Mildred Arkell, (Vol 3 of 3)

idlers was gathered round the Guildhall at Westerbury,

not been expected to come on before the Tuesday; but in the course of Monday morning two causes had been withdrawn, and the

Mr. Fauntleroy's counsel, Serjeant Wrangle, declaring the marriage was there up to very recently; and

Omer was called by Serjeant Wrangle; and he testified to having searched the register, seen the inscribed marriage, and cop

Siftem. "What day

he 4th of

ny marriages entered in the register, th

saw it," repl

you

. Hunt, the clerk of the chur

hat you only, and nobody else, should have seen t

, who felt himself an aggrieved man, and spoke like one, since Mynn and Mynn had publicly accused

een by your eyes, and by yours alone, should have been abstracted from a book safely kept under lock and key?" pu

sometimes. I swear the marriage was in the book last November: w

obstinate, and persisted in his story. Serjeant Siftem dismissed hi

ntleroy; how could the register be touched when he himself kept it sure and sacred, the key of the safe in a hiding-place in the vestry, and the key of the church hanging up in his own house, ou

s mean to tell the court that he never

er heard say as it were t

witness Omer examined the regis

nt to Serjeant Wrangle. "I was a-sitting down in the vestry, a-nursing of my

to evidence," inte

ked into the book. I don't know what he saw there; he didn't

n extract from it?" dem

iting' something dow

ted the key of the sa

Prattleton, what comes often to do the duty. I couldn't say as much for the key of the church, which sometimes goes beyond my custody, for the rector allows one or two of the young college gents to go in t

ence," again inte

as evidence, could be got from t

verend Mr.

minor canon and sacrist of Westerbury Cathedral, and head-

St. James the Less?"

plied Mr.

ert Carr's marriage with Martha An

rjeant Siftem pr

id you

h of last

judge, recognising him as the minor canon who had officiat

After I had entered their marriage, I turned back and looked f

to look for it?"

s, and that it was recorded in the register;" and Mr. Wilberforce then told how

d read it?" continu

d read it," repli

y that it was un

rtainly

ess to remember that he is upon his oath,"

man. "You forget to whom you are speaking," h

words written?" resu

thers were, of that period. Robert Carr and Martha Ann Hugh

ntry was there, then, Mr. Wil

"I can believe my own eyes. I am not more certain that I am now giving evid

in now?" sa

must have been cl

I presume?" said

's was that of Sir Thomas Ealing: I read that also,

its disappearance?" a

wish I could: and fin

hat time is no longer living, I b

t was not the incumbent who married them: it was a strange cle

" snapped Serjeant Sif

rmed it," replied Mr. Wilberforce, confronting

confronted? "How do you know he was a

I am, who remember that the Reverend Mr. Bell and Robert Carr were upon excee

ut was up again in a moment. "Who was cl

ce was in abeyance. Some of the parishioners wanted

rangle, "whether the entrance of the marriage

ied Mr. Wilberforce. "

e, and upon the register, in law, must rest the onus of proof. Had there been positive evidence, not negative, of the abstraction of the leaf from the register, had the register itself afforded such, the aspect of affairs would have been very different. Mr. Mynn testified that on the 2nd day of December he had looked and could find no trace of t

gun, Serjeant Siftem, took a late dinner together, and drank toasts, and were as merry and uproarious as success cou

op in his own house: for he did not get home until long past the dinner-hour, and his daughters were out. After th

years unsuspiciously in the register, with the still more extraordinary fact that it had been mysteriously taken out of it

enior of the school, went in to see Henry, and told it; and then, for the first time, Henr

er verdict through it?

st it will be upon her, poor thing! We had such a game in school!" added Cookesley, passing to private interests. "Wilberforce was at

rkell supposed it ached, and bade him go to bed. He apparently d

going?" she ask

ton's. I want to

, He

had already gone. Prattleton

ke about one of the fellows having been at Rutterley's on Saturday, trying to pledge a spoon with the Aultane crest upon it: he didn't say actually the crest was the Aultanes', or that the fellow was Aultane, but his manner let us know it. Wasn't Aultane in a way! He sa

ormerly occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Lewis. The Reverend Mr. Griffin was the old minor canon, with the crac

ed from his promise; George Prattleton, whom the suggestion had startl

said Henry, "unless I speak.

rkell. What is it to you? The Carr fol

er, for the want of telling the truth, I

"a schoolboy with a conscience! I ne

me from my promise

your knees for it. What

hall spea

," cried P

ngs are turning out, I am under no obligation to keep it. But I would

force, and fling you into the river,"

not your equal in age and strength, I could call those who are. B

fter a further confabulation, was fain to give in. Indeed he had been expecting not

n, "if it must be told: and I'll tell it to Mr. Pr

Prattleton with yo

at whist, and my coming out has stopped th

Beauclerc. She had been spending an hour at a neighbouring house, and was returning home, attended by an old man-servant. Muffled in

will do," she added to the servant. "Don't stand, or you

ially threw back her pink silk hood to talk to H

ng to call up

waiting for George Pratt

l you are to-night. I'd not be as cold a

co

nown his real feelings! If she could but have divined how h

t a fall you had! An

tter, thank you. It h

rs. I hope Aultane will get a flogging, as Lewis did for locking you up in St. James's Church. I asked Lewis

t on him; he could discern them even in the dark, obscure corner where

deanery? Do you think any other college boy would da

t at the deanery-the audit night-can you won

you were

have been stupid

"And you think that stop

th, in a tone whose anguish was irrepressible. "Absence and you alone wi

o seriousness, "it was the height of folly to suffer yourself to care for me. If I-if it were reciprocated

; and there is the greatest barrier of all, want of love on your side. I know that my loving you has been no

ain that crotche

lous eyes, if you so will it-have been deceived? You m

echoed Mis

hem on; you may have deemed me a child then in years; you knew I was not, in heart. They might have been checked in the onset, and repressed: why did you not do it? why did you do

ent white stories, about believing that your studies take up your time. I miss you every day; I do, Henry; I miss your companionship; I miss your voice at the piano; I miss your words in

d out of his propriety and his good manners. He caught her to his

red, as she released herself. "I

had anybody come up: my staid mamma would go into a fit. It is what he has never done," she

gina, I should think you cared for me. N

tted-whilst Henry Arkell walked forward to join George Prattleton, hi

and by no means a pleasant one. He sat there he did not know

ted, sir, if

now! Who

one or two more. They are in the dr

imself. "I won't see him: let him come at a proper time. My compliments to

ey must see you, sir, whether or no. He told me to say, s

ith his visitors may have been, it was evident, when he came out, that for him it had borne the deepest interes

t lie far with theirs. He stopped at the lodgings occupied by

t Wrangle," said Mr. F

sir. He is

r all that," retur

d too," she added, by way of re

aid Mr. Fauntleroy. "I

ied the girl. "He's gone to bed dead tired, he said, a

oy, taking it from her hand. "He has the sa

ned. She did not approve of the proceedings, but did not dare to check them; for Mr. Faunt

at Serjeant W

espo

p-tap,

o was only dignified in his wig and gown. "Is it you

eroy. "I told the gentleman as you was dead tired and wasn't to be wok

Serjeant," said

d and asleep. Who

n't you know my voi

door's

nd undo it. For,

t it

disturbed you. Open the door an

the bolt of the door. Eliza concluded that he was in his night attir

versus Carr," cried he. "Never had such a piece of

nded Serjeant Wrangle; "I

h sat down on the top stair, and wished she had ten ears. "Hav

" replied the serjea

sh, listen as she would, nothing but an eager murmuring of voices. When Mr. Fauntleroy came ou

ht, sir," she ventured to say. "Dreadful

not wait in

fancied you must be comi

half-a-crown in her hand. "There; that's in cas

te of the gas-lamp at the door, which shone well. "What a good humour the old lawyer's in!" qu