to inform them that I am the man for whom they are looking in the Ashurst will case."
Our own cabman went to fetch them. It was a terrible moment. But Harold sat in the sheriff"s study and waited, as if nothing unusual were happening. He talked freely but quietly. Never in my life had I felt so proud of him.
At last the police came, much inflated with the dignity of so great a capture, and took down our statement. "Do you give yourself in charge on a confession of forgery?" the superintendent asked, as Harold ended.
"Certainly not," Harold answered. "I have not committed forgery. But I do not wish to skulk or hide myself. I understand a warrant is out against me in London. I have come to Scotland, hurriedly, for the sake of getting married, not to escape apprehension. I am here, openly, under my own name. I tell you the facts; "tis for you to decide; if you choose, you can arrest me."
The superintendent conferred for some time in another room with the sheriff. Then he returned to the study. "Very well, sir," he said, in a respectful tone, "I arrest you."
So that was the beginning of our married life. More than ever, I felt sure I could trust in Harold.
The police decided, after hearing by telegram from London, that we must go up at once by the night express, which they stopped for the purpose.
They were forced to divide us. I took the sleeping-car; Harold travelled with two constables in a ordinary carriage. Strange to say, notwithstanding all this, so great was our relief from the tension of our flight, that we both slept soundly.
Next morning we arrived in London, Harold guarded. The police had arranged that the case should come up at Bow Street that afternoon. It was not an ideal honeymoon, and yet, I was somehow happy.
At King"s Cross, they took him away from me. Still, I hardly cried. All the way up in the train, whenever I was awake, an idea had been haunting me--a possible clue to this trickery of Lord Southminster"s. Petty details cropped up and fell into their places. I began to unravel it all now. I had an inkling of a plan to set Harold right again.
The will we had proved----but I must not antic.i.p.ate.
When we parted, Harold kissed me on the forehead, and murmured rather sadly, "Now, I suppose it"s all up. Lois, I must go. These rogues have been too much for us."
[Ill.u.s.tration: I HAVE FOUND A CLUE.]
"Not a bit of it," I answered, new hope growing stronger and stronger within me. "I see a way out. I have found a clue. I believe, dear Harold, the right will still be vindicated."
And red-eyed as I was, I jumped into a hansom, and called to the cabman to drive at once to Lady Georgina"s.
XII
THE ADVENTURE OF THE UNPROFESSIONAL DETECTIVE
"Is Lady Georgina at home?" The discreet man-servant in sober black clothes eyed me suspiciously. "No, miss," he answered. "That is to say--no, ma"am. Her ladyship is still at Mr. Marmaduke Ashurst"s--the late Mr. Marmaduke Ashurst, I mean--in Park Lane North. You know the number, ma"am?"
"Yes, I know it," I replied, with a gasp; for this was indeed a triumph.
My one fear had been lest Lord Southminster should already have taken possession--why, you will see hereafter; and it relieved me to learn that Lady Georgina was still at hand to guard my husband"s interests.
She had been living at the house, practically, since her brother"s death. I drove round with all speed, and flung myself into my dear old lady"s arms.
"Kiss me," I cried, flushed. "I am your niece!" But she knew it already, for our movements had been fully reported by this time (with picturesque additions) in the morning papers. Imagination, ill-developed in the English race, seems to concentrate itself in the lower order of journalists.
She kissed me on both cheeks with unwonted tenderness. "Lois," she cried, with tears in her eyes, "you"re a brick!" It was not exactly poetical at such a moment, but from her it meant more than much gushing phraseology.
"And you"re here in possession!" I murmured.
[Ill.u.s.tration: I"VE HELD THE FORT BY MAIN FORCE.]