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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Her Ladyship's Elephant, by David Dwight Wells
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Her Ladyship's Elephant
+
+Author: David Dwight Wells
+
+Release Date: February 21, 2009 [EBook #28149]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HER LADYSHIP'S ELEPHANT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Annie McGuire, from scans obtained from Google
+Print project.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Her Ladyship's
+
+Elephant
+
+
+By
+
+D. D. Wells
+
+
+London
+William Heinemann
+1912
+
+
+FIRST EDITION, 3s. 6d., _May
+1898_. NEW IMPRESSIONS, _August
+1898_; _November 1899_; _September
+1905_. HEINEMANN'S SEVENPENNY
+NOVELS, _July 1912_.
+
+
+[Illustration: "He sat down hurriedly on the breakfast table"]
+
+
+
+
+HEINEMANN'S
+
+Sevenpenny Novels
+
+
+By Hall Caine
+
+  The Bondman
+  The Scapegoat
+
+By R. L. Stevenson
+
+  The Ebb-Tide
+      (With LLOYD OSBOURNE)
+
+By Jack London
+
+  The Call of the Wild
+
+By H. G. Wells
+
+  The War of the Worlds
+
+By Robert S. Hichens
+
+  Flames
+
+By R. Harding Davis
+
+  Soldiers of Fortune
+
+By E. L. Voynich
+
+  The Gadfly
+
+By Maxwell Gray
+
+  The Last Sentence
+
+By D. D. Wells
+
+  Her Ladyship's Elephant
+
+
+
+
+_A WORD TO THE WISE_
+
+
+_A well-known English novelist once told me that of all his published
+works--and their name is legion--one only had been founded on fact, and
+that one his critics united in condemning as impossible and unnatural.
+In the case of my own little book, I venture to forestall such criticism
+by stating that while the characters which appear in its pages are at
+the most only composite photographs, the one "impossible" and
+"unnatural" figure, the elephant, had his foundation in actual fact; and
+the history of its acquirement by the Consul, as hereinafter set forth,
+is the truthful narration of an actual experience, one of many episodes,
+stranger than fiction, which went to form the warp and woof of my
+diplomatic experience._
+
+  _DAVID DWIGHT WELLS._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+IN WHICH THE SAME QUESTION IS ANSWERED IN TWO WAYS
+
+
+Harold Stanley Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale, Esq., of "The Towers,"
+Sussex, sat uncomfortably on a very comfortable chair. His
+patent-leather boots were manifestly new, his trousers fresh from the
+presser, his waistcoat immaculate, while his frock coat with its white
+gardenia, and his delicate grey suede gloves, completed an admirable
+toilet. He was, in short, got up for the occasion, a thoroughly healthy,
+muscular, well-groomed animal; good-natured too, fond in his big-hearted
+boyish way of most other animals, and enough of a sportsman to find no
+pleasure in winging tame or driven grouse and pheasants. He was
+possessed, moreover, of sufficient brains to pass with credit an
+examination which gave him a post in the War Office, and had recently
+become, owing to the interposition of Providence and a restive mare, the
+eldest son.
+
+In spite of all this, he was very much out of his depth as he sat there;
+for he was face to face with a crisis in his life, and that crisis was
+embodied in a woman. And such a woman!--quite unlike anything his
+conservative British brain had ever seen or imagined before the present
+London season: a mixture of Parisian daintiness and coquetry, nicely
+tempered by Anglo-Saxon breeding and common sense--in a word, an
+American.
+
+He had come to propose to her, or rather she had sent for him, to what
+end he hardly knew. Of this only was he certain, that she had turned his
+world topsy-turvy; cast down his conventional gods; admired him for what
+he considered his fallings-off from the established order of things;
+laughed at his great coups; cared not a whit for his most valued
+possessions; and become, in short, the most incomprehensible,
+bewitching, lovable woman on earth.
+
+He had talked to her about the weather, the opera, the Court Ball, and
+now--now he must speak to her of his love, unless, blessed reprieve! she
+spoke first--which she did.
+
+"Now, Mr. Scarsdale," she remarked, "I have not sent for you to talk
+amiable society nonsense: I want an explanation."
+
+"Yes, Miss Vernon," he replied, nerving himself for the ordeal.
+
+"Why did you propose to Aunt Eliza at the Andersons' crush last night?"
+
+"Because----" he faltered. "Well, really, you see she is your only
+relative in England--your chaperon--and it is customary here to address
+offers of marriage to the head of the family."
+
+"I really don't see why you want to marry her," continued his tormentor.
+"She is over sixty. Oh, you needn't be shocked; Aunt Eliza is not
+sensitive about her age, and it is well to look these things fairly in
+the face. You can't honestly call her handsome, though she is a dear
+good old soul, but, I fear, too inured to Chicago to assimilate readily
+with English society. Of course her private means are enormous----"
+
+"Good heavens! Miss Vernon," he exclaimed, "there has been some dreadful
+mistake! I entertain the highest respect for your aunt, Miss Cogbill,
+but I don't wish to marry her; I wish to marry--somebody else----"
+
+"Really! Why don't you propose to Miss Somebody Else in person, then?"
+
+"It is usual----" he began, but she cut him short, exclaiming:
+
+"Oh, bother! Excuse me, I didn't mean to be rude, but really, you know,
+any girl who was old enough to marry would be quite capable of giving
+you your--answer." The last word, after a pause for consideration, was
+accompanied by a bewitching, if ambiguous, smile.
+
+"I--I hope you are not offended," he floundered on, in desperate straits
+by this time.
+
+"Oh dear, no," she returned serenely, "I'm only grieved for Aunt Eliza.
+You shouldn't have done it, really; it must have upset her dreadfully;
+she's too old for that sort of thing. Do tell me what she said to you."
+
+"She said I must propose on my own account," he blurted out, "and that
+she could not pretend to advise me."
+
+"Clever Aunt Eliza!" murmured Miss Vernon.
+
+"So you see," continued her lover, determined to have it over and know
+the worst, "I came to you."
+
+"For more advice?" she queried, and, receiving no answer, continued
+demurely: "Of course I haven't the remotest idea whom you mean to
+honour, but it does seem to me that the wives of Englishmen allow
+themselves to be treated shamefully, and I once made out a list of
+objections which I always said I would present to any Englishman who
+proposed to me. Of course," she hastened to add, "you will probably
+marry an English girl, who won't mind."
+
+"I haven't said so!" he interjected.
+
+"No," she said meditatively, "you haven't. I'll tell you what they are
+if you wish."
+
+"Do," he begged.
+
+"Well, in the first place," she continued, "I should refuse to be a
+'chattel.'"
+
+"Oh I say----" he began. But she went on, unheeding his expostulation:
+
+"Then my husband couldn't beat me, not even once, though the law allows
+it."
+
+"What do you take us for?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Then," she proceeded, "he would have to love me better than his horses
+and his dogs."
+
+"Oh I say! Mabel," he burst out, teased beyond all limits of endurance,
+"don't chaff me; I'm awfully in earnest, you know, and if you will
+accept what little I have to offer--three thousand a year, and 'The
+Towers,' now poor Bob's gone----" He paused, but she made no answer,
+only he noticed that all of a sudden she had become very serious.
+
+"Lady Mary, my mother, you know, would of course leave the place to you
+at once, but there's no title; my father was only a knight. I'm
+sorry----"
+
+"Oh," she replied, "I wouldn't have married you if you had had one;
+quite enough of my countrywomen have made fools of themselves on that
+account."
+
+"Then you will marry me!" he cried, and sprang towards her.
+
+She saw her slip and tried to correct it.
+
+"I haven't said----" she began, but the sentence was never finished; for
+Harold Stanley Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale, of "The Towers," Sussex,
+closed the argument and the lips of Miss Mabel Vernon, of Chicago,
+Illinois, U.S.A., at one and the same time.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Robert Allingford, United States Consul at Christchurch, England, and
+Marion, youngest daughter of Sir Peter and Lady Steele, were seated on
+the balcony of the Hyde Park Club one hot afternoon. Everybody had gone
+down to the races at Goodwood, and the season was drawing its last gasp.
+The "Row," which they overlooked, was almost deserted, save for an
+occasional depressed brougham, while the stretches of the Park beyond
+were given over to nursemaids and their attendant "Tommies" and
+"Bobbies."
+
+Mamma was there, of course. One must be conventional in London, even in
+July; but she was talking to the other man, Jack Carrington, who had
+been invited especially for that purpose, and was doing his duty nobly.
+
+The afternoon tea had been cleared away, and the balcony was deserted.
+In another week Marion would go into the country, and he would return to
+his consulate. He might never have such another chance. Opportunities
+for a proposal are so rare in London that it does not do to miss them. A
+ball affords almost the only opening, and when one remembers the offers
+to which one has been a third party, on the other side of a thin paper
+screen--well, it makes a man cautious.
+
+Robert Allingford had planned and worked up this tea with patience and
+success. Jack was to be best man, in consideration of his devotion to
+mamma--provided, of course, that the services of a best man should be
+required. On this point Allingford was doubtful. He was sure that Lady
+Steele understood; he knew that Sir Peter had smiled on him indulgently
+for the past fortnight; his friends chaffed him about it openly at
+dinners and at the club; but Marion--he was very far from certain if she
+comprehended the state of affairs in the slightest degree.
+
+He had given her river-parties, box-parties, dinners, flowers, candy--in
+short, paid her every possible attention; but then she expected
+Americans to do so; it was "just their way," and "didn't mean anything."
+
+He greatly feared that his proposal would be a shock to her, and English
+girls, he had been told, did not like shocks. He wondered if it would
+have been better to ask Lady Steele for her daughter's hand, but this he
+felt was beyond him. Proposing was bad enough anyway, but to attempt a
+declaration in cold blood--he simply couldn't. Moreover he felt that it
+must be now or never. Jack had been giving him the field for five
+minutes already, and he had not even made a beginning. He would go in
+and get it over.
+
+"You are leaving town next week," he said. "I shall miss you."
+
+"You have been very good to me," she replied simply.
+
+"Good to myself, you mean. It is the greatest pleasure I have in life to
+give you pleasure, Marion."
+
+"Mr. Allingford!" she said, half rising. He had used her Christian name
+for the first time.
+
+"Forgive me if I call you Marion," he went on, noting with relief that
+her ladyship was talking charity bazaar to Jack, and so assuring him
+from interruption.
+
+"I mean, give me the right to do so. You see I'm awfully in love with
+you; I can't help loving the sweetest girl I know. You must have seen
+how I cared."
+
+"Lately, yes--I have suspected it," she answered in a low voice.
+
+"Do you mind? I can't help it if you do. I'll love you anyway, but I
+want you to be my wife, to care for me just a little; I don't ask
+more."
+
+"I think you must speak to mamma."
+
+"But I don't wish--I mean, can't you give me something to go on--some
+assurance?"
+
+She blushed and looked down, repeating the phrase, "I think you must
+speak to mamma."
+
+"Is that equivalent----" he began; then he saw that it was, and added,
+"My darling!"
+
+Her head sank lower, he had her hand in a moment, and wondered if he
+might venture to kiss her, screened as they both were by her sunshade,
+but hesitated to do so because of the ominous silence at the other end
+of the balcony.
+
+"If you have nothing better to do this evening," said Lady Steele's
+voice to him, "come to us. Sir Peter and I are dining at home, and if
+you will partake of a family dinner with us we shall be delighted."
+
+He bowed his acceptance.
+
+"Come, Marion," her ladyship continued. "We have spent a charming
+afternoon, Mr. Allingford, thanks to your hospitality. We are at home on
+Thursdays after September; Mr. Carrington, you must come and hear more
+about my bazaar." And they were gone.
+
+Jack stepped to the bell. "Well, Bob," he said to Allingford, "is it
+brandy and soda or champagne?"
+
+"Champagne," replied that gentleman.
+
+"Then," remarked Carrington, after ordering a bottle of '80
+"Perrier"--"then, Bob, my boy, let me congratulate you."
+
+"I think I deserve it," he replied, as he wrung his friend's hand; "for
+I believe I have won for my wife the most charming girl in London."
+
+"I am awfully glad for you," said Carrington, "and I consider her a very
+lucky young woman."
+
+"I don't know about that," returned Allingford, "and I'm sure I don't
+see what she can find to care for in me. Why, we hardly know each other.
+I've only met her in public, and not over a couple of dozen times at
+that."
+
+"Oh, you will find it much more fun becoming acquainted after you are
+engaged. Our English conventions are beautifully Chinese in some
+respects."
+
+Allingford laughed, saying: "I don't know that I'm going to be engaged.
+I can't imagine why her family should approve of the match; I haven't a
+title and never can have, and I'm only in consular service. Now if I had
+been a diplomat----"
+
+"My dear fellow," said Carrington, "you seem to forget that you have a
+few dozen copper-mines at your disposal, and a larger income than you
+can conveniently spend. Her people haven't forgotten it, however, as
+I'll venture to prophesy that you'll find out before to-morrow morning.
+As for your being an American and a Consul, that doesn't count. Just
+make the settlements sufficiently large, and as long as you don't eat
+with your knife or drink out of your finger-bowl they will pardon the
+rest as amiable eccentricities."
+
+"You are a cynic, Carrington, and I don't believe it," said Allingford,
+rising to go. "Anyway, what do you know about marriage?"
+
+"Nothing, and I am not likely to," rejoined his friend, "but I've lived
+in London."
+
+The dinner that night at Belgrave Square did not serve to put the Consul
+at his ease. True, he sat by Marion, but no word was spoken of what had
+passed that afternoon, and he could not help feeling that he was in an
+anomalous position. He had on his company manners, and was not at his
+best in consequence. He felt he was being watched and would be
+criticised in the drawing-room after dinner, which made him nervous. Sir
+Peter had several married daughters, one of whom was present, and
+Allingford wondered how their husbands had behaved under similar
+circumstances. He gave Lady Steele, at whose right he sat, ample
+opportunity to question him concerning his family history and future
+plans and prospects--a chance of which she was not slow to avail
+herself.
+
+When the ladies had departed and had left the two gentlemen to their
+coffee and cigars, Sir Peter lost no time in opening the question, and
+said, somewhat bluntly:
+
+"So I hear that you wish to marry my daughter."
+
+The Consul signified that such was the case.
+
+"I'm sure I don't know why," resumed her father, with true British
+candour. "I become so used to my children that I sometimes wonder what
+other people can see in them. Marion is a good little girl, however,
+I'll say that for her--a good little girl and not extravagant."
+
+Sir Peter's manner was reassuring, and Allingford hastened to say that
+he was sensible of the great honour Miss Steele had done him in
+considering his suit, and that he should strive to prove himself worthy
+of her.
+
+"I don't doubt it, my dear fellow, I don't doubt it." And the baronet
+paused, smiling so amiably that the Consul was disconcerted, and began
+to fear an unpleasant surprise.
+
+"I trust," he returned, "that you are not averse to me as a son-in-law?"
+
+"Personally much the reverse; but I always ask the man who comes to me
+as you have done one question, and on his answer I base my approval or
+disapproval of his suit."
+
+"And that question is?"
+
+"Can you support a wife, Mr. Allingford?"
+
+"As a gentleman I could not have asked her hand if such were not the
+case."
+
+"Ah," replied Sir Peter, "that is quite right."
+
+"As for my position----" continued the young man.
+
+"You hold a public office in the service of your country. I consider
+that sufficient guarantee of your position, both moral and social."
+
+Allingford, who knew something of American practical politics, thought
+this by no means followed, but forbore to say so, and Sir Peter
+continued:
+
+"Have you any family?"
+
+"No relations in the world except my younger brother, Dick, who manages
+the property at home, while I play at politics abroad."
+
+"I see," said his host. "One question more and I have done. I dislike
+talking business after dinner--it should be left to the lawyers; but,
+seeing that you are an American and do not understand such things, I
+thought----"
+
+The Consul stopped him by a gesture. "You are referring to the
+settlements, Sir Peter," he said. "Set your mind at rest on that score.
+I'll do the proper thing."
+
+"Of course, my dear fellow, of course; I don't doubt that for a moment.
+But--er--you won't think me mercenary if I ask you to be--in short--more
+definite. I speak most disinterestedly, purely out of consideration for
+my daughter's future."
+
+Allingford frowned slightly as Carrington's prophecy came back to him.
+His prospective father-in-law was quite within his rights in speaking as
+he did, but why couldn't he have left it at least till to-morrow?
+
+"Would a copper-mine do?" he said, looking up. "I'd give her a
+copper-mine."
+
+"Really, I don't know what to say," replied Sir Peter, in some
+perplexity. "I'm quite ignorant of such matters. Are--er--copper-mines
+valuable?"
+
+"The one I'm thinking of has been worth a quarter of a million since it
+started, and we have only begun to work it," replied the Consul.
+
+"Bless my soul!" ejaculated his host. "You don't say so! Do you go in
+much for that sort of thing?"
+
+"Yes, I've quite a number."
+
+"Dear me!" said Sir Peter dreamily, "a quarter of a million." Then
+waking up he added: "But I'm forgetting the time. My dear
+Allingford--er--your Christian name escapes me."
+
+"Robert, Sir Peter."
+
+"Thanks. I was going to say, my dear Robert, that you must go upstairs
+and see mamma."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+IN WHICH THE CONSUL LOSES A RELATIVE AND GAINS A WIFE
+
+
+When Robert Allingford entered the smoking-room of his club, one
+afternoon early in October, he was genuinely glad to find that it had
+but one occupant, and that he was Harold Scarsdale. The two men had met
+each other for the first time at a house-party some eighteen months
+before, and their acquaintance had ripened into true friendship.
+
+"Hello!" he cried, accosting that gentleman. "You're enjoying to the
+full your last hours of bachelor bliss, I see."
+
+"Speak for yourself," replied Scarsdale, who looked extremely bored.
+"You're also on the dizzy brink."
+
+"It's a fact," admitted the Consul; "we are both to be married
+to-morrow. But that is all the more reason why we should make the most
+of our remaining freedom. You look as glum as if you'd lost your last
+friend. Come, cheer up, and have something to drink."
+
+"They say," remarked the Englishman as he acquiesced in the Consul's
+suggestion, "that a man only needs to be married to find out of how
+little importance he really is; but I've been anticipating my fate. Miss
+Vernon's rooms are a wilderness of the vanities of life, and here I am,
+banished to the club as a stern reality."
+
+"Quite so," replied the American. "I'm in the same box. The dressmakers
+have driven me clean out of Belgrave Square. But you, you really have my
+sympathy, for you are to marry one of my countrywomen, and they are apt
+to prove rather exacting mistresses at times like these."
+
+"Oh, I'm fairly well treated," said Scarsdale; "much better than I
+deserve, I dare say. How is it with you?"
+
+"Oh," laughed Allingford, "I feel as if I were playing a game of blind
+man's buff with English conventionalities: at least I seem to run foul
+of them most of the time. I used to imagine that getting married was a
+comparatively simple matter; but what with a highly complicated ceremony
+and an irresponsible best man, my cup of misery is well-nigh
+overflowing."
+
+"I suppose you have been doing your required fifteen days of residence
+in the parish? London is slow work, now every one is out of town,"
+remarked Scarsdale.
+
+"My second-best hand-bag has been residing for the past fortnight in an
+adjacent attic, in fulfilment of the law," returned the American; "but
+affairs at the consulate have kept me on post more than I could have
+wished."
+
+"I should not think you would have much business at this season of the
+year."
+
+"On the contrary, it is just the time when the migratory American, who
+has spent the summer in doing Europe, returns to England dead broke, and
+expects, nay, demands, to be helped home."
+
+"Do you have many cases of that sort?"
+
+"Lots. In fact, one especially importunate fellow nearly caused me to
+lose my train for London yesterday. I gave him what he asked to get rid
+of him."
+
+"I suppose that sort of thing is a good deal like throwing money into
+the sea," said Scarsdale. "It never comes back."
+
+"Not often, I regret to say; but in this case my distressed countryman
+put up collateral."
+
+"Indeed. I trust you can realise on it if need be."
+
+"I don't think I want to," said the Consul, "seeing it's an elephant."
+
+"What!" cried Scarsdale.
+
+"An elephant, or rather, to be exact, an order for one to be delivered
+by the Nubian and Red Sea Line of freighters in two or three days at
+Southampton Docks. My friend promises to redeem it before arrival,
+expects advices from the States, &c., but meanwhile is terribly hard
+up."
+
+"I hope he will be true to his promises, otherwise I wish you joy of
+your elephant. You might give it to Lady Steele," suggested Scarsdale.
+
+"Yes. I think I can see it tethered to the railings in Belgrave Square,"
+remarked the Consul; "but I am not losing sleep on that account, for,
+though I've informed the steamship people that I am, temporarily, the
+owner of the beast, I more than suspect that the order and the elephant
+are both myths. But I have been telling you of my affairs long enough;
+how go yours?"
+
+"Swimmingly," replied the Englishman. "Miss Vernon has only one relative
+in England, thank Heaven! but my family have settled down on me in
+swarms."
+
+"Is Lady Diana Melton in town for the occasion?" asked Allingford.
+
+Scarsdale flushed, and for the moment did not reply.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the American, "if I have asked an unfortunate
+question."
+
+"Not at all," replied his friend. "My great-aunt, who, as you know, is a
+somewhat determined old person, has the bad taste to dislike Americans.
+So she has confined herself to a frigid refusal of our wedding
+invitation, and sent an impossible spoon to the bride."
+
+"So you are not to have her country place for your honeymoon," said
+Allingford. "From what I have heard of Melton Court, it would be quite
+an ideal spot under the circumstances."
+
+"No, we are not going there. The fact is, I don't know where we are
+going," added Scarsdale.
+
+"Really!"
+
+"Yes. As you were saying just now, your countrywomen are apt to prove
+exacting, and the future Mrs. Scarsdale has taken it into her head that
+I am much too prosaic to plan a wedding trip--that I would do the usual
+round, in fact, and that she would be bored in consequence; so she has
+taken the arrangements upon herself, and the whole thing is to be a
+surprise for me. I don't even know the station from which we start."
+
+"I'm afraid I can't commiserate you," returned Allingford, laughing,
+"for I'm guilty of doing the very same thing myself, and my bride elect
+has no idea of our destination. She spends most of her spare time in
+trying to guess it."
+
+At this moment a card was handed to Allingford, who said: "Why, here is
+my best man, Jack Carrington. You know him, don't you? I wonder what can
+have started him on my trail," and he requested the page to show him up.
+
+A moment later Carrington entered the room. He was one of the
+best-dressed, most perfect-mannered young men in London, the friend of
+every one who knew him, a thoroughly delightful and irresponsible
+creature. To-day, however, there was a seriousness about his face that
+proclaimed his mission to be of no very pleasant character.
+
+After greeting his friends, he asked for a few words in private with his
+principal, and as a result of this colloquy Allingford excused himself
+to Scardsdale, saying that he must return to his lodgings at once, as
+Carrington had brought him news that his brother Dick had arrived
+unexpectedly from America, and was awaiting him there.
+
+"What a delightful surprise for you!" exclaimed Scarsdale.
+
+"Yes, very--of course," returned Allingford drily; and after a mutual
+interchange of congratulations on the events of the morrow, and regrets
+that neither could be at the wedding of the other, the Consul and his
+best man left the club.
+
+"He did not seem over-enthusiastic at Carrington's news," mused
+Scarsdale, and then his mind turned to his own affairs.
+
+It was not astonishing that Robert Allingford received the news of his
+brother's arrival without any show of rejoicing. A family skeleton is
+never an enjoyable possession, but when it is not even decently
+interred, but very much alive, and in the shape of a brother who has
+attained notoriety as a black sheep of an unusually intense dye, it may
+be looked upon as little less than a curse.
+
+Yet there were redeeming qualities about Dick Allingford. In spite of
+his thoroughly bad name, he was one of the most kind-hearted and
+engaging of men, while the way in which he had managed his own and his
+brother's property left nothing to be desired. Moreover, he was quite in
+his element among his miners. Indeed his qualities, good and bad, were
+of a kind that endeared him to them. He loved the good things of this
+life, however, in a wholly uncontrollable manner, and, as his income
+afforded almost unlimited scope for these desires, his achievements
+would have put most yellow-covered novels to the blush. Dick's redeeming
+virtue was a blind devotion to his elder brother, from whom he demanded
+unlimited advice and assistance in extricating him from a
+thousand-and-one scrapes, and inexhaustible patience and forgiveness for
+those peccadilloes. When Robert had taken a public office in England it
+was on the distinct understanding that Richard should confine his
+attentions to America, and so far he had not violated the contract. The
+Consul had taken care that his brother should not be informed of the
+day of his marriage until it was too late for him to attend in person,
+for he shuddered to think of the rig that Richard would run in staid and
+conventional English society. Accordingly he hastened to his lodgings,
+full of anxious fore-bodings. On arrival his worst fears were fulfilled.
+Dick received him with open arms, very affectionate, very penitent, and
+very drunk. From that gentleman's somewhat disconnected description the
+Consul obtained a lurid inkling of what seemed to have been a triumphal
+progress of unrestrained dissipation from Southampton to London, of
+which indignant barmaids and a wrecked four-in-hand formed the most
+redeeming features.
+
+"Now explain yourself!" cried Robert in wrath, at the conclusion of his
+brother's recital. "What do you mean by this disgraceful conduct, and
+why are you in England at all?"
+
+"Saw 'proaching marriage--newspaper," hiccoughed Dick--"took first
+steamer."
+
+"What did you come for?" demanded Allingford sternly.
+
+"Come? Congratulate you--see the bride."
+
+"Not on your life!" exclaimed the Consul. "You are beastly drunk and not
+fit for decent society."
+
+"Fault--railroad company--bad whisky," explained the unregenerate one.
+
+"I'll take your word for it," replied his brother. "You ought to be a
+judge of whisky. But you won't go to my wedding unless you are sober."
+And he rang for his valet.
+
+"This is my brother, Parsons," he remarked to that individual when he
+entered. "You may put him to bed at once. Use my room for the purpose,
+and engage another for me for to-night."
+
+"Yes, sir," replied his valet, who was too well trained to betray any
+emotion.
+
+"When you have got him settled," continued the Consul, "lock him in, and
+let him stay till morning." With which he straightway departed, leaving
+his stupefied brother to the tender mercies of the shocked and sedate
+Parsons.
+
+Allingford stood a good deal in awe of his valet, and dreaded to see the
+reproachful look of outraged dignity which he knew would greet him on
+his return. So he again sought the club, intending to find Scarsdale and
+continue their conversation; but that gentleman had departed, and the
+Consul was forced to console himself with a brandy and soda, and settle
+down to a quiet hour of reflection.
+
+He had been engaged upwards of three months, and, it is needless to say,
+had learned much in that space of time. An engagement is a liberal
+education to any man, for it presents a series of entirely new problems
+to be solved. He ceases to think of and for himself alone, and the
+accuracy with which he can adjust himself to these novel conditions
+determines the success or failure of his married life. Robert
+Allingford, however, was engaged to a woman of another nation; of his
+own race, indeed, and speaking his own tongue, but educated under widely
+differing standards and ideals, and on a plane of comparative simplicity
+when viewed in the light of her complex American sister. The little
+English girl was an endless mystery to him, and it was only in later
+life that he discovered that he was constantly endowing her with a
+complicated nature which she did not possess. He could not understand a
+woman who generally--I do not say invariably, for Marion Steele was
+human after all, but who generally meant what she said, whose pleasures
+were healthy and direct, and who was really simple and genuinely
+ignorant of most things pertaining to the world worldly. He knew that
+world well enough--ten years of mining had taught him that--and he had
+been left to its tender mercies when still a boy, with no relatives
+except his younger brother, who, as may well be imagined, was rather a
+burden than a help.
+
+But if Robert Allingford had seen the rough side of life, it had taught
+him to understand human nature, and, as he had been blessed with a large
+heart and a considerable measure of adaptability, he managed to get on
+very well on both sides of the Atlantic. True, he seldom appreciated
+what the British mind held to contain worth; but he was tolerant, and
+his tolerance begat, unconsciously, sympathy. On the other hand, the
+Consul was as much of a mystery to his fiancée as she had ever been to
+him. In her eyes he was always doing the unexpected. For one thing, she
+never knew when to take him seriously, and was afraid of what he might
+do or say; but she soon learned to trust him implicitly, and to estimate
+him at his true sterling worth.
+
+In short, both had partially adjusted themselves to each other, and were
+likely to live very happily, with enough of the unknown in their
+characters to keep them from becoming bored. Allingford had never spoken
+definitely to his fiancée concerning his younger brother, and she knew
+instinctively that it was a subject to be avoided. To her father she had
+said something, but Sir Peter had little interest in his children's
+affairs beyond seeing that they were suitably married; and since he was
+satisfied with the settlements and the man, was content to leave well
+enough alone.
+
+The Consul, therefore, thought himself justified in saying nothing
+about the unexpected arrival of his brother, especially as the chances
+of that gentleman's being in a fit state to appear at the wedding seemed
+highly problematical.
+
+Next morning there were no signs of repentance or of Dick; for if a
+deserted bed, an open window, and the smashed glass of a neighbouring
+skylight signified anything, it was that Mr. Richard Allingford was
+still unregenerate and at large.
+
+The bridal day dawned bright and clear, and Carrington lunched with the
+Consul just before the ceremony, which, thanks to English law, took
+place at that most impossible hour of the day, 2.30 P.M.
+
+The bridegroom floundered through the intricacies of the service, signed
+his name in the vestry, and achieved his carriage in a kind of dream;
+but woke up sufficiently to the realities of life at the reception, to
+endure with fortitude the indiscriminate kissing of scores of new
+relations. Then he drank his own health and the healths of other
+people, and at last escaped upstairs to prepare for the journey and
+have a quiet fifteen minutes with his best man.
+
+"Now remember," he said to that irresponsible individual, "you are the
+only one who knows our destination this evening, and if you breathe it
+to a soul I'll come back and murder you."
+
+"My dear fellow," replied Carrington, "you don't suppose, after I've
+endured weeks of cross-questioning and inquisitorial advances from the
+bride and her family, that I am going to strike my colours and give the
+whole thing away at the eleventh hour."
+
+"You have been a trump, Jack," rejoined the Consul, "and I only wish you
+may be as happy some time as I am to-day."
+
+"It is your day; don't worry about my affairs," returned Carrington,
+with a forced laugh which gave colour to the popular report that the
+only vulnerable point in his armour of good nature lay in his
+impecunious condition and the consequent impossibility of his marrying
+on his own account.
+
+It was only a passing cloud, however, and he hastened to change the
+subject, saying: "Come, you are late already, and a bride must not be
+kept waiting."
+
+Allingford was thereupon hustled downstairs, and wept upon from all
+quarters, and his life was threatened with rice and old shoes; but he
+reached the street somehow with Mrs. Robert in tow, and, barring the
+circumstance that in his agitation he had embraced the butler instead of
+Sir Peter, he acquitted himself very well under the trying ordeal.
+
+As they drove to the station his wife was strangely quiet, and he
+rallied her on the fact.
+
+"Why," he said, "you haven't spoken since we started."
+
+Her face grew troubled. "I was wondering----" she began.
+
+"If you would be happy?" he asked. "I'll do my best."
+
+"No, no, I'm sure of that, only--do tell me where we are going."
+
+The Consul laughed. "You women are just the same all the world over,"
+he replied, but otherwise did not commit himself; but his wife noticed
+that he looked worried and anxious, and that he breathed a sigh of
+unmistakable relief as their train drew out of Waterloo Station. She did
+not know that the one cloud which he had feared might darken his wedding
+day had now been dispelled: he had seen nothing of his brother.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+IN WHICH THE LONDON AND SOUTH WESTERN RAIL-WAY ACCOMPLISHES WHAT THE
+MARRIAGE SERVICE FORBIDS
+
+
+It might be supposed that the heir to "The Towers" and Lady Scarsdale's
+very considerable property would meet with some decided opposition from
+his family to his proposed alliance with Mabel Vernon, an unknown
+American, who, though fairly provided with this world's goods, could in
+no sense be termed a great heiress. But the fact of the matter was that
+the prejudices of his own people were as nothing when compared with
+those of Aunt Eliza. In the first place she did not wish her niece to
+marry at all, on the ground that no man was good enough for her; and in
+the second place she had decided that if Mabel must have a partner in
+life, he was to be born under the Stars and Stripes. Her wrath,
+therefore, was great when she heard of the engagement, and she declared
+that she had a good mind to cut the young couple off with a cent, a
+threat that meant something from a woman who had bought corner lots in
+Chicago immediately after the great fire, and still held them. Scarsdale
+never forgot his first interview with her after she had learned the
+news.
+
+"I mistrusted you were round for no good," she said, "though I wasn't
+quite certain which one of us you wanted."
+
+He bit his lip.
+
+"There's nothing to laugh at, young man," she continued severely;
+"marrying me would have been no joke."
+
+"I'm sure, Miss Cogbill----" began Scarsdale.
+
+"You call me Aunt Eliza in the future," she broke in; "that is who I am,
+and if I choose to remember your wife when I'm gone she'll be as rich as
+a duchess, as I dare say you know."
+
+"I had no thought of your leaving her anything, and I am quite able to
+support her without your assistance," he replied, nettled by her
+implication.
+
+"I am glad to hear it; it sounds encouraging," returned the aunt. "Tell
+me, have you ever done anything to support yourself?"
+
+"Rather! As a younger son, I should have had a very poor chance if I'd
+not."
+
+"How many towers have you got?" was her next question.
+
+"I don't know," said Scarsdale, laughing at her very literal
+interpretation of the name of his estate.
+
+"Have they fire-escapes?"
+
+"I'm afraid not," he replied, "but you must come and see for yourself.
+My mother will be happy to welcome you."
+
+"No, I guess not; I'm too old to start climbing."
+
+"Oh, you wouldn't have to live in them," he hastened to assure her;
+"there are other parts to the house, and my mother----"
+
+"That's her ladyship?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You are sure you haven't any title?" asked Aunt Eliza suspiciously.
+
+"No, nor any chance of having one."
+
+"Well, I do feel relieved," she commented. "The Psalms say not to put
+your trust in princes, but I guess if King David had ever been through a
+London season he wouldn't have drawn the line there; and what's good
+enough for him is good enough for me."
+
+"I think you can trust me, Aunt Eliza."
+
+"I hope so, though I never expected to see a niece of mine married to a
+man of war."
+
+"Not a man of war," he corrected, "only a man in the War Office--a very
+different thing, I assure you."
+
+"I am rejoiced to hear it," she replied. "Now run along to Mabel, and
+I'll write your mother and tell her that I guess you'll do." Which she
+straightway did, and that letter is still preserved as one of the
+literary curiosities of "The Towers," Sussex.
+
+The first meeting of Aunt Eliza and Lady Scarsdale took place the day
+before the wedding. It was pleasant, short, and to the point, and at
+its conclusion each parted from the other with mingled feelings of
+wonder and respect. Indeed, no one could fail to respect Miss Cogbill.
+Alone and unaided she had amassed and managed a great fortune. She was
+shrewd and keen beyond the nature of women, and seldom minced matters in
+her speech; but nevertheless she was possessed of much native refinement
+and prim, old-time courtesy that did not always seem in accordance with
+the business side of her nature.
+
+As time went on she became reconciled to Scarsdale, but his lack of
+appreciation of business was a thorn in her flesh, and, indeed, her
+inclinations had led her in quite another direction.
+
+"Now look at that young Carrington who comes to see you once in a while;
+if you had to marry an Englishman, why didn't you take him?" she said
+once to her niece.
+
+"Why, Aunt Eliza," replied that young lady, "what are you thinking of?
+According to your own standards, he is much less desirable than Harold,
+for he has not a cent."
+
+"He'd make money fast enough if his training didn't get in his way," she
+retorted, "which is more than can be said of your future husband."
+
+The wedding was very quiet, at Miss Vernon's suggestion and with her
+aunt's approval, for neither of them cared for that lavish display with
+which a certain class of Americans are, unfortunately, associated. There
+was to be a reception at the hotel, to which a large number of people
+had been asked; but at the ceremony scarcely a dozen were present.
+Scarsdale's mother and immediate family, a brother official, who served
+as best man, and Aunt Eliza made up the party.
+
+At the bride's request, the service had been as much abbreviated as the
+Church would allow, and the whole matter was finished in a surprisingly
+short space of time. The reception followed, and an hour later the happy
+pair were ready to leave; but their destination was still a mystery to
+the groom.
+
+"I think you might just give me a hint," he suggested to Aunt Eliza,
+whom he shrewdly suspected knew all about it.
+
+"Do you?" she replied. "Well, I think that Mabel is quite capable of
+taking care of herself and you too, and that the sooner you realise it
+the better. As for your being consulted or informed about your wedding
+trip, why, my niece has been four times round the world already, and is
+better able to plan an ordinary honeymoon excursion than a man who
+spends his time turning out bombs, and nitro-glycerine, and monitors,
+and things."
+
+Aunt Eliza's notions of the duties of the War Office were still somewhat
+vague.
+
+After the bridal couple had left, Miss Cogbill and Lady Scarsdale
+received the remaining guests, and, when the function was over, her
+ladyship gave her American relative a cordial invitation to stay at "The
+Towers" till after the honeymoon; but Aunt Eliza refused.
+
+"I'll come some day and be glad to," she said; "but I'm off to-morrow
+for two weeks in Paris. I always go there when I'm blue; it cheers one
+up so, and you meet more Americans there nowadays than you do at home."
+
+"Perhaps you will see the happy pair before you return," suggested Lady
+Scarsdale.
+
+"Now, your ladyship," said Aunt Eliza, "that isn't fair; but to tell you
+the truth of the matter, I've no more idea where they are going, beyond
+their first stop, than you have."
+
+"And that is----?"
+
+"They will write you from there to-morrow," replied Miss Cogbill, "and
+then you will know as much as I do."
+
+Scarsdale was quite too happy to be seriously worried over his ignorance
+of their destination; in fact, he was rather amused at his wife's little
+mystery, and, beyond indulging in some banter on the subject, was well
+content to let the matter drop. He entertained her, however, by making
+wild guesses as to where they were to pass the night from what he had
+learned of their point of departure, Waterloo Station; but soon turned
+to more engrossing topics, and before he realised it an hour had passed
+away, and the train began to slow up for their first stop out of London.
+
+"Is this the end of our journey?" he queried.
+
+"What, Basingstoke?" she cried. "How could you think I'd be so
+unromantic? Why, it is only a miserable, dirty railway junction!"
+
+"Perhaps we change carriages here?"
+
+"Wrong again; but the train stops for a few minutes, and if you'll be
+good you may run out and have a breath of fresh air and something to
+drink."
+
+"How do you know," he asked, "that I sha'n't go forward and see how the
+luggage is labelled?"
+
+"That would not be playing fair," she replied, pouting, "and I should be
+dreadfully cross with you."
+
+"I'll promise to be good," he hastened to assure her, and, as the train
+drew up, stepped out upon the platform.
+
+His first intention had been to make straight for the refreshment-room;
+but he had only taken a few steps in that direction, when he saw
+advancing from the opposite end of the train none other than Robert
+Allingford, who, like himself, was a bridegroom of that day.
+
+"Why, Benedick!" he cried, "who would have thought of meeting you!"
+
+"Just what I was going to say," replied the Consul, heartily shaking his
+outstretched hand. "I never imagined that we would select the same
+train. Come, let's have a drink to celebrate our auspicious meeting.
+There is time enough."
+
+"Are you sure?" asked the careful Englishman.
+
+"Quite," replied his American friend. "I asked a porter, and he said we
+had ten minutes."
+
+They accordingly repaired to the luncheon-bar, and were soon discussing
+whiskies and sodas.
+
+"Tell me," said the Consul, as he put down his glass, "have you
+discovered your destination yet?"
+
+"Haven't the remotest idea," returned the other. "Mrs. Scarsdale
+insisted on buying the tickets, and watches over them jealously. If it
+had not been for the look of the thing, I would have bribed the guard to
+tell me where I was going. By the way, won't you shake hands with my
+wife? She is just forward."
+
+"With pleasure," replied Allingford, "if you will return the compliment;
+my carriage is the first of its class at the rear of the train. We have
+still six minutes." With which the two husbands separated, each to seek
+the other's wife.
+
+Scarsdale met with a cordial welcome from Mrs. Allingford, and was soon
+seated by her side chatting merrily.
+
+"We should sympathise with each other," she said, laughing, "for I
+understand that we are both in ignorance of our destination."
+
+"Indeed we should," he replied. "I dare say that at this moment your
+husband and my wife are gloating over their superior knowledge."
+
+"Oh, well," she continued, "our time will come; and now tell me how you
+have endured the vicissitudes of the day."
+
+"I think you and I have no cause for complaint," rejoined Scarsdale.
+"You see we understand our conventions; but I fear that our respective
+partners have not had such an easy time."
+
+"I shouldn't think it would have worried Mrs. Scarsdale," returned the
+Englishwoman.
+
+"Of course it didn't," said that lady's husband; "nothing ever worries
+her. But I think signing the register puzzled her a bit; she said it
+made her feel as if she was at an hotel."
+
+"Robert enjoyed it thoroughly," said Mrs. Allingford.
+
+"Had he no criticisms to offer?"
+
+"None, except that one seemed to get a good deal more for one's money
+than in the States."
+
+"The almighty dollar!" said Scarsdale, laughing, and added, as he looked
+at his watch: "I must be off, or your husband will be turning me out;
+our ten minutes are almost up."
+
+Once on the platform, he paused aghast. The forward half of the train
+had disappeared, and an engine was backing up in its place to couple on
+to the second part. Allingford was nowhere in sight.
+
+"Where is the rest of the train?" cried Scarsdale, seizing an astonished
+guard.
+
+"The forward division, sir?"
+
+"Yes! yes! For Heaven's sake speak, man! Where is it?"
+
+"That was the Exeter division. Went five minutes ago."
+
+"But I thought we had ten minutes!"
+
+"This division, yes, sir," replied the guard, indicating that portion of
+the train still in the station, "the forward part only five."
+
+In this way, then, had Allingford unconsciously deceived him, and
+without doubt the American Consul had been carried off with his,
+Scarsdale's, wife. The awful discovery staggered him, but he controlled
+himself sufficiently to ask the destination of the section still in the
+station.
+
+"Bournemouth, sir, Southampton first stop. Are you going? we are just
+off."
+
+"No," replied Scarsdale. The guard waved his flag, the shrill whistle
+blew, and the train began to move. Then he thought of Mrs. Allingford;
+he could scarcely leave her. Besides, what was the use of remaining at
+Basingstoke, when he did not even know his own destination? He tore open
+the door of the carriage he had just left, and swung himself in as it
+swept past him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+IN WHICH LADY MELTON FEELS THAT HER AVERSION IS JUSTIFIED
+
+
+From what has been said it may be imagined that Mrs. Scarsdale, _née_
+Vernon, was an excellent hand at light and amusing conversation; and so
+pleasantly did she receive the Consul, and so amusingly rally him on the
+events of the day, that he scarcely seemed to have been with her a
+minute, when a slight jolt caused him to look up and out, only to
+perceive the Basingstoke Station sliding rapidly past the windows.
+Allingford's first impulse was to dash from the carriage, a dangerous
+experiment when one remembers the rapidity with which a light English
+train gets under way. In this, however, he was forestalled by Mrs.
+Scarsdale, who clung to his coat-tails, declaring that he should not
+desert her; so that by the time he was able to free himself the train
+had attained such speed as to preclude any longer the question of
+escape. The sensations which Mr. Allingford and Mrs. Scarsdale
+experienced when they realised that they were being borne swiftly away,
+the one from his wife and the other from her husband, may be better
+imagined than described. The deserted bride threw herself into the
+farthest corner of the carriage and began to laugh hysterically, while
+the Consul plunged his hands into his pockets and gave vent to a
+monosyllabic expletive, of which he meant every letter.
+
+After the first moments of astonishment and stupefaction both somewhat
+recovered their senses, and mutual explanations and recriminations began
+forthwith.
+
+"How has this dreadful thing happened?" demanded Mrs. Scarsdale, in a
+voice quavering with suppressed emotion.
+
+"I'm afraid it's my fault," said Allingford ruefully. "The guard told me
+we had ten minutes."
+
+"That was for your division of the train, stupid!" exclaimed the lady
+wrathfully.
+
+"I didn't know that," explained the Consul, "and so I told your husband
+we had ten minutes, which probably accounts for his being left."
+
+"Then I'll never, never forgive you," she cried, and burst into tears,
+murmuring between her sobs: "Poor, dear Harold! what will he do?"
+
+"Do!" exclaimed the Consul, "I should think he had done enough, in all
+conscience. Why, confound him, he's gone off with my wife!"
+
+"Don't you call my husband names!" sobbed Mrs. Scarsdale.
+
+"Well, he certainly has enough of his own, that's a fact."
+
+"If you were a man," retorted the disconsolate bride, "you would do
+something, instead of making stupid jokes about my poor Stanley. I'm a
+distressed American citizen----"
+
+"No, you're not; you became a British subject when you married
+Scarsdale," corrected Allingford.
+
+"Well, I won't be, so there! I tell you I'm an American woman in
+distress, and you are my Consul and you've got to help me."
+
+"I'll help you with the greatest pleasure in the world. I'm quite as
+anxious to recover my wife as you can be to find your husband."
+
+"Then what do you advise?" she asked.
+
+"We are going somewhere at a rapid rate," he replied. "When we arrive,
+we will leave the train and return to Basingstoke as soon as possible.
+Now do you happen to know our next stop?"
+
+"Yes: Salisbury."
+
+"How long before we get there?"
+
+"About three quarters of an hour."
+
+"That will at least give us time," he said, "to consider what is best to
+be done. Have you a railway guide?"
+
+"I think there is a South Western time-table in the pocket of dear
+Malcolm's coat," she said, indicating a garment on the seat beside her.
+
+"Why don't you call him St. Hubart and be done with it?" queried
+Allingford, as he searched for and found the desired paper. "You've
+given him all his other names."
+
+"I reserve that for important occasions," she replied; "it sounds so
+impressive."
+
+Mabel Scarsdale, it will be noticed, was fast regaining her composure,
+now that a definite course of action had been determined upon. But she
+could not help feeling depressed, for it must be admitted that it is
+disheartening to lose your husband before you have been married a day.
+What would he do, she wondered, when he found that the train had gone?
+Had he discovered its departure soon enough to warn Mrs. Allingford to
+leave her carriage? and if not, where had she gone, and had he
+accompanied her? The event certainly afforded ample grounds for
+speculation; but her reverie was interrupted by the Consul, who had been
+deeply immersed in the time-table.
+
+"There is no train back to Basingstoke before ten to-night," he said,
+"so we must spend the evening in Salisbury and telegraph them to await
+our return."
+
+"Possibly my husband may have chased the train and caught the rear
+carriage. I have seen people do that," she ventured.
+
+"The guard's van, you mean," he explained. "In that case he is
+travelling down with us and will put in an appearance directly we reach
+Salisbury, though I don't think it's likely. However, there's nothing to
+worry about, and I must beg you not to do so, unless you wish to make me
+more miserable than I already am for my share in this deplorable
+blunder."
+
+"You don't think they would follow us to Salisbury?"
+
+"No; that is"--and he plunged into the intricacies of the time-table
+once more--"they couldn't; besides, they would receive our telegram
+before they could leave Basingstoke."
+
+"Could they have gone off on the other train?"
+
+"Impossible," he replied. "By Jove, they neither of them know where
+they are bound for!"
+
+"Quite true," she said, "they do not. We had tickets for Exeter; but as
+a joke I never let my husband see them."
+
+"We were going to Bournemouth, and here are my tickets," he returned,
+holding them up, "but my wife doesn't know it."
+
+"You think there is no question that they are waiting for us at
+Basingstoke?" she asked.
+
+"Not a doubt of it; and so we have nothing to do but kill time till we
+can rejoin them, which won't be hard in your society," he replied.
+
+"I'm sorry I can't be so polite," she returned, "but I want my husband,
+and if you talk to me much more I shall probably cry."
+
+The Consul at this made a dive for an adjacent newspaper, in which he
+remained buried till the train slowed down for Salisbury.
+
+"I suppose," he said apologetically, as they drew up at their
+destination, "that you won't object to my appropriating Scarsdale's
+coat and hat? I dare say he is sporting mine."
+
+A tearful sniff was the only reply as he gathered up the various
+impedimenta with which the carriage was littered, and assisted his fair
+though doleful companion to alight. Returning a few moments later from
+the arduous duty of rescuing her luggage, which was, of course, labelled
+for Exeter, he found her still alone, there being no sign of Scarsdale
+in or out of the train, and no telegram for them from Basingstoke--a
+chance on which Allingford had counted considerably, though he had not
+thought it wise to mention it. Indeed, the fact that no inquiry had been
+made for them puzzled and worried him greatly, for it seemed almost
+certain that were their deserted partners still at Basingstoke, their
+first action would have been to telegraph to the fugitives. However, he
+put the best face he could on the matter, assured Mrs. Scarsdale that
+everything must be all right, and despatched his telegram back to their
+point of separation. Under the most favourable circumstances they could
+not receive an answer under half an hour, and with this information the
+Consul was forced to return to the disconsolate bride.
+
+"There is no use in loafing around here," he said. "Suppose we go and
+see the cathedral? It will be something to do, and may distract our
+thoughts."
+
+"I don't think mine could well be more distracted than they are now,"
+replied she; "besides, we might miss the telegram."
+
+"Oh, I'll fix that," he returned; "I'll have it sent up after us. Come,
+you had better go. You can't sit and look at that pea-green engine for
+thirty minutes; it is enough to give you a fit of the blues."
+
+"Well, just as you please," she said, and they started up into the town,
+and made their way to the cathedral.
+
+It is not to the point of this narrative to discourse on the beauties of
+that structure; the finest shaft of Purbec marble it contains would
+prove cold consolation to either a bride or a bridegroom deserted on the
+wedding day. But the cool quiet of the great building seemed
+unconsciously to soothe their troubled spirits, though when they each
+revisited the spot in after years they discovered that it was entirely
+new to them, and that they possessed not the faintest recollection of
+its appearance, within or without.
+
+At last, after having consulted their watches for the hundredth time,
+they began to stroll down the great central aisle, towards the main
+entrance. Suddenly Mrs. Scarsdale clutched the Consul's arm, and pointed
+before her to where a messenger-boy, with a look of expectancy on his
+face and an envelope in his hand, stood framed in a Gothic doorway. Then
+they made a wild, scrambling rush down the church, the bride reaching
+the goal first, and snatching the telegram from its astonished bearer.
+
+"For Mr. Allingford," he began, but she had already torn open the
+envelope and was devouring its contents.
+
+For a moment the words seemed to swim before her eyes, then, as their
+meaning became clear to her, she gave a frightened gasp, dropped the
+message on the floor, sat down hard on the tomb of a crusader, and burst
+into tears.
+
+Allingford gazed at her silently for a moment, and meditatively
+scratched his head; then he paid and dismissed the amazed boy, and
+finally picked up the crumpled bit of paper. It was from the
+station-master at Basingstoke, and read as follows:
+
+     "_Parties mentioned left in second division for Southampton and
+     South Coast Resorts. Destination not known._"
+
+It was incomprehensible, but he had expected it. If Mr. Scarsdale had
+remained at Basingstoke he would certainly have telegraphed them from
+there at their first stop, Salisbury. Evidently he, too, had been
+carried away on the train; but where? It was some relief to know that
+his wife was not wholly alone, but he did not at all like the idea of
+her going off into space with another man, and the fact that he had
+done the same thing himself was no consolation. Then his mind reverted
+to Mrs. Scarsdale, who still wept on the tomb of the crusader. What in
+thunder was he going to do with her? To get her back to her aunt in
+London at that time of night was out of the question; but where else
+could he take her?
+
+This point, however, was settled at once, and in an unexpected manner,
+by the lady herself. Drying her eyes, she remarked suddenly: "I'm a
+little fool!"
+
+"Not at all," he replied; "your emotion is quite natural under the
+circumstances."
+
+"But crying won't get us out of this awful predicament."
+
+"Unfortunately no, or we should have arrived at a solution long ago."
+
+"That," remarked the lady, "is merely another way of making a statement
+which you just now disputed. I _am_ a little fool, and I mean to dry my
+eyes and attend strictly to business. Tell me exactly what this message
+implies."
+
+"It means," said the Consul, "that it is impossible for you to rejoin
+your husband to-night."
+
+Her lip quivered dangerously; but she controlled herself sufficiently to
+exclaim: "But what are we to do?"
+
+"Well," he replied, "I should advise remaining here. There is a good
+hotel."
+
+"But we can't. Don't you see I must not remain--with you?" She spoke the
+last words with an effort.
+
+"Yes," he rejoined. "It is awkward; but you can't spend the night in the
+streets; you must have somewhere to sleep."
+
+"Let us go back to Basingstoke, then."
+
+"I can't see that that would help matters," he said gloomily; "we would
+have to spend the night there just the same. Besides, I think it is
+going to rain." They were standing outside the church by this time.
+"No," he continued, "our best course, our only course, in fact, is to
+stay here to-night, return to Basingstoke to-morrow morning, and wait
+for them there. You may be sure they are having quite as bad a time as
+we are. If I only knew some one here----"
+
+"Bravo!" she interrupted, clapping her hands, "I believe you have solved
+the problem. Look: do you see that carriage over there? What coat of
+arms has it? Quick! your eyes are better than mine."
+
+In the gathering twilight he saw driving leisurely by, with coachman and
+footman on the box, a handsome barouche, on the panels of which a coat
+of arms was emblazoned.
+
+"Well," he said, gazing hard at it, "there is a helmet with a plume,
+balanced on a stick of peppermint candy----"
+
+"Yes, yes!" she cried, "the crest. Go on!"
+
+"Down on the ground-storey," he continued, "there is a pink shield
+divided in quarters, with the same helmet in the north-east division,
+and a lot of silver ticket-punchers in the one below it."
+
+"Spurs," she interjected.
+
+"Well, perhaps they are," he admitted. "Then there are a couple of
+two-tailed blue lions swimming in a crimson lake----"
+
+"The Melton arms!" she cried. "I looked them up in 'Burke's Peerage'
+when that old catawampus refused to come to our wedding. We will spend
+to-night with Lady Diana!"
+
+"But I thought----" began the Consul, when his companion interrupted
+him, exclaiming:
+
+"Chase that carriage as hard as you know how, and bring it here!"
+
+Allingford felt that this was a time for action and not for speech. The
+days of his collegiate triumphs, when he had put his best foot foremost
+on the cinder-track, rose to his mind, and he fled across the green and
+into the gathering gloom, which had now swallowed up her ladyship's
+chariot, with a swiftness that caused his companion to murmur: "Well, he
+can sprint!"
+
+Presently the equipage was seen returning with the heated and triumphant
+Consul inside. It drew up before her, and the footman alighted and
+approached questioningly.
+
+"Is this Lady Melton's carriage?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, madam."
+
+"Then you may drive this gentleman and me to Melton Court."
+
+"But, madam----"
+
+"I am Mrs. Scarsdale, Lady Diana's great-niece," she said quietly. The
+footman touched his hat.
+
+"Was her ladyship expecting you? We were sent to meet this next train,
+but----"
+
+"No, we are here unexpectedly ourselves; but I dare say there will be
+room for all, as the carriage holds four."
+
+"There will only be Lord Cowbray, madam, and his lordship may not arrive
+till the nine-thirty. If you would not mind driving to the station?"
+
+"It is just what we wish," she replied, and calmly stepped into the
+carriage and seated herself by the Consul's side, who was so amazed at
+the turn affairs had taken that he remained speechless.
+
+"Shall I see to your luggage, madam?" inquired the footman as they drew
+up opposite the waiting-room door.
+
+"No," she replied, stepping out on the platform. "We will attend to it
+ourselves; it will only be necessary to take up our hand-bags for
+to-night."
+
+Accompanied by the Consul she went in search of their belongings, and at
+her suggestion he took a Gladstone belonging to the absent Scarsdale,
+and a dressing-case which she designated as her own property.
+
+"I was anxious to have a word alone with you," she said as they emerged
+once more on the platform, "and we can't talk on personal matters during
+the drive to the Court. You see my position is a little peculiar."
+
+"Excuse me for asking the question," he replied, "but are your relations
+with your husband's great-aunt quite cordial?"
+
+"On the contrary, they are quite the reverse. She detests all Americans,
+and was very much put out at poor Harold for marrying me. Her refusal to
+be present at our wedding was almost an insult," she returned.
+
+"That doesn't seem to promise a pleasant reception at Melton Court," he
+said.
+
+"Far from it; but any port is acceptable in a storm, and she can hardly
+refuse us shelter. After all I've done nothing to be ashamed of in
+marrying my husband or being carried off with you."
+
+"Oh, I'll trust you to hold your own with any dowager in the United
+Kingdom; but where do I come in?"
+
+"You are my Consul, and under the circumstances my national protector; I
+can't do without you."
+
+"I am not at all sure that her ladyship will see it in that light; but,
+as you say, it is better than nothing, and our position can't be worse
+than it is at present."
+
+"Then it is agreed we stand by each other through thick and thin?"
+
+"Exactly," he replied, and shook her extended hand. At this moment the
+train came in, and they returned to the carriage.
+
+Lord Cowbray did not put in an appearance, and they were soon under way
+for Melton Court, which was some miles distant from the town. By the
+time they entered the grounds it was quite dark, and they could only see
+that the park was extensive, and that the Court seemed large and gloomy
+and might have dated from the Elizabethan period.
+
+On entering the central hall they at once saw evidences of a large
+house-party, whose presence did not tend to put them more at their ease,
+and Mrs. Scarsdale lost no time in sending a message to Lady Melton, to
+the effect that her great-niece had arrived unexpectedly and would much
+appreciate a few words with her in private.
+
+They were shown into a little reception-room, and the footman returned
+shortly to say that her ladyship would be with them soon. After what
+seemed an endless time, but was in reality barely fifteen minutes, their
+hostess entered. She was a fine-looking woman of sixty or over, with a
+stern, hard face, and a set expression about her thin lips, that boded
+little good to offenders, whatever their age or sex. She looked her
+guests over through her gold eye-glasses, and, after waiting a moment
+for them to speak, said coldly:
+
+"I think there is some mistake. I was told that my niece wished to see
+me."
+
+"I said your great-niece," returned Mrs. Scarsdale.
+
+"Oh, my great-niece. Well? I do not recognise you."
+
+"It would be strange if you did, Lady Melton," returned the bride, "as
+you've never seen me. I am the wife of your great-nephew, Harold Stanley
+Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale."
+
+"I do not see your husband present," said her ladyship, directing an icy
+glare at the unfortunate Consul.
+
+"No," replied her niece, "I've lost him."
+
+"Lost him!"
+
+"Yes, at Basingstoke. He went to speak to a lady in another part of the
+train. I could make it clearer to you, I think, by saying that she was
+Sir Peter Steele's youngest daughter."
+
+"I never thought of knowing the Steeles when I was in London," commented
+her hostess, "but St. Hubart was always liberal in his tastes." A remark
+which caused the Consul to flush with pent-up wrath.
+
+"Oh, he didn't know her," interjected Mabel, hastening to correct the
+unfortunate turn which the conversation had taken. "She was this
+gentleman's wife."
+
+Her ladyship bowed very, very slightly in the Consul's direction, to
+indicate that his affairs, matrimonial or otherwise, could have for her
+no possible interest.
+
+"And that is the last we have heard of them," continued the bride,
+"except for a telegram from the station-master at Basingstoke, which
+says they went to Southampton----"
+
+"Do I understand you to say," broke in their hostess, betraying the
+first sign of interest she had so far evinced, "that my nephew has
+eloped with----?"
+
+"No, no!" cried Mrs. Scarsdale, "you do not in the least comprehend the
+true state of affairs," and she poured forth a voluble if disconnected
+account of their adventures.
+
+"Pardon me," exclaimed the old lady when she had finished, "but what is
+all this rigmarole? A most surprising affair, I must say, and quite
+worthy of your nationality. I was averse to my nephew's marrying you
+from the first; but I hardly expected to be justified on his wedding
+day."
+
+"In that case," said Mrs. Scarsdale, "the sooner we leave your house the
+better."
+
+"You will do nothing of the sort," replied her great-aunt. "Your coming
+to me is the only wise thing you have done. Of course you will remain
+here till your husband can be found. As for this person----" indicating
+Allingford.
+
+"This _gentleman_," said his partner in misfortune, coming to his
+rescue, "is Mr. Robert Allingford, United States Consul at Christchurch.
+As my husband had gone off with his wife, I thought the least I could do
+was to take him with me."
+
+"I can hardly see the necessity of that course," commented her hostess.
+
+"Now that I have seen Mrs. Scarsdale in safe hands, I could not think of
+trespassing longer upon your hospitality," put in the Consul; but his
+companion intervened.
+
+"I am not going to be deserted twice in a day!" she cried. "If you go, I
+go with you!"
+
+"About that," said her ladyship frigidly, "there can be no question,"
+and she rang the bell.
+
+"You will conduct this lady and this gentleman," she continued to the
+footman who answered her summons, "to the green room and the tower room
+respectively." Then, turning to her unwilling guests, she added: "As my
+dinner-table is fully arranged for this evening, and my guests are now
+awaiting me, you will pardon it if I have your dinner served in my
+private sitting-room. We will discuss your affairs at length to-morrow
+morning; but now I must bid you good-night," and with an inclination of
+her head she dismissed them from her presence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+IN WHICH A TRUNK IS SENT TO MELTON COURT
+
+Scarcely had the sun risen the next morning when the Consul, after a
+sleepless night, stole downstairs and found his way out upon the
+terrace, for a quiet stroll and a breath of fresh, cool air. Moreover,
+he was in need of an uninterrupted hour in which to arrange his plans in
+such a manner as would most surely tend to effect the double reunion he
+so earnestly desired.
+
+It seemed well-nigh impossible, in the small space of country which had
+probably been traversed by all parties, that they could lose each other
+for more than a few hours. To make the situation more clear to those who
+have never had the misfortune to suffer from the intricacies of English
+railway travel, the following diagram is appended. The triangle is
+isosceles, the sides being thirty-five miles long, the base twenty.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+He reviewed his own adventures of yesterday afternoon. He had acted on
+what seemed to be the only sensible and reasonable plan to pursue;
+namely, to leave the train at its first stop, and return as soon as
+possible to the point of divergence. It seemed fair to assume that Mr.
+Scarsdale and Mrs. Allingford had done the same thing, and, such being
+the case, it was easy to imagine what their course of action had been. A
+glance at the time-table told him that the first point at which they
+could leave their division of the train had been Southampton; from which
+place they could, almost immediately, catch an express back to the
+junction they had left, arriving there shortly after seven on the past
+evening.
+
+His own course and that of Mrs. Scarsdale seemed clear; it was simply a
+return to Basingstoke immediately after breakfast, and rejoin their
+friends, who had been spending the night at that place.
+
+It was possible that they had lost the returning express and remained in
+Southampton; but if they acted in a rational manner, they must
+eventually return to the junction. But supposing Mrs. Allingford and Mr.
+Scarsdale had not done the obvious thing; supposing that chance had
+intervened and upset their plans, as in his own case? He suddenly found
+himself face to face with the startling fact that not only were he and
+Mrs. Scarsdale not at Salisbury or Basingstoke, but that they were at
+present at the one place where his wife and Mrs. Scarsdale's husband
+would never think of looking for them--Melton Court.
+
+Allingford jammed his hat hard on the back of his head, and set off at a
+brisk pace to Salisbury and the nearest telegraph station; arriving at
+his destination shortly before seven, to find that he had a good
+half-hour to wait before the operators arrived. The office was opened at
+last, however, and he lost no time in telegraphing to Basingstoke for
+information, and in a little while received an answer from the
+station-master at that point which cheered him up considerably, though
+it was not quite as explicit as he could have wished. It read as
+follows:
+
+     "_Scarsdale telegraphed last evening from Southampton, saying he
+     had left train there with Mrs. Allingford and was returning at once
+     to Basingstoke._"
+
+The Consul was pleased to find that his conjectures had been correct.
+He felt that a great weight had been lifted from his mind. Their missing
+partners had undoubtedly spent the night at Basingstoke and would soon
+consult the station-master at that point, who would doubtless show them
+the messages he had received. Allingford looked out a good train,
+telegraphed the hour of their arrival, and then, as his reception of the
+night before had not inclined him to trespass on Lady Melton's grudging
+hospitality more than was absolutely necessary, he had a leisurely
+breakfast at the hotel, and, engaging a fly, drove back to the Court,
+reaching there about half-past nine.
+
+Mrs. Scarsdale had also passed a disturbed night, but, unlike her
+companion in misfortune, she did not venture out at unearthly hours in
+the morning. She was up, however, and saw him depart, which was in some
+ways a comfort, since it assured her that he was losing no time in
+continuing their quest.
+
+At eight a maid arrived with warm water and a message from her ladyship
+that she wished Mrs. Scarsdale to breakfast with her in private at nine
+o'clock, and that she would be obliged if her great-niece would keep her
+room till that time. The bride was considerably piqued by this message
+and the distrust it implied, but felt it would be wise to accede to the
+request, and sent word accordingly.
+
+As she entered Lady Melton's boudoir an hour later, her hostess rose to
+receive her, kissing her coldly on the forehead, and saying:
+
+"You will pardon my requesting you to keep your room; but your presence
+is not as yet known to my guests, and your appearance among them
+immediately after your marriage, without your husband, might cause
+unpleasant speculation and comment. Do you agree with me?"
+
+"Quite," replied Mrs. Scarsdale. She had misjudged Lady Melton, she
+thought; but she disliked her nevertheless, and wished to be very
+guarded.
+
+"Now," said that personage, "I want to hear the whole affair. No, I do
+not want you to tell it," as her guest opened her mouth to speak; "not
+in your own way, I mean. You would probably wander from the point, and
+my time is of importance. I will ask you questions, and you will be kind
+enough to answer them, as plainly and shortly as possible."
+
+Mrs. Scarsdale bowed; she was so angry at the cool insolence that this
+statement implied that she did not feel she could trust herself to
+speak.
+
+"Now we will begin," said her ladyship, as she proceeded to demolish a
+boiled egg. "What is your Christian name?"
+
+"Mabel."
+
+"Very well. Then I shall call you Mabel in future; it is ridiculous to
+address you as Mrs. Scarsdale."
+
+"I really don't see----" began that lady.
+
+"Excuse me," interrupted her questioner, "I will make the comments when
+necessary. When were you married?"
+
+"Yesterday afternoon at two-thirty o'clock."
+
+"Where did you and your husband intend to pass last night?"
+
+"At Exeter."
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"I ought to be. I bought the tickets."
+
+"You bought the tickets! Is that customary in your country?"
+
+"I am not here to discuss the customs of my country, Lady Melton. I
+bought the tickets because I chose to do so, and considered myself
+better fitted to arrange the trip than my husband."
+
+"Really! I suppose that is the reason you selected the most roundabout
+way to reach Exeter. Your husband could have told you that you should
+have taken another railway, the Great Western."
+
+"My husband," said Mrs. Scarsdale stiffly, "did not know our
+destination."
+
+"What!"
+
+"I say that my husband did not know our destination."
+
+Her ladyship surveyed her for a moment in shocked and silent
+disapproval, and then remarked:
+
+"I think I understood you to say that you travelled together as far as
+Basingstoke?"
+
+"Yes, and there St. Hubart met a friend."
+
+"This consular person?"
+
+"Mr. Allingford? Yes. He was also married yesterday, and came to our
+carriage to congratulate me."
+
+"And my nephew went to speak to Mrs. Allingford."
+
+"Exactly. And the first thing we knew the train was moving."
+
+"Go on."
+
+"That is just what we did, though Mr. Allingford tried to leave the
+carriage and return to his wife."
+
+"It would have been better had he never left her."
+
+"But I restrained him."
+
+"How did you restrain him?"
+
+"By his coat-tails."
+
+"Excuse me. Do I understand you to say that you forcibly detained him?"
+
+"I'm sorry if you are shocked; it was all I could catch hold of."
+
+"I shall reserve my criticism of these very astonishing performances,
+Mabel; but permit me to say that you have much to learn concerning the
+manners and customs of English society."
+
+"Then," said Mrs. Scarsdale, ignoring this last remark, "we came to
+Salisbury."
+
+"And telegraphed to Basingstoke for information."
+
+"Exactly. But they could tell us nothing; so when I saw your
+carriage----"
+
+"How did you know it was mine?"
+
+"I looked out your coat of arms in 'Burke.'"
+
+Her ladyship smiled grimly. Perhaps something might be made of this fair
+barbarian--in time, a great deal of time; but still this knowledge of
+the peerage sounded hopeful, and it was with a little less severity in
+her voice that she demanded:
+
+"And what do you mean to do now?"
+
+"Go back to Basingstoke this morning."
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"No, with Mr. Allingford."
+
+"Do you expect to find your husband there?"
+
+"I should think he would naturally return as soon as possible to where
+he lost me."
+
+"I don't know," said her ladyship. "Was Mrs. Allingford pretty?"
+
+"If you are going to adopt that tack, Lady Melton, the sooner we part
+the better," said her visitor angrily.
+
+"We do not 'adopt tacks' in England," returned her ladyship calmly; "and
+as I consider myself responsible for your actions while you are under my
+roof, I shall not allow you to go to Basingstoke, or anywhere else, with
+a person who, whatever his official position, is totally unknown to me."
+
+"You don't mean to keep me here against my will!"
+
+"I mean to send you to your relations, wherever they are, under the
+charge of my butler--a most respectable married man--provided the
+journey can be accomplished between now and nightfall."
+
+"Well, it can't," replied her grand-niece triumphantly. "Aunt Eliza
+left for Paris this morning, and all my other relations are in Chicago."
+
+Lady Melton was, however, a woman of decision, and not to be easily
+baffled.
+
+"Then I will send you to your mother-in-law, Lady Scarsdale; I suppose
+she has returned to 'The Towers'?"
+
+"I believe so. But I do not intend to go there without my husband; it
+would be ignominious."
+
+"Perhaps you can suggest a better plan," said her ladyship coldly.
+
+"Well, if you refuse to let me go to Basingstoke----" began the bride.
+
+"I do. Proceed."
+
+"Then Mr. Allingford might go for me, and tell St. Hubart where I am. I
+know he is waiting for me there, but he would never think of my being
+here----Excuse me, I mean----" she stammered, blushing, for she saw she
+had made a slip.
+
+"We will not discuss your meaning," said her hostess, "but your plan
+seems feasible and proper. You may receive the consular person in my
+private sitting-room and arrange matters at once."
+
+Her niece turned to go, but she stopped her, saying:
+
+"One word more. I do not think it necessary for your friend Mr.
+Allingford to return with my nephew. Pray make this clear to him."
+
+After having been dismissed from her hostess' presence, Mrs. Scarsdale
+lost no time in sending for the Consul, who had just returned, and
+proceeded to work off on that unfortunate gentleman the rage engendered
+by her recent interview.
+
+"I'm inclined to think," he said when she had finished, "that in this
+instance the catawampus is right. There is no use of your gallivanting
+over the country after your husband; he ought to come to you. I'll run
+down to Basingstoke at once, send him back, and with Mrs. Allingford go
+on my way rejoicing. There is no need of my returning, and I guess her
+ladyship won't cry her eyes out if I don't."
+
+"You haven't yet told me the result of your excursion this morning," she
+said, hoping to divert the conversation from so obvious a truth.
+
+"This," he replied, holding up the telegram he had just received from
+the station-master at Basingstoke.
+
+After reading the message, Mrs. Scarsdale was most anxious that he
+should lose no time in starting, and with mutual expressions of
+friendship, and boundless thanks from the deserted bride, they parted:
+he for the junction, she for a further interview with her great-aunt.
+
+When her ladyship learned that Scarsdale had left Southampton for
+Basingstoke, and was doubtless now in that place, she advised his wife
+to remain in seclusion till the members of the house-party, which
+luckily was breaking up that day, had departed; and retired herself to
+prepare a few remarks with which to welcome her errant great-nephew.
+Later in the day, however, she so far relented towards his wife as to
+suggest that she take a stroll on the terrace while the few remaining
+guests were indulging in a post-prandial siesta.
+
+It was from this coign of vantage that she saw approaching the worn and
+drooping figure of Mr. Allingford. She rushed to meet him, and demanded,
+without even giving him time to get his breath:
+
+"Where is my husband?"
+
+"I don't know," he gasped.
+
+"Or your wife?"
+
+"Or my wife."
+
+"Aren't they in Basingstoke?"
+
+"No, and haven't been there. I've turned that confounded town inside
+out, and catechised every one about the station, from the divisional
+superintendent to the charwoman. They did not come last night, nor
+arrive this morning. Since leaving Southampton, if they did leave it,
+they have entirely disappeared."
+
+"Why do you say, 'if they did leave' Southampton?"
+
+"Because no one saw them go. I have learned by endless telegraphing that
+they alighted at that point, told a porter they had been carried past
+their destination, and wished to return at once to Basingstoke. He
+indicated their train, they disappeared in the crowd--and that's all."
+
+"Haven't they telegraphed again to Basingstoke?"
+
+"Not since last night."
+
+"Or to Salisbury?"
+
+"No. I inquired on the chance, but no message had come."
+
+"It is horrible!" she exclaimed. "I'm the most miserable woman on
+earth!"
+
+"Don't cry," he begged despairingly.
+
+"No," she said, "I won't. Do you think it would be any good to telegraph
+to Aunt Eliza and Lady Scarsdale?"
+
+"I have already done so. Your Aunt Eliza has left for Paris. She
+wouldn't have done that if she had heard about this; and it gave Lady
+Scarsdale a fit--the telegram I mean--but she didn't know anything."
+
+"Is that all?"
+
+"Not quite. I have telegraphed to my Vice-Consul at Christchurch,
+asking for news of Scarsdale, and telling him to forward anything that
+had come for me. They might have _written_ there, you know, to save talk
+in the office; but I haven't as yet had a reply."
+
+"I must consult Lady Melton; the situation is too dreadful for words.
+Suppose they have had an accident; suppose----" she faltered.
+
+"Nonsense!" he rejoined, "bad news always travels quickly; don't make
+yourself uneasy on that score. They've got side-tracked in some
+out-of-the-way place, just as we have. I'll go to Southampton to-morrow
+and work up the trail. Now you run off and consult the catawampus."
+
+When her ladyship had heard the whole story, she summed up as follows:
+
+"As your friend has seen fit to return, you may tell him his chamber
+will be again made ready for to-night, and you will both dine in my
+sitting-room as before. To-morrow I shall send you home to Lady
+Scarsdale."
+
+"But----"
+
+"There is nothing more to be said on the subject. I have made up my
+mind." And having pronounced sentence, she left her distracted
+great-niece to her own reflections.
+
+It was a very doleful couple who sat down to dinner that evening in Lady
+Melton's private room.
+
+"It is ridiculous!" said Mrs. Scarsdale. "We are being treated like
+naughty children. I feel as if I were about to be whipped and put to
+bed. Sent home with the butler, indeed! I'd just like to see her
+ladyship try to do it!"
+
+"How are you going to prevent her?" asked the Consul.
+
+"I'm not a child, and I won't be treated as one! If I am to be sent home
+in disgrace, you will have to come with me."
+
+"Well, I like that! You seem to forget I've lost my wife. My first duty
+is to find her."
+
+"Your first duty is to me. If you go to Southampton, I go with you."
+
+"I'm afraid there'll be an awful row with her ladyship."
+
+"Let there be, then; I don't care!"
+
+"I really think," he expostulated, "that you had better stay here one
+day more. I'll get you a reprieve from the custody of the butler, and
+have a try at Southampton myself. There is a cross-line from here, and
+it won't take any time to run over. I've tracked horse-thieves in
+Kentucky when I was sheriff, and I guess I can find a bridegroom where
+it's all open country as it is round here."
+
+At this moment a servant knocked and entered, saying:
+
+"Please, madam, her ladyship's orders is that you are to be ready at
+seven to-morrow morning, to start with Mr. Bright, the butler, for 'The
+Towers.'"
+
+"I----!" began Mrs. Scarsdale, rising in wrath and indignation; but
+before she could further complicate matters by a direct refusal, the
+footman had turned to Allingford, and, handing him a telegram, had left
+the room. Forgetful of all else, she rushed to the Consul's side as
+with nervous fingers he tore it open. What joyful news might it not
+contain! One look at his face, however, blasted all her hopes. Horror,
+consternation, and surprise were depicted thereon as he read the
+despatch. Something dreadful must have happened.
+
+"Tell me the worst!" she cried. "Is it Harold?"
+
+"It is the last straw," he replied.
+
+"Is he dead?"
+
+"I wish he was."
+
+"You wish my husband dead?"
+
+"Oh, confound your husband!"
+
+"Mr. Allingford----!"
+
+"No, no, I don't mean that. I'm not responsible for what I'm saying," he
+replied, and groaned aloud. But his companion was not to be put off.
+
+"Is that telegram from my husband?"
+
+"No."
+
+"From my mother-in-law?"
+
+"No."
+
+"From Aunt Eliza?"
+
+"No."
+
+"From the station-master at Basingstoke?"
+
+"Guess again."
+
+"From your Vice-Consul?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has he heard anything of our lost ones?"
+
+"It has nothing to do with that."
+
+"Then what is the matter? What does it all mean?"
+
+"It means," replied the Consul, "that I've got to leave here by the
+first train."
+
+"Explain yourself," she demanded.
+
+"I'll try," he replied, mopping his brow. "You see, an American applied
+to me to lend him some money, a few days ago, and put up as collateral
+an elephant."
+
+"Harold told me the story. I thought it very amusing."
+
+"You won't when I've finished. The elephant arrived day before yesterday
+at Southampton, and, as I had informed the steamship company that I was
+the temporary owner of the beast, they forwarded it to my consulate at
+Christchurch."
+
+"How does that affect us?"
+
+"Affect us!" he cried. "Do you remember what I telegraphed my
+Vice-Consul?"
+
+"Yes, almost word for word," she answered. "You asked for news of the
+fugitives, and, on the chance of their writing to Christchurch, told him
+to forward here anything that might have come for you."
+
+"Exactly," shrieked the Consul; "and the blamed fool has forwarded the
+elephant!"
+
+"What! Here? To Melton Court?" she exclaimed, aghast.
+
+"That is what I said. The beast is on the way now, and ought to be here
+bright and early to-morrow morning."
+
+"How awful! What will you do?"
+
+"Get out," he replied laconically.
+
+"And leave me?"
+
+"I don't know about you, but I mean to leave the elephant. I don't wish
+to start a bigger circus than I have on hand already."
+
+"But would it be quite right to our hostess?" expostulated her niece.
+
+"If you've any conscientious scruples on the subject, you can stay and
+tend the beast. I'm leaving by the first train."
+
+"But it's your elephant."
+
+"Of course it is, and I've a right to do what I choose with it. I mean
+to leave it to Lady Melton, in payment for my board and lodging. After
+the way she's treated me I don't want to owe her anything."
+
+"Really, Mr. Allingford----" began his companion.
+
+"Now look here," he retorted; "would you want an elephant tagging you
+round on your honeymoon?"
+
+"Well, no, I don't think I should," she replied, laughing.
+
+"Besides," he continued, "how am I to prosecute a search for our missing
+halves with a Noah's ark in tow?"
+
+"That does put the matter in a different light," she admitted.
+
+"You bet it does!" he replied. "As for her ladyship, she can do what she
+pleases with my slight token of regard. Give it to the poor of the
+parish, if she likes; I don't ask her to keep it."
+
+"But what is to become of me?"
+
+"Oh, you are to be sent home with the butler early to-morrow morning."
+
+"I won't go!"
+
+"Then join me."
+
+"But supposing we don't find my husband to-morrow----"
+
+"Then I'll take you down to my consulate at Christchurch for the night.
+I have plenty of friends there with whom you can stay."
+
+"That settles it," she replied.
+
+So it was that they stole away from the Court in the grey dawn of the
+next morning, footed it to Salisbury, recovered their baggage, and
+boarded the early train for Southampton. As it moved out of the station
+they passed a long line of box cars on a siding, from one of which the
+angry scream of an elephant resounded.
+
+"Just in time," said the Consul with a sigh of relief. "I wish her
+ladyship joy of my little remembrance."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+IN WHICH MR. SCARSDALE CHANGES HIS NAME
+
+Mr. Scarsdale entered Mrs. Allingford's compartment with so great an
+impetus, when he swung himself into her carriage at Basingstoke, that he
+completely lost his balance, and shot past her on all fours, to land in
+a heap on the floor. A second later the guard banged the door, and the
+train was off.
+
+"What does this mean?" exclaimed the Consul's wife, "and where is my
+husband?"
+
+"Excuse me," gasped Scarsdale, picking himself up from the floor, "but I
+couldn't leave you."
+
+"So it appears," she replied coldly. "But you have not answered my
+question, and----" as the train began to move rapidly, "it is not
+possible that we are getting under way!"
+
+"Yes," he said gloomily, "we are off to Southampton."
+
+"Answer me instantly: where is my husband?" she demanded.
+
+"Gone to Exeter, I suppose, with my wife."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"That he was carried off in the first division of the train, which left
+five minutes ago."
+
+"But I thought we stopped ten minutes."
+
+"So _you_ did; _we_ stopped only five. When I left you just now, I saw
+that the forward half of this train had disappeared, and the guard told
+me it had gone to Exeter, and that this portion was just leaving for
+Southampton. I thought it better to stay with you than to let you go by
+yourself; so as the carriage was moving, and it was impossible to get
+you out, I jumped in."
+
+"Thank you," she said simply; and for a moment there was silence between
+them while the train rattled over the points, and, reaching the
+outskirts of the town, began to increase its speed. The little
+Englishwoman did not, however, emulate her fair American partner in
+distress, who was at this moment indulging in hysterics in the other
+train; she had been too well trained to betray her feelings before a man
+whom she knew but slightly, even over the loss of a husband; so, after
+remaining quiet for a little, she controlled herself sufficiently to
+say, very calmly:
+
+"I do not see that we can either of us blame ourselves for what has
+happened; we must try and make the best of it, and rejoin your wife and
+my husband as soon as possible."
+
+Plucky little woman! thought Scarsdale to himself; to Mrs. Allingford he
+said:
+
+"I am glad you see things in so sensible a light. You must let me help
+you in every way that is in my power."
+
+"You say our first stop is Southampton?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, we reach there in less than an hour. They slip some carriages at
+Winchester, but the train doesn't stop," he replied.
+
+"Then I think we should alight at Southampton," she said, "and return
+at once to Basingstoke."
+
+"That would certainly be our best course. When you lose a man in a
+crowd, it is much better to wait at the point where you lost him till he
+finds you than to hunt for him yourself, as you will both miss each
+other."
+
+"Then you propose to let them find us."
+
+"That is my idea. Of course I'll telegraph to the station-master at
+Basingstoke that we will return there, so that if they wire for
+information concerning us he can give it them."
+
+"Where do you think they have gone?"
+
+"If we either of us knew our destination it would be far easier," he
+said, laughing. "I hope this will be a lesson to my wife."
+
+"But surely the train must stop before it reaches Exeter."
+
+"Undoubtedly; but as I have no time-table, I can't say where. Perhaps
+your husband has one in his overcoat. If you will permit me," and he
+proceeded to examine the garment in question.
+
+No time-table was forthcoming, however, and they were forced to resign
+themselves to waiting till they reached Southampton.
+
+Mrs. Allingford bore up bravely, and even tried to make conversation;
+but it proved to be a dreary ride, and when they drew up at their
+destination they were both exceedingly thankful.
+
+"Is there a train back to Basingstoke soon?" asked Scarsdale of the
+first railway porter he saw.
+
+"Yes, sir, over there on the left. Express leaves in three or four
+minutes," replied that individual, as he hurried away with somebody
+else's baggage.
+
+"I'll take you over," said Scarsdale.
+
+"No," replied his companion, "I can find it. You attend to the telegram
+and my luggage."
+
+He dashed off accordingly, and when he returned they both entered the
+train on the left.
+
+"I've sent the telegram," he said, "and I have also discovered your
+destination."
+
+"How?" she inquired.
+
+"By the labels on the luggage. It was marked for Bournemouth, and a
+jolly hard time I had to induce them to take it out of the van and send
+it back with us."
+
+"It seems to me," she said after a little, "that we've been waiting here
+more than four minutes. I trust we are not in the wrong train. One has
+just gone out."
+
+"Hi! guard!" called Scarsdale from the window. "Is this the express for
+Basingstoke?"
+
+"No, sir," replied the official. "It was the train beyond you, which has
+just left. Sorry if you've made a mistake, sir."
+
+"Confound it, yes!" cried Scarsdale. "Where does this train go?"
+
+"Stopping train for Winchester."
+
+"Can we go on to Basingstoke?"
+
+"Not by this train, sir."
+
+"But from Winchester?"
+
+"There is sure to be a train this evening, sir."
+
+"It has been a chapter of accidents," he said, explaining it to Mrs.
+Allingford, "but we had better go to Winchester, I think; it is on the
+way anyhow."
+
+"Yes," she assented, "and then get on to Basingstoke as fast as we can,
+and not be discouraged."
+
+"Quite right," he replied, and entered into a description of Southampton
+docks and the varied cargoes that were received there, in the hope of
+distracting her mind.
+
+"Oh, look!" she cried, as, once more started on their travels, they came
+in sight of the shipping, "see what they are loading on that truck! I do
+believe it is an elephant!"
+
+After what seemed an interminable journey, they at length arrived at
+Winchester, and as soon as Scarsdale had seen Mrs. Allingford
+established in the ladies' waiting-room, he hastened to ascertain their
+chances of getting to Basingstoke that night. On his return he wore a
+very long face, which his companion was not slow to interpret.
+
+"Are there no trains?" she exclaimed, in evident dismay.
+
+"There is one," he replied, "but we should not reach our destination
+till very late, almost midnight in fact, and we cannot tell that we
+should find your husband even then. I think our best course would be to
+remain here."
+
+"Oh, but that is impossible."
+
+"No, there is a very fair hotel."
+
+"I didn't mean that. But can't you see the position in which I am
+placed?"
+
+He did see, and he knew that what he proposed seemed to her almost an
+impossibility; but as they were now situated he considered that
+circumstances altered cases.
+
+"I am sure, Mrs. Allingford," he said, "that your good sense, which has
+carried you through so much this afternoon, will show you the necessity
+of acting as I have suggested. You must not forget that you are now a
+married woman, and can do things which before were not permissible."
+
+"Still," she contended, "to go to a public hotel with a gentleman who is
+a comparative stranger, and pass the night there, seems to me not the
+thing at all; and if we were recognised by anybody----" She paused,
+hardly knowing how to complete her sentence.
+
+"Then go alone. There are other hotels; I will put up somewhere else,"
+he replied.
+
+"No, no, I couldn't be left alone; I've never been alone before in my
+life. That would be worse than all else. You see, if you were only
+related to me it would be so different."
+
+"I am quite willing to pass myself off as any relation you please, for
+the sake of appearances."
+
+"But that would be deceitful."
+
+"I think the exigencies of the case will excuse that; besides, it is my
+own affair, not yours. Will you have me as a brother for one night
+only?" he asked, laughing.
+
+"But I have no brother," she replied.
+
+"Then as your husband's brother," he suggested; "that would be better
+still, as he is an American and not known here."
+
+"Do you really think it best?"
+
+"To save you annoyance, I think it is a pardonable deception. What is
+his name?"
+
+"Richard. But I don't know much about him."
+
+"Then we will consider that that is settled," he said cheerfully, and,
+without giving her time to argue the matter, summoned a fly, which
+presently deposited them bag and baggage at the hotel door. To make
+assurance doubly sure, he hastened to sign their names in the visitors'
+book:
+
+"Mrs. Robert Allingford, Christchurch, England.
+
+"Mr. Richard Allingford, U.S.A."
+
+"Can you give my sister and me good rooms for to-night?" he asked the
+landlady.
+
+"Yes, sir, two nice rooms just opposite each other."
+
+He said that that would do very well, and they were soon installed.
+
+Once in her apartment, Mrs. Allingford indulged in a good cry, while
+Scarsdale strolled out before dinner to have a smoke and think it over.
+He did not see much further use in telegraphing just at that moment.
+Later it would, perhaps, be well to send a message to Basingstoke,
+saying that they were detained at Winchester and would come on next
+morning; for he had quickly learned that Mrs. Scarsdale and Mr.
+Allingford would be able to leave the train at Salisbury, and justly
+surmised that they had done so.
+
+Presently, having finished his cigar, he returned to the hotel to find
+Mrs. Allingford ready for dinner, and much refreshed by her tears and
+subsequent ablutions. They neither of them ate much, and after the fish
+they gave up any attempt to make conversation as worse than useless, and
+finished the repast in silence.
+
+"I'm afraid," she said, as she folded her napkin, "that you've found me
+very poor company."
+
+"I'm nothing to boast of myself," he replied.
+
+"I hope they are not as miserable as we are," she added, as they rose to
+leave the table. "I haven't been able to eat a thing."
+
+Scarsdale did not reply; he had a gloomy suspicion that his wife was
+making a very good meal somewhere. Not that he doubted her love; but he
+did not believe her devotion included loss of appetite.
+
+"Don't you think they are miserable?" she queried, uneasy at his
+silence.
+
+"Not so miserable as we are," he said. "They are both Americans, you
+see, and Americans don't take things seriously as a rule."
+
+"What do you suppose they are doing?" was her next question.
+
+"Seated swinging their feet over the edge of Salisbury platform,
+finishing my five-pound box of American candy," he said.
+
+She tried to be amused, and even forced a little laugh; but it was a
+dismal failure, and, realising it, she at once excused herself and
+retired to her room for the night, leaving Scarsdale to pass the evening
+as best he could. He approved of her circumspection, but it was beastly
+dull, and, as he sat smoking in the winter garden which the hotel
+boasted, he felt that he should soon become insufferably bored.
+
+He presently, therefore, overcame his natural reserve sufficiently to
+respond to the advances of the only person in the room who seemed
+inclined to be sociable. The stranger was a florid, shaggy-bearded man
+of a distinctively American type, a person Scarsdale would naturally
+have avoided under ordinary circumstances; but to-night he felt the need
+of human society, no matter whose, and in a few moments they had drifted
+into conversation. At first the subjects under discussion were harmless
+enough, relating mainly to Winchester and neighbouring points of
+interest, concerning which Scarsdale was forced to confess himself
+ignorant, as it was his first visit to the place. Before long, however,
+they began to touch on more dangerous ground, and he saw that, even with
+a casual acquaintance of this sort, he must be guarded if he was to
+remain consistent in his role of brother to the deserted bride.
+
+"Were you ever in America?" was the first question which startled him.
+
+He replied in the affirmative, as he could honestly do, having been
+taken by his father to Canada when but a lad. But the stranger was not
+satisfied, and began, after the manner of his nation, a series of
+leading questions, which kept Scarsdale busy in trying to assimilate
+with some regard to truth the character he had chosen. It was at this
+moment that a waiter came to him and asked in a perfectly audible voice
+if he was Mr. Richard Allingford. Scarsdale was forced to admit the
+fact, and to reply to a message sent, as the waiter took unnecessary
+pains to explain, "By your sister, sir."
+
+"Excuse me," interjected his companion, "but may I ask if your sister's
+name is Mrs. Robert Allingford?"
+
+The Englishman would have given worlds to deny the fact, but in the
+presence of the waiter, who still lingered, and in the face of the
+evidence in the visitors' book, only one course was open to him, and he
+replied reluctantly in the affirmative.
+
+"Wife of the United States Consul at Christchurch?"
+
+"Yes," said Scarsdale.
+
+Now he could once more tell the truth, he felt happier; but he had a
+premonition that all was not well, and heartily wished he had never
+encouraged this American, who might know more than was convenient.
+
+"Why, Dick!" said that personage, leaning across the little table that
+separated them, and grasping both his hands--"Why, Dick! Don't you know
+me?"
+
+If a thunderbolt had shattered the floor at the Englishman's feet he
+could not have been more dumfounded. The one seemingly impossible thing
+had come to pass. In all this great world, with every chance against it,
+fate had ordained that the little provincial city in which he had
+planned to play, for one night only, another man's part, should also
+contain one of that man's friends, and they two had met. He was so
+staggered, as the possibilities contingent on this mischance crowded
+through his brain, that he could only stammer out:
+
+"You have the advantage of me."
+
+"Well, I don't much wonder," continued his new-found friend. "If I have
+changed as much in fifteen years as you have, it isn't strange you
+didn't recognise me. Lord! I'd never have known you if you hadn't told
+me who you were."
+
+"You must do me as great a favour," said Scarsdale, regaining a little
+of his self-composure. If so long a time had elapsed since their last
+meeting, he felt that things were not so bad after all, and that he
+could reasonably hope to bluff it out.
+
+"Well," said the other, "the boys used to call me Faro Charlie; now you
+remember."
+
+The Englishman tried to look as if he did, and the American proceeded to
+further elucidate matters by saying:
+
+"Why, surely you ain't forgotten me as was your pal out to Red Dog, the
+time you was prospecting for copper and struck gold?"
+
+"No, no," said Scarsdale. "Of course I remember you now." He couldn't be
+supposed to have forgotten such an event, he felt; but the whole affair
+was most unfortunate.
+
+"I guess you've settled down and become pious, from the looks of you,"
+continued Faro Charlie; "but you'll have a drink for old times' sake
+just the same."
+
+"No, thanks, you must excuse me," he replied, feeling that he must drop
+this unwelcome friend as soon as possible. But the friend had no
+intention of being dropped, and contented himself by saying:
+
+"Rats!" and ordering two whiskies.
+
+"Why, I've known the day," he continued, "when Slippery Dick--we used to
+call you Slippery Dick, you remember, 'cause you could cheat worse at
+poker than any man in the camp." Scarsdale writhed. "Well, as I was
+saying, you'd have shot a man then who refused to drink with you."
+
+The Englishman sat aghast. Little had he thought he was impersonating a
+card-sharper and a wholesale murderer. The whisky came and he drank it,
+feeling that he needed a bracer.
+
+"Now," said Faro Charlie, "I want to hear all about what you've been
+doing, first and last. Tending copper-mines, I heered, out to Michigan."
+
+This, the Englishman felt, was going too far. It was bad enough to have
+to impersonate such a fellow as "Slippery Dick," but to endow him with a
+fictitious history that was at all comparable with Faro Charlie's
+account of his earlier years required too great an effort of
+imagination. And the fact that a quiet little man, who was sitting near
+by, edged up his chair and seemed deeply interested in the conversation,
+did not tend to put him more at his ease. No wonder, he thought, the
+Consul did not talk much about his brother. He therefore hastened to
+change the subject.
+
+"Have you seen much of the Indians lately?" he ventured; it seemed such
+a safe topic.
+
+"Thinking of that little squaw you was so chummy with down to Injun
+Reservation?" queried his friend, punching him jovially in the ribs.
+"You knew, didn't you, that they'd had her up for horse-stealing to
+Fort Smith? Reckon as they'd a hung her if she hadn't been a woman. She
+was a limb! Guess you had your hands full when you tackled her."
+
+Scarsdale decided his choice of a subject had not been fortunate, and
+begged Faro Charlie to have some more whisky.
+
+"Sure," replied that individual. "Drink with you all night."
+
+"I'm afraid you can't do that," replied Scarsdale, hastening to rid
+himself of his unwelcome friend. "I have some important business to
+attend to this evening."
+
+"I wish you weren't in such a rush. Come back and we'll paint the town,
+eh?"
+
+Scarsdale thought it extremely unlikely, and shaking hands fled to the
+street with a sigh of relief; for he had had a very bad quarter of an
+hour. What cursed luck that he should have run across this American
+horror! He must avoid him at all costs to-morrow morning.
+
+In his hurry he had not noticed that the quiet little man had left the
+winter garden with him. His one thought was to get away. He determined
+to send that telegram to Basingstoke at once, and go to bed before any
+one else recognised him: one of Slippery Dick's friends was enough.
+
+But unkind fate had not yet done with him, and a new and more terrible
+surprise was in store for the unfortunate bridegroom. He had scarcely
+gone a dozen yards from the hotel entrance, when a voice said just
+beside him:
+
+"Excuse me, Mr. Richard Allingford, but may I have a few words with
+you?"
+
+Scarsdale turned, and finding himself face to face with the quiet little
+man, who had seemed so interested in his conversation of a few moments
+ago, said:
+
+"I seem to be in great demand to-night. Why do you wish to see me? I
+don't know you."
+
+"No," said the man who stood beside him. "No, you do not know me, Mr.
+Richard Allingford; but you will."
+
+He was a quiet, unpretending little man; but there was something about
+his dress and bearing, and the snap with which he shut his jaw at the
+end of a sentence, an air of decision, in short, which caused the
+Englishman to feel that he would do well to conciliate this stranger,
+whoever he might be, so he said shortly:
+
+"What do you want with me? Speak quickly; I'm in a hurry."
+
+"I couldn't help overhearing some of your conversation just now at the
+hotel, and so I took the liberty of following you to ask you a
+question."
+
+"Yes?" said Scarsdale interrogatively.
+
+"If I mistake not you are the brother of the United States Consul at
+Christchurch, and came over to his wedding."
+
+"Yes," he admitted; for he did not see how he could well deny to one man
+what he had just confessed to another.
+
+"You have been in England about ten days, I think?"
+
+"As long as that, certainly."
+
+"May I ask what ship you came on?"
+
+"By what right do you ask me these questions?"
+
+"You will see presently."
+
+"But suppose I refuse to answer them?"
+
+The unknown shrugged his shoulders, and said quietly:
+
+"Now wasn't it the _Paris_?"
+
+"Yes," said Scarsdale, who remembered with joy having seen that fact
+chronicled in a London paper.
+
+"I suppose you have never been in Winchester before?"
+
+"Never in my life."
+
+"Not last week?"
+
+"Look here!" said Scarsdale angrily, "what the devil are you driving
+at?"
+
+"It is a pity you should have such a good memory for past and not for
+recent events," said the quiet little man, "a great pity."
+
+"I tell you I have never been here!"
+
+"Didn't dine at the Lion's Head last Wednesday, for instance?"
+
+"No, I did not, and I've had enough of this insolence!"
+
+"So have I," said the little man, blowing a little whistle. "So have I,
+and therefore I arrest you, Richard Allingford, in the Queen's name."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+IN WHICH MR. SCARSDALE REAPS ANOTHER'S WHIRLWIND
+
+Scarsdale was absolutely staggered by the word "arrest." Arrest! What
+nonsense! Who was this man who talked of arresting _him_, Harold
+Scarsdale, peaceably engaged in trying to find his wife and proceed on
+his honeymoon? The first sensations of surprise and incredulity were
+quickly followed, however, by a realisation of the horrible situation in
+which his own stupidity had placed him. In the eyes of the law he was
+not Harold Scarsdale, but Richard Allingford, and he shuddered to think
+with what crime he might be charged; for, from what he had learned in
+the last half-hour, he could not doubt that he was posing as one of the
+most abandoned characters that had ever visited the town of Winchester.
+
+A person who consorted with horse-thieves, cheated at cards, and thought
+nothing of shooting friends who were not thirsty, would surely be
+satisfied with no ordinary crime. Of what was he accused? He hardly
+dared to ask. And how was he to get out of this dreadful dilemma? His
+reflections, however, were cut short by the arrival of a burly
+policeman, in answer to his captor's whistle. The little man at once
+addressed the newcomer, quite ignoring Scarsdale.
+
+"Here's your man Allingford; not a doubt of it," he said.
+
+"Got your warrant?" inquired the policeman, laying a detaining hand on
+the prisoner's shoulder.
+
+"Here it is," replied the first speaker, producing a paper, which the
+officer glanced at and returned, saying at the same time to Scarsdale:
+
+"Now, then, come along o' me, and don't make no resistance if you knows
+what's good for you."
+
+"I do not intend to offer any resistance," replied that gentleman, and
+turning to the little man he asked: "By what right do you arrest me, and
+on what charge?"
+
+"I'm Private Detective Smithers," replied his captor, "and this," again
+producing the paper he had already shown to the policeman, "is my
+warrant. You know the charge well enough."
+
+"I'm entirely ignorant of it!" cried Scarsdale hotly.
+
+"Of course," said the detective. "They always are," and he winked at the
+officer.
+
+"I tell you I don't know anything about it!" reiterated the unfortunate
+bridegroom.
+
+"I must caution you," remarked the policeman, "that anything you says
+may be used against you as evidence."
+
+"I demand to know why I am arrested. I have a right to do so."
+
+"Tell him, Bill," said the detective, "and stop his row."
+
+The officer, thus admonished, nodded his head, and replied shortly:
+
+"Two charges: 'sault and battery on the landlord of the Lion's Head, and
+disturbing the peace on last Wednesday night."
+
+"I deny the charge!" cried Scarsdale.
+
+"Of course you do," replied the policeman; "I suppose you would. Now
+you've had your say, are you coming along peaceable, or are you not?"
+
+"Certainly I am," replied the prisoner, and they started up the street,
+followed by a small crowd, which had already collected.
+
+"I must warn you," continued Scarsdale, when they were fairly under way,
+"that you are making a mistake. I am not the man you take me for."
+
+"I suppose you'll deny your name is Richard Allingford next," said the
+detective, laughing.
+
+"I do deny it."
+
+"Well I'm blessed!" remarked his captor.
+
+The policeman simply said: "Come on, that's too thin!" and jerked him
+roughly by the arm.
+
+Scarsdale quickened his pace, saying angrily:
+
+"If you'd only give a man a chance to explain!"
+
+"You'll have chance enough, when you come up to-morrow, to explain to
+the court," replied the officer, "and a pretty bill of damages into the
+bargain."
+
+"Oh, if it's only a fine," remarked the prisoner, feeling much relieved,
+"I'll pay it and welcome, rather than have a row."
+
+"Maybe you won't have the option," replied one of his captors; while the
+other added cheerfully: "What you needs is thirty days, and I 'opes
+you'll get it."
+
+At the police court Scarsdale did not help his case by insisting on
+giving his right name, and denying all knowledge of the charge. His
+statements were entered against him, he was relieved of his watch,
+purse, and jewellery, and introduced to the cold comforts of the
+lock-up.
+
+On being asked if he wished to communicate with any one, he replied that
+the next morning would be quite time enough; for he knew that Mrs.
+Allingford could give him little help in his present predicament, and
+he did not wish to disturb her night's rest to no purpose.
+
+It can be well imagined that the accommodations of an English provincial
+prison are not luxurious; but the room was clean, and fortune favoured
+him in that he had only two companions, both of whom were stupid drunk,
+and went to sleep very peaceably on the floor.
+
+Scarsdale improvised a bed on a settee, and, using his coat as a pillow,
+passed a fairly comfortable night. Luckily he was of a somewhat
+phlegmatic temperament, and withal very tired after the day's exertions;
+so, in spite of the misfortunes which were crowding about him, he was
+able to resign himself to the inevitable, and eventually to drop off to
+sleep.
+
+Early next morning, however, he arranged to have a note delivered to
+Mrs. Allingford at the hotel, in which he informed that lady of his
+unfortunate predicament, begging her not to distress herself on his
+account; and assuring her that in all probability it was merely a
+matter of a trifling fine, and that he should be at liberty to rejoin
+her within a few hours.
+
+He felt very little of what he wrote; but as long as there was a chance
+of things coming out right, he wished to spare her all possible worry.
+
+His ready money procured him a better breakfast than he could have hoped
+for, and by nine o'clock, when the court opened, he was refreshed and
+ready for whatever might befall. His two companions in misfortune
+preceded him for trial, but their cases were soon disposed of, and
+Harold Scarsdale, _alias_ Richard Allingford, was put into the dock.
+
+The court-room consisted of a plainly furnished apartment, containing a
+raised platform at one end, on which were placed the desk and armchair
+of the police magistrate, while in front were several rows of benches
+for the accommodation of the public: but as the cases were of no general
+interest, Scarsdale was relieved to see that the attendance was meagre.
+Mrs. Allingford was present, however, looking very white and distressed,
+but managing to muster up a smile to greet him as he entered.
+
+The proceedings were short and to the point. The police constable, on
+being called and given the oath, kissed the book and deposed that at
+about a quarter to nine on the previous evening, while on his accustomed
+beat, he had been summoned by Private Detective Smithers to aid in
+arresting the prisoner, who had professed ignorance of the charge, the
+truth of which he afterwards denied, and who persisted in asserting that
+he was not Richard Allingford.
+
+Private Detective Smithers now took the stand and stated the case from
+his point of view; which was, in short, that the conversation he had
+overheard at the hotel between the prisoner and another person here
+present, and the statement which the prisoner made to him personally,
+proved that he was without doubt the Richard Allingford mentioned in the
+indictment. In conclusion he begged that the person styling himself Faro
+Charlie should be summoned to corroborate his testimony. Faro Charlie
+was accordingly called and placed in the dock, and after the usual
+preliminaries the magistrate examined him as follows:
+
+"What is your name?"
+
+"Faro Charlie."
+
+"Any other name?"
+
+"Smith."
+
+"Very well, Charles Smith; are you a citizen of the United States?"
+
+"I be."
+
+"Of what occupation?"
+
+"Miner."
+
+"Do you recognise the prisoner as the person whom you met at the George
+last evening?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Can you swear that he is Richard Allingford?"
+
+"No."
+
+Scarsdale's heart leaped at that "no"; salvation was at hand after all.
+
+The magistrate continued:
+
+"Do you believe this person to be Richard Allingford?"
+
+"Yes, on the whole I think I do." The prisoner's heart sank. "But,"
+continued the witness, "I can't be sure. Fifteen years is a long time. I
+wouldn't have known him if he hadn't owned up to his name. He might be
+playing me for a sucker."
+
+"In other words, you think the prisoner to be Richard Allingford, but
+are unwilling to swear to his identity?"
+
+"That's the stuff," replied Faro Charlie. "I swored as a man was my
+uncle, three years ago at 'Frisco, and he put a bullet into me next day,
+'cause I lost him the case. After which I ain't swearing against a pal,"
+and he left the stand.
+
+The case now proceeded, and the detective related how on Wednesday, the
+16th of October, the prisoner, Richard Allingford, in company with other
+lawless characters, had dined at the Lion's Head, and, during a dispute
+with the landlord concerning the quality of the wine, had thrown that
+personage out of his own second-storey window; telling his wife, who
+protested against such actions, to put her husband in the bill, which
+they left without settling. Then they proceeded to paint the town of
+Winchester a lurid crimson, breaking windows, beating a policeman who
+interfered, and raiding a night coffee-stall in the process.
+
+This recital of wrong and outrage being finished, the magistrate
+addressed the prisoner as follows:
+
+"What is your name?"
+
+"Harold Stanley Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale."
+
+Some one in the audience murmured, "O Lor'!"
+
+"You refuse to admit that your name is Richard Allingford?" continued
+the justice.
+
+"I have just given you my name."
+
+"Are you an American?"
+
+"No, I am an Englishman."
+
+"Where do you live?"
+
+"'The Towers,' Sussex."
+
+The audience again voiced its sentiments; this time to the effect that
+the prisoner was "a 'owling swell"; but order was restored and the case
+once more proceeded.
+
+"What is your profession?"
+
+"I am a clerk in the War Office."
+
+"Does not that interfere with the management of your estate?" asked his
+interlocutor, to whom the last two statements savoured of contradiction.
+
+"I have just succeeded to the estate, through the death of an elder
+brother."
+
+"Ah, I see. Now in regard to last evening. Do you admit meeting at the
+George the person who calls himself Charles Smith?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did not you represent yourself to him as being Richard Allingford?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+This reply caused a sensation in the court.
+
+"I suppose," said the magistrate, "that you realise that this is a
+serious admission."
+
+"It is the truth."
+
+"Perhaps you can explain it to the satisfaction of the court."
+
+"I assumed the name," said Scarsdale with an effort, "to screen from
+possible annoyance a lady who was under my protection. With the
+permission of the court, however, I should prefer not to go into this
+matter further, as it has no direct bearing on the charge. My action was
+foolish, and I have been punished for it."
+
+"You certainly chose an unfortunate alias," commented the magistrate
+drily, and, much to the prisoner's relief, turned to another phase of
+the case.
+
+"What are you doing in Winchester?"
+
+"I am on my honeymoon. I was married yesterday."
+
+A titter of laughter ran round the court-room; but the magistrate
+frowned, and continued:
+
+"I suppose that is the reason why you registered under an assumed name,
+and are travelling with somebody else's wife?"
+
+There was more laughter, for the justice had a local reputation as a
+wit. Scarsdale boiled inwardly, but held his peace; while his judge, who
+seemed to feel that he had strayed a little from the subject in hand,
+after a moment's silence asked shortly:
+
+"Do you plead guilty or not guilty to these charges?"
+
+"Not guilty!"
+
+"Do you wish this matter settled here or in a superior court?"
+
+"I desire that it be settled here, provided I am given an opportunity to
+prove my identity."
+
+"You will be given every reasonable opportunity. What do you wish?"
+
+"I wish to ask first by whom these charges are preferred."
+
+"The charge of assault and battery has been brought by the landlord of
+the Lion's Head."
+
+"I infer that the landlord served Richard Allingford in person on the
+night in question, and would be likely to know him if he saw him."
+
+The magistrate conferred with the detective, and replied that such was
+the case.
+
+"If the question is not out of order," resumed the prisoner, "may I ask
+if the landlord of the Lion's Head is a reputable witness, and one whose
+testimony might be relied on?"
+
+"I think you may trust yourself in his hands," replied the justice, who
+had seen all along whither the case was tending.
+
+"Then," said Scarsdale, "I shall be satisfied to rest my case on his
+identification."
+
+"That is quite a proper request," replied the magistrate. "Is the
+landlord of the Lion's Head present?"
+
+At this a dapper little man jumped up in the audience, and explained
+that he was the landlord's physician, and that his patient, though
+convalescent, was still disabled by his injuries and unable to attend
+court.
+
+On inquiry being made as to when he could put in an appearance, the
+physician replied that he thought the landlord could come the next day.
+
+The magistrate therefore consulted for a moment with the detective, and
+then said to the prisoner:
+
+"Your case is remanded for trial until to-morrow."
+
+Scarsdale held up his hand in token that he wished to speak.
+
+"Well," said the magistrate, "what else?"
+
+"If I can, by the time this court meets to-morrow, produce reputable
+witnesses from London to prove my identity," asked the prisoner, "will
+their evidence be admitted?"
+
+"If they can identify themselves as such to the satisfaction of the
+court, yes."
+
+The magistrate thereupon dismissed the case, and Scarsdale was removed
+from the court-room.
+
+He felt he had come off singularly well, and, except for the annoyance
+and delay would have little further trouble. What he most desired was an
+interview with Mrs. Allingford; but what with a change in his quarters,
+owing to the deferment of the trial, and the difficulty of getting word
+to her, it was the middle of the afternoon before this was accomplished.
+
+The unfortunate little woman seemed completely broken down by this fresh
+disaster, and it was some time before she could control herself
+sufficiently to talk calmly with him.
+
+"I shall never, never forgive myself," she sobbed. "It is all my fault
+that you have incurred this disgrace. I can never look your wife in the
+face again."
+
+"Nonsense!" he said, trying to cheer her up. "There is no disgrace in
+being arrested for what somebody else has done; and as for its being
+your fault, why, it was I who proposed to pass myself off as your
+husband's brother."
+
+"But I allowed it, only I did not know anything about my brother-in-law,
+except that he existed; his being in England is a complete surprise to
+me." A remark which caused Scarsdale to be thankful that he had said
+nothing to her about that scene at the club when the Consul heard of
+Dick's arrival. "He must be very wicked. I'm so sorry. But we won't talk
+about him now; we will talk about you. What can I do to retrieve
+myself?" she continued.
+
+"Let us consider your own affairs first," he replied. "I wasn't able to
+send a telegram to Basingstoke last night; I was arrested on my way to
+the office."
+
+"I sent one, though, this morning, right after the trial."
+
+"I didn't know that you knew where to go," he said.
+
+"I didn't," she returned; "but that queer American person, who wouldn't
+swear to your identity, sent it for me. He is very odd, but I'm sure he
+has a good heart. He was so distressed over the whole affair, and
+offered to be of any assistance he could."
+
+"Oh!" said Scarsdale. He was not pre-possessed in Faro Charlie's favour.
+
+"So I think," she went on, "that if they are at Basingstoke, they will
+be here in a few hours. I told them all about your arrest and where I
+was staying."
+
+"So far so good. Allingford can identify me even to the satisfaction of
+this magistrate, I think. But it is just as well to have two strings to
+one's bow, so I have another plan to suggest; but first let me hear if
+you have done anything else."
+
+"No; but I think I shall telegraph to my mother. I can't spend another
+night here alone."
+
+"Why don't you wait and see if your husband does not turn up? I hate to
+give our affairs more publicity than is necessary," he suggested.
+
+"Would you prefer me to do so?"
+
+"Yes, very much; if you don't mind."
+
+"Then I will. I think, after my share in this unfortunate business, you
+ought to have the first consideration. Now tell me your plan."
+
+"I propose that we telegraph to your husband's best man, Jack
+Carrington, asking him to come to Winchester this evening. He can
+identify me, and identify himself also, for he has a brother who is an
+officer in one of the regiments stationed here."
+
+"Just the thing!" she cried. "I'll send it at once."
+
+"No," replied Scarsdale. "You write it and I'll send it." He did not
+wish any more of his plans to be revealed to Faro Charlie.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+IN WHICH A SERIOUS CHARGE IS LAID AT THE CONSUL'S DOOR
+
+Jack Carrington, Esquire, Gentleman, sat in his snug little
+sitting-room, in one of the side streets of Mayfair, shortly before
+seven in the evening, feeling uncommonly blue. He was, without doubt, in
+a most unfortunate position. Born and bred a gentleman; educated to do
+nothing, yet debarred by lack of family influence from the two
+professions he might properly have entered, the army and the diplomatic
+corps; with not quite enough money to support his position as a
+bachelor, and no hopes of ever having any more, the outlook,
+matrimonially at least, was anything but encouraging, and there was a
+lady--with whose existence this narrative has no concern--who, had
+fortune smiled, might now be Mrs. Carrington: a possibility which had
+brought our quondam best man almost to the point of determining,
+according to those false standards which are happily fast passing away
+from English society, to be no longer a _gentleman_, but to go into
+trade.
+
+Such, then, was his condition when the door-bell rang, and a moment
+later a card was brought to him bearing the name of Lady Scarsdale. He
+looked at it, scarcely believing his eyes. How came it that she should
+call on him at an hour so strikingly unconventional? It was therefore
+with no little bewilderment that he gave orders to have her shown in.
+
+When her ladyship, whom he had never seen before, entered his parlour,
+he found himself face to face with a strikingly handsome woman of middle
+age, dressed in semi-mourning. She accepted his outstretched hand, held
+it a second, and, taking the seat he offered, said, with just a glance
+in the direction of a demure little woman who followed her into the
+room:
+
+"Miss Wilkins."
+
+Carrington bowed, and Miss Wilkins, maid or attendant, whichever she
+might be, retired to the remote end of the room, and promptly immersed
+herself in the only volume within reach, a French novel which Jack felt
+sure she had never seen before, and would not be likely to peruse to any
+great extent.
+
+"You will naturally be surprised at my presence here this evening," said
+Lady Scarsdale.
+
+Her host bowed and smiled, to show that pleasure and gratification were
+mingled; indeed, until she further declared her position he hardly knew
+how he ought to feel.
+
+Her ladyship continued:
+
+"My object in coming is unusual; it is, in short, to request your aid
+and assistance in a very extraordinary and delicate matter."
+
+Jack bowed again, and his visitor proceeded:
+
+"You will excuse me if I seem agitated"--she certainly did seem very
+much so, if red eyes and a quivering lip meant anything--"but I have
+scarcely recovered from the shock occasioned by the arrival of a
+telegram received this morning from a Mr. Allingford, at whose marriage,
+I think, you assisted."
+
+"I was his best man."
+
+"So I understand."
+
+"Nothing wrong, I hope?"
+
+"That you shall hear. Do you know my son, Mr. Scarsdale?"
+
+"Only slightly."
+
+"You may be aware that he was married yesterday." Jack nodded, and she
+continued: "To a Miss Vernon, an American. You know her, I believe?"
+
+"Quite well," replied her host. "She is a most charming woman."
+
+"Now this Mr. Allingford telegraphs me," resumed his visitor, "from my
+aunt Lady Melton's country seat, Melton Court, that he is staying there
+with my son's wife, who was Miss Vernon."
+
+"Staying there with Allingford! At Melton Court!" gasped Jack, to whom
+this seemed the most improbable combination of circumstances. "But
+where is her husband?"
+
+"I regret to say," replied her ladyship, "that, as a result of the two
+couples meeting each other at Basingstoke, they in some way became
+separated and carried off in different trains; so that my
+daughter-in-law and Mr. Allingford are now at my aunt's country place,
+near Salisbury, while my son and Mrs. Allingford have gone off together
+somewhere on the South Coast, and no trace can be found of them."
+
+"But how did it happen?"
+
+"The whole affair seems to have been the result of some deplorable
+blunder or accident; but in any event it is most distressing, and I came
+up at once to London, thinking you might be able to help me. But I see
+from your surprise that you have heard nothing from either party."
+
+"Not a word. But I am quite at your service."
+
+"Thanks. You may not know that, actuated by a spirit which I cannot
+admire, my son's wife and your friend each insisted on arranging the
+details of their wedding trips, and keeping the matter a profound
+secret, so that neither Mrs. Allingford nor my son knew their
+destination."
+
+"Yes, I have heard something of it; but I infer that you have not
+honoured me by this visit without the hope that I may be able to aid
+you. Pray tell me how I can be of service."
+
+My chief desire in calling on you, Mr. Carrington, was to learn if you
+had had any news of my son or his wife; but, of course, on my journey to
+town I have been thinking of various expedients, and though I hesitate
+to ask so great a favour from one I hardly know, you could, I think, be
+of great assistance to me.
+
+"With pleasure. Do you wish me to telegraph to Allingford, or go in
+search of your son?"
+
+"Neither. But I should be very grateful to you if you would go for me to
+Melton Court; I have not myself sufficient strength for the journey
+to-night; it is already late and I have no one to send. But I feel that
+my daughter-in-law is in an anomalous and probably unpleasant position;
+so, as I knew you to be a friend of both parties, I thought that perhaps
+you would be good enough to represent me, and see what could be done
+towards the solution of this unfortunate problem. My son's best man left
+for the Continent immediately after the ceremony, or I would have gone
+to him instead."
+
+"There is nothing I should like better than to serve you," replied Jack,
+"but, to speak frankly, I have not the honour of knowing Lady Melton."
+
+"If you will permit me to use your desk, I will give you a line of
+introduction."
+
+Carrington bowed his consent.
+
+"Now," she said, giving him the note, "when can you leave?"
+
+"At once," he replied, "by the first train."
+
+"You will, of course, act as you think best," she continued. "I am
+staying at the Berkeley for to-night, and if Mabel's husband has not
+rejoined her before you arrive, you had better bring her to me there
+to-morrow. As you are going on my behalf you must, of course, let me
+bear all expenses of the trip."
+
+On this ground her ladyship was firm in spite of Carrington's
+protestations, and they finally parted, with many expressions of
+gratitude, on a mutual and highly satisfactory understanding.
+
+As Jack employed a valet only on state occasions, he was, after a
+hurried dinner, deep in his preparations for immediate departure, when,
+about half-past eight, Mrs. Allingford's telegram from Winchester
+arrived, which it is hardly necessary to say startled him considerably.
+The news that Scarsdale was under arrest for the crime of another
+person, and the fact that it lay in his power to free him, seemed to
+prove without doubt that his first duty was to go to Winchester; but he
+had promised Lady Scarsdale to go to Melton Court, and it was impossible
+to do both that night. He was uncertain how to act, and what his
+ultimate decision would have been it is difficult to say, had not an
+outside influence decided matters for him. Another caller was announced.
+
+"I'm not at home. Can't see anybody," said Carrington.
+
+"That's not true, young man, and you've got to see me," replied a voice,
+and, as the door opened, to his astonishment Aunt Eliza advanced into
+the middle of the room, which was littered with his toilet articles.
+
+"Why, Miss Cogbill!" he exclaimed, rising to greet her, "I thought you
+were in Paris."
+
+"So I should be if I hadn't been stopped at Calais by a telegram from
+that good-for-nothing Consul of yours."
+
+"Allingford. Then you know where they are?"
+
+"Yes, and of all the fools----!"
+
+"I've also heard from Scarsdale and Mrs. Allingford."
+
+"You have! Where are they?"
+
+"Winchester."
+
+"Winchester! What are they doing there?"
+
+"He's been arrested."
+
+"Arrested!"
+
+"Yes. Sit down and I'll tell you about it." Which he proceeded to do,
+and also about Lady Scarsdale's visit.
+
+"Just so," commented Aunt Eliza when he had finished. "Now what do you
+propose doing next?"
+
+"I suppose the proper thing would be to put the two couples in
+communication with each other," suggested Jack.
+
+"Well, I'm not so sure," she said. "You and I are the only ones who know
+all the facts, and we must not act in a hurry. Now there's Allingford
+and Mabel down at Melton Court. They'll keep till to-morrow, I guess. It
+would just spoil her night's rest to know that her husband was in jail
+at Winchester, and send her over to him by the first train to-morrow
+morning, like as not, to weep on his neck and complicate the course of
+justice. Anyway, I don't think the two couples had better meet till we
+are present to soothe their ruffled feelings; for, after the mess that
+the Consul's brother has got them into, I dare say that, left to
+themselves, the Scarsdales and Allingfords wouldn't be real cordial to
+each other. But I see you are packing up. Now where are you going?"
+
+"I was going down to Salisbury, at Lady Scarsdale's request."
+
+"You're needed elsewhere. You go right down to Winchester this evening,
+so as you can be there when the court opens first thing to-morrow
+morning, to identify my good-for-nothing nephew, liberate him, and send
+him and Mrs. Allingford over to Melton Court as soon as you can. I'll be
+there before you to break the news to Mabel."
+
+"Well, you see," he said, "I've promised her ladyship."
+
+"Never mind that; your business is to fish these young people out of
+their troubles. I'll drive at once to Lady Scarsdale's hotel, and tell
+her of your change of plans, and go down myself by the first train
+to-morrow morning to Salisbury."
+
+"Then," he said, closing his valise with a snap, "I shall leave at once
+for Winchester."
+
+"Good boy!" said Aunt Eliza. "It's too bad they spoiled you by making
+you a gentleman; you have a first-class head for business."
+
+"It is just what I've been thinking myself," he said ruefully.
+
+"Have you?" cried the old lady, her face lighting up with genuine
+interest. "I'm glad to hear it. You just put this matter through
+successfully, and maybe it will be worth more to you than your expenses.
+Now I must be off, and so must you."
+
+"Very well. I'll put up at the George," he said, as he helped her into a
+hansom.
+
+"Right you are!" she cried, and signalled her driver to go on.
+
+As Carrington found that he would not reach Winchester till late, he
+telegraphed Mrs. Allingford that he would see her the next morning, and
+that he had received news of the whereabouts of her husband and
+Scarsdale's wife, who were all right and would join them on the morrow.
+
+On his arrival he went straight to the hotel that Mrs. Allingford had
+designated in her telegram, to find that that lady had retired for the
+night, leaving, however, a note for him which contained full
+instructions, and stated in addition that she had received his telegram,
+for which she was profoundly grateful, and that he must not hesitate to
+wake her if, by so doing, he could cause her to rejoin her husband one
+instant sooner.
+
+As it was by this time close upon midnight, Carrington decided to let
+matters rest as they were till morning; especially as he had before he
+slept to hunt up his brother at the barracks, and so insure his
+attendance at court the next day. This was easily arranged; but the two
+men had much to talk over, and it was nearly daybreak when Jack set out
+to return to the hotel.
+
+The shortest way back was by a cross cut through the mysterious darkness
+of the cathedral close, within which he heard the voices of two men in
+heated dispute, the tone of the one shrill with rage, while those of the
+other proclaimed that he had been drinking.
+
+Carrington would have passed without noticing, so intent was he on his
+own affairs, had not a name which one of them pronounced arrested his
+attention and caused him to stop.
+
+"You call Robert Allingford a thief!" came the thick tones of the
+intoxicated man.
+
+"I say he stole it!" cried the shrill voice of the other.
+
+"Call my brother a thief!" reiterated the first speaker. "He's
+Consul--gentleman. Gentlemen don't steal elephants."
+
+"I say he stole it! Right away that day! Didn't wait for me to redeem
+it."
+
+"You dare to call my brother thief!" The voice grew menacing.
+
+"Twenty pounds he gave me--only one hundred dollars--for an elephant. I
+say he's a thief----!"
+
+Here the shrill voice died away in a gulp, and there was a sound of
+blows and scuffling.
+
+Carrington forced his way through the hedge, crying:
+
+"Hold on! What is this about?"
+
+At the sound of his voice the owner of elephants exclaimed: "The
+bobbies!" and, disengaging himself from the other, fled down the road;
+while his companion, who had started to follow him, was detained by
+Jack, who recognised his captive as none other than Richard Allingford.
+
+"What are you doing here?" he demanded.
+
+"Oh," said Allingford, "it's Mr. Carrington. Delighted to see you, I'm
+sure. Correcting that fellow. Says brother Robert stole elephant." His
+arrest had somewhat sobered him.
+
+"Of course," said Carrington, "he didn't steal the elephant."
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"Your brother?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"At Melton Court, near Salisbury; but you must not go there."
+
+"Yes, I will," replied Slippery Dick, waxing pugnacious, "Take the
+elephant fellow along, too--make him eat his words. Call my brother a
+thief, will he?"
+
+"You'll do nothing of the kind," said his captor. "You're wanted here by
+the police."
+
+"What!"
+
+"Yes. For assault and battery, and disturbing the peace. They have
+arrested another man, a Mr. Scarsdale, by mistake in your place."
+
+"I don't know anything about it. Never been here before to-night,"
+protested the unregenerate one.
+
+"Well, you must come along with me and give yourself up, or----." But
+Carrington never finished the sentence; for at that moment he struck the
+ground very hard, and by the time he realised that Slippery Dick had
+tripped him, that personage had disappeared into the darkness, thus
+justifying his sobriquet.
+
+Jack picked himself up and struggled through the hedge; but no one was
+in sight, and the dull, distant sound of flying feet seemed to indicate
+that the Consul's brother was seeking fresh fields and pastures new with
+uncommon celerity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+IN WHICH THE CONSUL AND MRS. SCARSDALE EMULATE THE KING OF FRANCE AND
+TWENTY THOUSAND OF HIS COMPATRIOTS
+
+Another day was dawning, a day that was destined to be most arduous,
+eventful, and important in the lives of all those with whom this
+narrative has to deal. Yet, at this hour in the morning, Carrington,
+sitting shivering on his bedside; Lady Melton, listening in her chamber
+for the departing footsteps of the faithful Bright; Aunt Eliza, drinking
+an early cup of coffee in preparation for a long day's work; the Consul
+and Mrs. Scarsdale, journeying to Southampton; Slippery Dick, pouncing
+on the sometime owner of elephants at a way-side alehouse; Scarsdale,
+pacing his prison cell; Mrs. Allingford, waiting, 'twixt hope and fear,
+for news of her husband; and the elephant, shrieking in his
+box-stall--these, one and all, entered regretfully upon this day
+fraught with so many complications.
+
+Carrington had decided, as he wended his way home to the hotel after his
+somewhat startling encounter with the Consul's unregenerate brother,
+that he was in no wise bound to report the matter to the authorities.
+His mission was to extricate Mr. Scarsdale from unjust imprisonment, not
+to incriminate any one else; and he foresaw that any attempt on his part
+to interfere, as an avenger of justice, might entail subsequent
+attendance at the local police court whenever the true culprit fell into
+the hands of the law.
+
+When Jack had thus determined on his course of action, he resigned
+himself peacefully to slumber, of which he stood much in need; but no
+sooner, apparently, had his head touched the pillow than he was awakened
+by a knocking at his chamber door. In reply to his sleepy inquiries, he
+was informed that Mrs. Allingford was up and in the ladies'
+drawing-room, and would much appreciate it if she could see him as soon
+as possible.
+
+Carrington replied that he would be happy to wait on her in a few
+minutes, as soon as he was dressed, in fact, and cursed himself heartily
+for having been fool enough to be any one's best man. Half-past six! It
+was inhuman to call him up at such a time. He had not had three hours'
+sleep. He wished himself at Melton Court more than ever. There, at
+least, they rose at decent hours.
+
+As he entered the hotel drawing-room, a few minutes later, in a somewhat
+calmer frame of mind, due to a bath and a cup of coffee, Mrs. Allingford
+rose to meet him, took both his hands in hers, and, holding them
+tightly, stood for a moment with her upturned eyes looking fixedly into
+his. He would never have known her for the happy bride of two short days
+ago; she seemed more like a widow, years older, and with all the joy of
+her youth crushed out by trouble.
+
+"Words cannot express what your coming means to me. It is the kindest
+thing you've ever done," she said simply; but her tone and manner told
+him of her gratitude and relief.
+
+"It is very little to do," he replied, feeling, all at once, that he had
+been a brute not to have seen her the night before.
+
+"My husband! Oh, tell me about my husband!" she exclaimed, dropping all
+restraint.
+
+"What a child she was, in spite of her wedding-ring!" he thought; but he
+felt very sorry for her, and answered gently:
+
+"I blame myself for not telling you sooner. He is safe and well.'
+
+"Thank God!" she murmured.
+
+"And at present at Melton Court, the country place of Lady Melton, Mr.
+Scarsdale's great-aunt." And then he told her such of her husband's
+adventures as he knew.
+
+"When is the first train to Salisbury?" she cried, interrupting the
+recital.
+
+"I dare say there is an early morning train," he returned; "but I should
+suggest your waiting for the one at nine-thirty, as then Mr. Scarsdale
+can accompany you."
+
+"But he is in prison."
+
+"Yes, I know; but he won't be very long."
+
+"You are sure they will release him?"
+
+"There's not a doubt of it. I have arranged all that."
+
+"Now tell me more about my husband, everything you know. Poor Bob! if he
+has suffered as I have, he must indeed be wretched."
+
+Jack was morally sure that the Consul had done nothing of the kind, but
+he forbore to say so. Not that he doubted for a moment that Allingford
+loved his wife ardently; but he knew him to be a somewhat easy-going
+personage, who, when he could not have things as he wanted them,
+resigned himself to making the best of things as they were. From what he
+knew of Mrs. Scarsdale, moreover, he thought it safe to conclude that
+she had resigned herself to the exigencies of the case, and that both of
+them looked on the whole affair as a practical joke played upon them by
+Fate, of which they could clearly perceive the humorous side. He
+therefore turned the conversation by recounting all he knew, even to the
+minutest circumstance, of her husband's adventures; and she, in her
+turn, poured into his ear her tale of woe in Winchester.
+
+"I can't understand," he said, at the conclusion of her narrative, "why
+Allingford did not receive the telegram you sent to Basingstoke
+yesterday."
+
+"As I think I told you," she replied, "that strange person, Faro
+Charlie, offered to send it for me, and as I had no change I gave him a
+five-pound note."
+
+"Oh!" said Carrington, "perhaps that solves the mystery. Did your friend
+bring you back the change?"
+
+"N--o," admitted Mrs. Allingford; "that is, not yet."
+
+"I'm afraid you will never hear from your five-pound note, and that
+Allingford never received his telegram from Winchester," commented
+Carrington; "but it has disposed of Faro Charlie as a witness, and
+perhaps that was worth the money."
+
+"Do you really think he meant to take it?" she asked in a shocked tone.
+
+"I'm sure of it," he replied, "and time will prove the correctness of
+my theory." And time did.
+
+They breakfasted together, and, at Carrington's suggestion, all the
+baggage was sent to the station, in order that they might have every
+chance of making the train. Jack's brother joined them about half-past
+eight, and the three proceeded to the court, where a few words from that
+officer to the magistrate, with whom he was personally acquainted, were
+sufficient to bring Scarsdale's case first on the docket.
+
+The landlord of the Lion's Head appeared, a mass of bandages, and
+groaning dolefully to excite the sympathy of the court; but he testified
+without hesitation that the prisoner, though somewhat resembling Richard
+Allingford, was not he; and it did not need Carrington's identification
+to make Scarsdale a free man. Then there were mutual congratulations,
+and a hurried drive to the station, where they just succeeded in
+catching the train; and, almost before he knew it, Jack was standing
+alone upon the platform, while his two friends were speeding towards
+the goal of all their hopes, _viâ_ Southampton and Salisbury.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I suppose," said Mrs. Scarsdale to the Consul, as their train drew out
+of Salisbury in the first flush of the sunrise on the morning which saw
+Mr. Scarsdale's liberation from durance vile--"I suppose you realise
+that you have exiled me from the home of my ancestors."
+
+"How so?" asked the Consul.
+
+"Why, you don't imagine that I shall ever dare to show my face at Melton
+Court again. Just picture to yourself her ladyship and your elephant!
+She will never forgive us, and will cut poor Harold off with a
+shilling."
+
+"That won't hurt him much, from all I've heard of her ladyship's
+finances," he replied.
+
+"I think," she resumed, "that I ought to be very angry with you; but I
+can't help laughing, it is so absurd. A bull in a china-shop would be
+tame compared with an elephant at Melton Court. What do you think she
+will do with the beast?"
+
+"Pasture it on the front lawn to keep away objectionable relatives,"
+retorted the Consul. "But, seriously speaking, have you any definite
+plan of campaign?"
+
+"Certainly not. What do you suppose I carry you round for, if it is not
+to plan campaigns?"
+
+"Which you generally alter. You will please remember that the visit to
+Melton Court was entirely owing to you."
+
+"Quite, and I shall probably upset this one; but proceed."
+
+"Well, in the first place, as soon as we reach Southampton I think we
+had better have a good breakfast."
+
+"That is no news. You are a man; therefore you eat. Go on."
+
+"Do you object?"
+
+"Not at all. I expected it; I'll even eat with you."
+
+"Well said. After this necessary duty, I propose to go to the station
+and thoroughly investigate the matter of the arrival and departure of
+my wife and your husband."
+
+"If they were at Basingstoke we should have heard from them before
+this," she said; "and even if they were not, they should have
+telegraphed."
+
+"Very probably they did," he replied; "but, as you ought to know, there
+is nothing more obliging and more generally dense than an English minor
+official. I dare say that the key to the whole mystery is at this moment
+reposing, neatly done up in red tape, at the office of that disgusting
+little junction. But here we are at Southampton. Now for breakfast; and
+then the American Sherlock Holmes will sift this matter to the bottom."
+And the Consul, in excellent spirits, assisted her to alight.
+
+Indeed, now that the elephant had been left behind, he felt that,
+actually as well as metaphorically, a great weight had been lifted from
+his shoulders.
+
+"Evidently," remarked Allingford, as they were finishing a breakfast in
+one of the cosy principal hotels--"evidently the loss of your husband
+has not included the loss of your appetite."
+
+"Of course it hasn't," replied Mrs. Scarsdale. "Why shouldn't I eat a
+good breakfast? I have no use for conventions which make one do
+disagreeable things just because one happens to feel miserable."
+
+"Do you feel very miserable? I thought you seemed rather cheerful on the
+whole," he commented.
+
+"Well, you are not to think anything so unpleasant or personal. I'm
+utterly wretched; and if you don't believe it I won't eat a mouthful."
+
+"I'm sure," he returned, "that your husband would be much put out if he
+knew you contemplated doing anything so foolish."
+
+"Do you know," she said, "that I'm beginning to have serious doubts that
+I ever had a husband? Do you think he's a myth, and that you and I will
+have to go through life together in an endless pursuit of what doesn't
+exist?"
+
+"Good Lord, I hope not!" he exclaimed.
+
+"That is very uncomplimentary to me," she retorted.
+
+"In the face of that remark," he replied, pushing back his chair, "I am
+silent."
+
+"Do you know," said his companion after a moment, as she folded her
+napkin, "that the keen sense of humour with which we Americans are
+endowed saves a large percentage of us from going mad or committing
+suicide?"
+
+"Are you thinking of doing either?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"I am thinking," she replied, "that we have had two exceedingly amusing
+days, and I am almost sorry they are over."
+
+"Don't you want to find your husband?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Of course I do; but it has been a sort of breathing-space before
+settling down to the seriousness of married life, and that elephant
+episode was funny. I think it was worth two days of any husband; don't
+you?"
+
+"I don't know," returned the Consul, somewhat ruefully. "I'd just as
+lief that Scarsdale had had the beast."
+
+"Oh, I wouldn't!" she cried. "He would have spoiled all the fun. He'd
+have done some stupid, rational thing. Donated it to the 'Zoo' in
+London, I should think; wasted the elephant, in fact. It took the spirit
+of American humour to play your colossal, practical joke. I wonder if it
+has arrived at the Court yet. I can fancy it sticking its head, trunk
+and all, through the great window in Lady Melton's dining-room."
+
+"She called me a consular person," remarked that official stiffly.
+
+"Hence the elephant," laughed his fair companion. "Cause and effect.
+But, joking apart, there is a pitiful side to our adventure. When I
+think of those two matter-of-fact, serious British things, your better
+half and my--my husband, and of what a miserable time they have been
+having, unrelieved by any spark of humour, it almost makes me cry."
+
+"Hold on!" cried Allingford, "You are just as bad as your great-aunt.
+She calls me a consular person, and you call my wife a British thing! I
+wish I had another elephant."
+
+"I beg your pardon, I do really," she replied. "I classed my husband in
+the same category. But don't you agree with me that it's sad? I'm sure
+your poor wife has cried her eyes out; and as for my husband, I doubt if
+he's eaten anything, and I'm certain he's worn his most unbecoming
+clothes."
+
+"You are wrong there," interrupted Allingford; "he packed all the worst
+specimens, and I rescued them at Salisbury. I tried them on yesterday,
+and there wasn't a suit I'd have had the face to wear in public."
+
+"There, run along and turn the station upside down; you've talked
+enough," she said, laughing, and drove him playfully out of the room.
+
+It was about half-past nine that the Consul meditatively mopped his
+head, as he reached the top step of the hotel porch. He was heated by
+his exertions, but exceedingly complacent. He had interviewed sixteen
+porters, five guards, the station agent, three char-women, four
+policemen, and the barmaid--the latter twice, once on business and once
+on pleasure; and he had discovered from the thirtieth individual, and
+after twenty-nine failures and a drink, the simple fact that those he
+sought had gone to Winchester. He did not think he could have faced Mrs.
+Scarsdale if he had failed. As it was, he returned triumphant, and, as
+he approached their private parlour, he mentally pictured in advance the
+scene which would await him: her radiant smile, her voluble expression
+of thanks, their joyful journey to Winchester; in short, success. He
+pushed open the door, and this is what really happened: an angry woman
+with a flushed, tear-stained face rushed across the room, shoved a
+newspaper at him, and cried:
+
+"You brute!"
+
+The Consul dropped into the nearest chair. He looked at the infuriated
+Mrs. Scarsdale, he looked at the crumpled newspaper, he heard the last
+echo of that opprobrious monosyllable, and he said:
+
+"Well I'm jiggered!"
+
+Then, recollecting his news, he continued:
+
+"Oh, I forgot. I've found out where they have gone; it's Winchester."
+
+"Is that all you've got to tell me?" she cried. "All, in the face of
+this?" And she again shoved the newspaper towards him. He looked to
+where her finger pointed. He was hopelessly bewildered, and wondered if
+her native humour had inopportunely failed her and she had gone mad.
+
+"Read!" she commanded.
+
+His wandering eye followed the direction of her finger, and he read
+slowly, with open mouth, a short account of the arrest and partial trial
+at Winchester of one Richard Allingford, who claimed to be Harold
+Scarsdale.
+
+"Tell me," she thundered, "is that my husband?"
+
+"Well," he said, slowly, "I guess it is," and he re-read the last
+sentence of the paragraph in the newspaper:
+
+     "_The prisoner insisted that he was Harold Scarsdale, and could
+     prove his identity. He was accompanied by a woman who claimed to be
+     Mrs. Robert Allingford, wife of the well-known United States Consul
+     at Christchurch. The prisoner was remanded till this morning._"
+
+"Have you a brother?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has he ever been arrested?"
+
+"Arrested! Why, I've spent most of my time for the past twenty years in
+bailing him out."
+
+"But why has my husband taken his name?" she demanded.
+
+"That is a matter you'll have to settle with Scarsdale; and if you look
+as you do now, I'm real sorry for him," he replied.
+
+"You don't care a bit!" she cried.
+
+"Oh, yes I do; but I want you to see it from its humorous side," he
+answered.
+
+At this remark Mrs. Scarsdale burst into a flood of tears, and
+Allingford gave a sigh of relief, and, strolling to the window, was soon
+lost in admiration of the view.
+
+Suddenly a voice said, in the sweetness of its accustomed tones:
+
+"Why were you so pleased when I began to cry?" And Mrs. Scarsdale, calm
+and composed, stood beside him.
+
+"Hard storm is a good thing to clear the atmosphere after a
+thunder-shower," replied the Consul laconically.
+
+"I was real mad with you," she admitted.
+
+"Great Scott! don't you suppose I knew that?" he cried.
+
+They both laughed, and peace was restored.
+
+"Do you really think it is poor Harold?"
+
+"I suppose he doesn't get called St. Hubart when he's in 'quod'?"
+
+"Be sensible and answer my question. Is it my husband or your brother
+who is on trial at Winchester?"
+
+"I don't know," he replied.
+
+"What are you going to do about it?" she asked.
+
+"Go and see."
+
+"When is the next train?"
+
+The Consul pulled out his watch.
+
+"In twelve and a half minutes," he said. "I've paid the hotel bill.
+Here, hold on! You turn to the left for the elevator!" But Mrs.
+Scarsdale was half-way downstairs on her way to the station.
+
+An hour later, as the Consul and his fair companion emerged at the
+station at Winchester, the first person they saw was Carrington.
+
+"We've been found at last!" cried the Consul, advancing towards Jack
+with outstretched hand, exclaiming: "Well, Columbus Carrington, if ever
+I get lost again, I'll telegraph you first thing."
+
+In a minute questions and answers were flying between them. Where had
+they been? Where had they come from? Why was Carrington here? Why had
+Scarsdale been arrested?
+
+Jack bore up manfully, answering as best he could.
+
+"Perhaps you can tell me the whereabouts of my wife and this lady's
+husband?" said the Consul.
+
+"They have been staying here," he replied, "but they have gone."
+
+"Gone!" cried Allingford in blank amazement. "Gone! Where? When?"
+
+"Why, to Salisbury," replied Jack. "I sent them over there early this
+morning."
+
+"You did, did you?" spluttered the Consul. "What right had you to send
+them anywhere?"
+
+"Why, to join you at Lady Diana's."
+
+"Join us!" screamed Allingford. "Why, we left Melton Court at half-past
+four this morning, and have been on the road ever since trying to join
+them."
+
+"It seems to be a typical example of cross-purposes," replied
+Carrington.
+
+"It's pure cussedness!" said the Consul.
+
+"But I thought my husband was--in prison," chimed in Mrs. Scarsdale;
+"the paper said so."
+
+"Merely a case of mistaken identity," Jack hastened to assure her. "I
+had him set free in no time. And that reminds me: I ran across your
+brother here last evening, Allingford. It is he who has caused all the
+trouble. Frankly, I am almost sorry I did not give him over to the
+police."
+
+"I wish you had," replied the Consul; "I wouldn't have bailed him out
+till my honeymoon was over. Where is he now?"
+
+"I'm inclined to believe," replied Carrington, "that he has gone to
+Melton Court in search of you, in company with a man who talked some
+nonsense about your having stolen an elephant from him."
+
+Allingford and Mrs. Scarsdale both began to laugh.
+
+"I don't see anything funny about that," said Jack.
+
+"Oh, don't you?" returned the Consul. "Well, you would if you knew the
+rest of the story." And in a few brief words he explained about the
+elephant's arrival and their subsequent flight.
+
+"Heavens, man!" cried Carrington, "you don't seem to realise what you
+have let Scarsdale and your wife in for!"
+
+"Great Scott!" exclaimed the Consul, "I never thought of that. Why, I
+reckon it's rampaging all over the place by this time, and the old lady
+must be in a perfect fury. When's the next train back? We can't get
+there too quickly."
+
+"One goes in five minutes," said Jack.
+
+"If I'd ever suspected," gasped Mrs. Scarsdale to Allingford as they
+rushed down the platform, "that you were laying such a trap for my poor
+husband----"
+
+"I'm sure I didn't do it on purpose," he replied; "but if they happen to
+meet the catawampus after she's met the elephant, they'll be in for a
+pretty hot time."
+
+"Your brother was bad enough," she groaned as the train pulled out; "but
+as for your elephant----! It's worse than being arrested!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+IN WHICH LADY MELTON RECEIVES A STRANGE VISITOR
+
+However harassing and disturbing the events of the past few days had
+been to the people particularly interested in them, to the mind of one
+the proceedings of all those with whom he had come in contact had been
+characterised by an ignorance, not only of the necessities of life, but
+even of the very etiquette that lends a becoming dignity to existence,
+which seemed almost pitiful. Not since the elephant left his native
+shore had he received what he considered to be proper, or even
+intelligent, attention. On the voyage, indeed, though his quarters were
+crowded, and denied by the proximity of low-caste beasts, his material
+wants had been considered; but since yesterday, when he had landed in
+the midst of a howling wilderness of iron monsters, who could neither
+see nor hear and were no respecters of persons, there had been a
+scarcity even of food and water. All night he had been dragged about the
+country at a speed unbecoming the dignity of a ruler of the jungle
+(without even the company of his mahout, who had lost the train at
+Southampton); and, now that the earth had ceased to move past him and
+was once more still, he expressed his opinion of the ignorant and
+degraded people of this wretched country in no uncertain voice. Then,
+finding that the pen in which he was confined was cramped and dirty, and
+wholly unfitted for one of his exalted position, he exerted himself to
+be free, and in a short time reduced his car to kindling-wood. Being now
+at liberty, he naturally desired his breakfast; but what was one to do
+when men disfigured the earth with bars of steel over which one tripped,
+and stored the fruits of the land in squat yellow bungalows, with fluted
+iron roofs which were difficult to tear off? Therefore the elephant
+lifted up his voice in rage, whereat many things happened, and a
+high-caste man, clad in the blue of the sky and the gold of the sun, ran
+up and down upon the earth, and declared that he should forthwith be
+taken to the "Court" and delivered to the "Damconsul."
+
+What a "Damconsul" was the elephant did not know; but concluded that it
+was the title these barbarous people bestowed on the Maharajah of that
+district. Since he lived at a Court, it seemed certain that he would
+know how to appreciate and fittingly entertain him. The elephant
+therefore consented to follow his attendant slaves, though they
+understood not the noble art of riding him, but were fain to lead him
+like a beast of burden. On the way he found a spring of sweet water, of
+which he drank his fill, despite the protestations of his leaders and
+the outcries of the inhabitants of the bungalow of the well, whose
+lamentations showed them to be of low caste and little sensible of the
+honour done them.
+
+The procession at length reached the gate of the Court; and while the
+attendants were in the lodge explaining matters to the astonished
+keeper, the elephant, realising that "drink was good but food better,"
+determined to do a little foraging on his own account, and so moved
+softly off, taking along the stake to which his keepers fondly imagined
+he was tethered.
+
+He judged that he was now in the park of the Court of the "Damconsul";
+and the fact that there were many clumps of familiar plants scattered
+over the grass increased his belief that this was the case. He tried a
+few coleus and ate a croton or two; but found them insipid and lacking
+the freshness of those which bloomed in his native land. Then turning to
+a grove of young palms, he tore a number up by the roots; which he found
+required no expenditure of strength, and so gave him little
+satisfaction. Moreover, they grew in green tubs, which rolled about
+between his feet and were pitfalls for the unwary. He lay down on a few
+of the beds; but the foliage was pitifully thin and afforded him no
+comfortable resting-place; moreover, there were curious rows of
+slanting things which glistened in the sunlight, and which he much
+wished to investigate. On examination he found them quite brittle, and
+easily smashed a number of them with his trunk. Nor was this all, for in
+the wreckage he discovered a large quantity of most excellent
+fruit--grapes and nectarines and some very passable plums. Evidently the
+"Damconsul" was an enlightened person, who knew how to live; and,
+indeed, it is not fitting for even an elephant to turn up his trunk at
+espalier peaches at a guinea apiece.
+
+Certainly, thought the elephant, things might be worse. And after a bath
+in a neighbouring fountain, which cost the lives of some two score of
+goldfish, he really felt refreshed, and approached the palace, which he
+considered rather dingy, in order to pay his respects to its owner.
+Coming round to the front of the building he discovered a marble
+terrace, gleaming white in the sunshine, and flanked by two groups of
+statuary--Hercules with his club, and Diana with her bow: though, being
+unacquainted with Greek mythology, he did not recognise them as such.
+On the terrace itself was set a breakfast-table resplendent with silver
+and chaste with fair linen; and by it sat a houri, holding a sunshade
+over her golden head. The elephant, wishing to conciliate this vision of
+beauty, advanced towards her, trumpeting gently; but his friendly
+overtures were evidently misinterpreted, for the houri, giving a wild
+scream, dropped her sunshade, and fled for safety to the shoulders of
+Hercules, from which vantage-point she called loudly for help.
+
+Feeling that such conduct was indecorous in the extreme, he ignored her
+with a lofty contempt; and, having tested the quality of the masonry,
+ventured upon the terrace and inspected the feast. There were more
+nectarines--but he had had enough of those--and something steaming in a
+silver vessel, the like of which he remembered to have encountered once
+before in the bungalow of a sahib. Moreover, he had not forgotten how it
+spouted a boiling liquid when one took it up in one's trunk. At this
+moment a shameless female slave appeared at a window, in response to
+the cries of the houri, and abused him. He could not, it is true,
+understand her barbarous language; but the tone implied abuse. Such an
+insult from the scum of the earth could not be allowed to pass
+unnoticed. He filled his trunk with water from a marble basin near at
+hand, and squirted it at her with all his force, and the scum of the
+earth departed quickly.
+
+"It would be well," thought the elephant, "to find the 'Damconsul'
+before further untoward incidents could occur"; and with this end in
+view, he turned himself about, preparatory to leaving the terrace. He
+forgot, however, that marble may be slippery; his hind legs suddenly
+slid from under him, and he sat hurriedly down on the breakfast-table.
+It was at this singularly inopportune moment that Lady Diana appeared
+upon the scene.
+
+Her ladyship awoke that morning to what was destined to be the most
+eventful and disturbing day of her peaceful and well-ordered life, with
+a feeling of irritation and regret that it had dawned, which, in the
+light of subsequent events, would seem to have been almost a
+premonition of coming evil. She was, though at this early hour she
+little knew it, destined to receive a series of shocks of volcanic force
+and suddenness, between sunrise and sunset, any one of which would have
+served to overthrow her preconceived notions of what life, and
+especially life at Melton Court, ought to be.
+
+As yet she knew nothing of all this; but she did know that, though it
+was long after the hour appointed, she had heard no sound of her
+great-niece's departing footsteps. She waited till she must have missed
+the train, and then rang her bedroom bell sharply to learn why her
+orders had been disobeyed.
+
+"If you please, my lady," replied her maid in answer to her mistress's
+questions, "Bright did not go because we could not find Mrs. Scarsdale."
+
+"Could not find my niece! And why not, pray?" demanded her ladyship
+angrily.
+
+"She was not in her room, my lady, or anywhere about the Court; only
+this note, directed to your ladyship, on her dressing-table."
+
+"Why didn't you say so to begin with, then?" cried her mistress testily.
+"Open the window, that I may see what this means."
+
+The note was short and painstakingly polite; but its perusal did not
+seem to please Lady Diana, for she frowned and set her thin lips as she
+re-read it. The missive ran as follows:
+
+     "DEAR LADY MELTON,
+
+     "I write to apologise for the somewhat unconventional manner in
+     which I am leaving your house; but as your plans for my disposal
+     to-day did not accord with my own ideas of what is fitting, I have
+     thought it best to leave thus early, and so avoid any awkwardness
+     which might arise from conflicting arrangements. I wish you to know
+     that I shall be with friends by this evening, so that you need feel
+     no anxiety about my position. Pray accept my thanks for your
+     hospitality, which I am sure my husband will much appreciate, and
+     believe me,
+
+  "Yours respectfully,
+  "MABEL SCARSDALE."
+
+This communication her ladyship tore up into small fragments, and then
+snapped out:
+
+"Is there anything more?"
+
+"Yes, if you please, my lady," replied the maid; "a note for you from
+Mr. Allingford, left in his room."
+
+Lady Melton took it as gingerly as if it were fresh from some infected
+district, and, spreading it out on the bed before her, read it with a
+contemptuous smile.
+
+     "YOUR LADYSHIP," wrote the Consul, "I have the honour to inform you
+     that I am leaving at the earliest possible moment, not wishing to
+     impose my company longer than is absolutely necessary where it is
+     so evidently undesired. That there may be no burden of obligation
+     between us, I beg you to accept a trunk belonging to me, which will
+     arrive this morning, as compensation for my board and lodging.
+
+  "I remain
+  "Your Ladyship's Obedient Servant,
+  "ROBERT ALLINGFORD,
+  "_U.S. Consul, Christchurch, England_.
+
+     "P.S.--I mail you to-day a deed of gift of the property in
+     question, legally attested, so that there may be no question of
+     ownership.
+
+  "R. A."
+
+"Insolence!" gasped Lady Melton, when she comprehended the contents of
+this astonishing communication. Then turning to her maid, she commanded:
+
+"If this person's trunk arrives here, have it sent back to him
+instantly." And she fumed with rage at the thought.
+
+"How dare he suppose that I would for a moment accept a gratuity!"
+
+Indeed, so wrought up was she that it was with difficulty that she
+controlled herself sufficiently to breakfast on the terrace. Moreover,
+her interview with Bright, the butler, whom she encountered on her way
+downstairs and who announced the arrival of her great-nephew and a
+strange lady, was hardly soothing; for it forced her to believe that
+that faithful servant, after years of probity, had at last strayed from
+the temperate paths of virtue. Seeing him dishevelled and bewildered,
+she had sternly rebuked him for his appearance, and from his disjointed
+replies had only gathered that his astounding state was in some way due
+to the Consul.
+
+"Has that insolent person's trunk arrived?" she inquired; when, to her
+astonishment, her old retainer, who had always observed in her presence
+a respectful and highly deferential demeanour, actually tittered.
+
+"Bright!" she said sternly.
+
+"Beg pardon, my lady," giggled Bright, his face still wreathed in
+smiles; "but the way you put it."
+
+"What have you done with this person's belongings? Have my orders been
+carried out?"
+
+"You mean in regard to the--the----"
+
+"Trunk. Yes, let it be put off the place immediately."
+
+"Please, your ladyship," he replied, with difficulty restraining his
+laughter, "it won't go."
+
+"Will not go?"
+
+"No, my lady; it's been rampaging through the greenhouses, and is now on
+the terrace, where it douched Anne most awful."
+
+"Leave me at once, Bright, and do not let me see you again till you are
+in a more decent state," she commanded, and swept by him, ignoring his
+protestations of innocence and respect.
+
+She found Scarsdale awaiting her in the reception-room, and accorded him
+a very frigid greeting, suggesting that they should have their interview
+on the terrace, where he had left Mrs. Allingford safely ensconced in an
+armchair, while he went to meet his great-aunt.
+
+Her ladyship had been considerably ruffled both by her interview with
+Bright and by the arrival of Scarsdale, towards whom, in the light of
+recent events, she felt a strong resentment; and a vision of the
+Consul's wife perched most indecorously on the shoulders of Hercules,
+which she beheld as she emerged on the terrace, did not tend to calm her
+already excited nerves. But before she could speak her eyes followed the
+direction of the unknown lady's gaze, and she saw, for the first time,
+her unwelcome visitor.
+
+When you come suddenly face to face with an elephant seated amidst the
+wreck of cherished Chippendale and ancestral Sèvres, it is not
+calculated to increase your composure or equalise your temper; and Lady
+Diana may be pardoned, as the vastness of the Consul's impudence dawned
+upon her, for giving vent to expressions both of anger and amazement,
+albeit her appearance produced no less of a disturbance in the breast of
+him who sat amidst the ruins of the breakfast-table. The elephant felt
+that in the presence of the Maharanee, for such he believed her to be,
+his position was undignified. She was, without doubt, the wife of the
+"Damconsul," and, as such, should be paid all proper respect and
+deference. He, therefore, bowed his head in submission, completing in
+the process his work of destruction. Whereat Mrs. Allingford shrieked
+and clung more closely to the protecting shoulders of Hercules.
+
+Serious as the situation was, it was not without its humorous side, and
+it took all Scarsdale's command of himself to control his face
+sufficiently to address his relative with becoming respect.
+
+"Why, aunt," he said, "I didn't know that you had gone in for pets!"
+
+"Harold Stanley Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale," replied her ladyship--she
+prided herself on never forgetting a name--"you are one of the most
+impudent and worthless young men that I have the honour to count among
+my relatives; but you have been in India, and you ought to know how to
+manage this monster."
+
+"I've seen enough of them," he answered. "What do you want him to do?"
+
+"Do!" she cried wrathfully. "I should think anybody would know that I
+wished it to get up and go away."
+
+"Oh," said he, and made a remark in Hindustani to the elephant, whereat
+the beast gradually and deliberately proceeded to rise from the wreck of
+the breakfast, till he seemed to the spectators to be forty feet high.
+Then, in response to Scarsdale's cries of "Mail! mail!" (Go on) he
+turned himself about, and, after sending the teapot through the nearest
+window with a disdainful kick of one hind leg, he lurched down the steps
+of the terrace and on to the lawn, where he remained contentedly
+standing, gently rocking to and fro, while he meditatively removed from
+his person, by means of his trunk, the fragments of the feast, with
+which he was liberally bespattered.
+
+Scarsdale, seeing that his lordship was in an amicable frame of mind,
+hastened to assist Mrs. Allingford to descend from her somewhat uneasy
+perch.
+
+"St. Hubart," said Lady Melton, who, throughout this trying ordeal, had
+lost none of her natural dignity, "you have done me a service. I shall
+not forget it."
+
+Scarsdale thought it would be difficult to forget the elephant.
+
+"I will even forgive you," she continued, "for marrying that American."
+
+"It was so good of you to receive my wife," he said. "I trust you are
+pleased with her."
+
+"I am not pleased at all," she said sharply. "I consider her forward and
+disrespectful, and I am glad she is gone."
+
+"Gone!" he exclaimed.
+
+"You may well be surprised," said his great-aunt, "but such is the
+case."
+
+"But where has she gone?"
+
+"That I do not know; she left without consulting me, and against my
+advice and wishes."
+
+"Did she go alone?"
+
+"She went," replied her ladyship, "with one of the most insolent persons
+it has ever been my misfortune to meet. He is owner of that!" And she
+pointed to the elephant.
+
+"But who is he?" demanded Scarsdale, not recognising, from her
+description, his friend the Consul.
+
+"He disgraces," she continued, "a public office given him by a foreign
+Government."
+
+"You are surely not talking about Allingford!" he exclaimed.
+
+"That, I believe, is his name," replied Lady Melton.
+
+"What, my husband!" cried the Consul's wife, who up to this point had
+kept silence. "You dare to call my husband a disgrace----!" Here Mrs.
+Allingford became dumb with indignation.
+
+"If he is your husband," returned her ladyship, "I am exceedingly sorry
+for you. As for 'daring' to apply to him any epithet I please, I
+consider myself fully justified in so doing after the indignity to which
+he has condemned me. I am glad, however, to have met you, as I am thus
+enabled to return you your husband's property, with the request that you
+take your elephant and leave my grounds as quickly as possible."
+
+"Do you mean to say that my husband owns that monster?" gasped Mrs.
+Allingford.
+
+"Such is the case," replied Lady Melton, "and I leave it in your hands.
+St. Hubart, I trust _you_ will join me at breakfast as soon as another
+can be prepared."
+
+"Excuse me," he said apologetically, "but really, you know, I can't
+leave Mrs. Allingford in the lurch. Besides, I must follow my wife."
+
+His great-aunt faced round in a fury.
+
+"That is sufficient!" she cried. "Leave my presence at once! I never
+desire to see either of you again."
+
+"Don't let us part as enemies, aunt," he said, offering her his hand;
+but she swept past him into the house.
+
+Scarsdale gloomily watched her depart, and then became conscious of a
+hand laid on his arm.
+
+"I am so sorry!" murmured Mrs. Allingford. "I only seem to bring you
+trouble."
+
+"Oh, you mustn't feel badly about this," he said. "We have quarrelled
+ever since I was born. I'm much more worried about you."
+
+"What am I going to do with it?" she exclaimed, looking hopelessly at
+her husband's property as it stood rocking before her.
+
+"The first thing is to get it off the place," replied Scarsdale,
+assuming a cheerfulness which he did not feel. "We may find its keepers
+at the lodge, and we can make our plans as we walk along."
+
+"Come on, Jehoshaphat, or whatever you may happen to be called!" he
+cried, addressing the elephant, and at the same time grasping the rope
+bridle which still dangled from its neck; and the beast, recognising a
+kindred spirit speaking to him in his native tongue, followed docilely
+where he led.
+
+"I think," continued Scarsdale, as they trudged slowly across the park,
+"that our best course will be to take the elephant to Christchurch.
+Indeed, we ought to have gone there in the first instance."
+
+"What do you expect to gain by that?" she asked quickly, ready in this
+strange dilemma to catch at any straw which gave opportunity of escape.
+
+"Why, your husband's consulate is situated there, and that is his local
+habitation in this country, where he is certain to turn up sooner or
+later, and where, if the laws of his consular service are anything like
+ours, he would be obliged to report every few days."
+
+"You propose to go there and await his return?"
+
+"Yes," he said. "I don't see that we can do better. Ten to one your
+husband and my wife will hear of our affair at Winchester, and may be on
+their way there now to hunt us up; while if we attempted to follow them,
+it is more than likely that they would return here. I, for one, am about
+tired of chasing myself around the country; as a steady occupation it is
+beginning to pall."
+
+"There is a group of men at the lodge," she said, as they drew near the
+gates with the elephant in tow.
+
+"Then let us hope that there are some station people among them, and
+that we can arrange for Jehoshaphat's transportation without loss of
+time," replied Scarsdale.
+
+His hope was, in the first instance, justified; for the station-master
+at Salisbury, learning of the Consul's early departure that morning, and
+beginning to doubt the wisdom of inflicting the elephant on so important
+a personage as Lady Melton, had come up to the Court himself to see how
+things were going, and had been horrified beyond measure at the
+exaggerated reports of the lodgekeeper as to the havoc the beast had
+created. He was therefore unfeignedly relieved at Scarsdale's arrival; a
+relief, however, which instantly gave way to stubborn opposition at the
+first hint of putting the animal again in his charge.
+
+Elephants were not in his line, he pointed out, and he had no desire to
+transport them about the country. Couldn't think of acting without
+receiving advices from the main offices of the railway company in
+London, an affair of several days; wouldn't assume charge of the
+creature during the interval on any account; and shouldn't stir a step
+in the matter till the wrecked van had been paid for.
+
+This ended the affair, as far as Scarsdale was concerned. He had no
+intention of paying damages for the Consul's elephant, but he wished to
+deliver it and the Consul's wife at Christchurch as soon as possible. If
+this could not be accomplished one way, it must be another. There were
+plenty of horses and carriages to be had; indeed, the landau and pair
+which had brought them from Salisbury was still at the gates. The roads
+were good, the distance to Christchurch was not excessive--say thirty
+miles--and the elephant could walk. It merely remained to find a leader
+or driver, and they could start at once on their journey across country.
+
+All this he explained to his fair companion, and she readily acquiesced.
+
+"The only problem to be solved, then, is where to find a mahout," he
+said in conclusion.
+
+She threw him an inquiring glance; but he felt it was asking too much,
+and said so.
+
+"If it were any other country, I'd ride the beast myself to oblige you;
+but in England, and as a representative of one of the first families of
+the county, I couldn't. The prejudices of the locality would never
+recover from the shock, and I should not be able to show my face in the
+streets of Salisbury. But perhaps we can find a substitute. Is there any
+one here," he went on, addressing the little group of men, "who
+understands an elephant?"
+
+"Tom, 'e knows the bloomin' beasts," said a member of the company; and
+Tom, groom to her ladyship, and cockney every inch of him, was pushed
+forward for inspection.
+
+One glance at the trim form, concealed though it was by stable costume,
+was sufficient to assure Scarsdale that he had found his man.
+
+"You have been a soldier," he said, "and in India?"
+
+"Yes, sir," replied the man, touching the peak of his cap in a military
+salute.
+
+"Do you think you could manage him?" continued Scarsdale, indicating
+the elephant, which, wearied with the morning's exertions, had knelt
+down, and seemed on the point of taking a nap.
+
+"Do I think as 'ow I could manage 'im? I should 'ope so, if I ain't
+fergot is 'eathen language, sir."
+
+"I'll give you eighteen pence a mile," said Scarsdale, quick to act on
+the man's decision.
+
+"Make it two bob, sir, an' I'll ride 'im ter Inja."
+
+"That's too far," he replied, laughing; "my pocket wouldn't stand the
+strain; but I'll give you the price to Christchurch."
+
+"Right you are," replied the hostler, closing the bargain at once. "Me
+name's Tom Ropes. What d'yer call 'im, sir?" pointing to his recumbent
+charge.
+
+"I don't know what he was christened. I call him Jehoshaphat."
+
+"A Christian name fer a 'eathen brute," commented Tom. "Give me a leg
+up, one er yer."
+
+Once astride the beast's neck, with Scarsdale's cane as an improvised
+ankus, he poured out a flood of cockney-Indian jargon which no Hindoo
+could ever have recognised as his native tongue, but which evidently had
+a familiar sound to the elephant, who proceeded to rise, first with his
+fore feet and then with his hind feet; after which his novel mahout, who
+throughout these manoeuvres had retained a precarious hold by one ear,
+hastened to seat himself more firmly upon him.
+
+"All right?" queried Scarsdale, looking up; and on receiving an answer
+in the affirmative, added: "Keep your feet well under his ears, and hit
+him on the head with your stick if he gets fractious. All you need do is
+to follow our carriage. Trust to his judgment about bridges; he knows
+what will hold him."
+
+Arrangements, on a liberal scale, having been made for the use of the
+conveyance which had brought them from the station, they were ready to
+start in a very short space of time; Scarsdale stipulating that they
+head towards Southampton, taking the least travelled roads, and in any
+event giving Salisbury a wide berth. This was agreed to; and thereupon
+commenced one of the most extraordinary progresses that had ever stirred
+up a staid and conventional countryside: Scarsdale and Mrs. Allingford
+leading off in the landau, since it was necessary to keep the horse well
+in front of the elephant, and Tom and his charge plodding on in their
+wake.
+
+As they left the lodge behind them and came out into the open country,
+the Consul's wife, turning to her companion in misfortune, said, between
+tears and smiles:
+
+"What do you think is going to happen next?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+IN WHICH THERE ARE TWO CLAIMANTS FOR ONE DINNER
+
+The village clock was on the stroke of one when the little procession
+drew up before the door of the principal inn in the main square of a
+small town on the road between Salisbury and Southampton.
+
+Scarsdale had been surprised to find how little excitement they had
+created in their progress through the countryside; but then he had
+chosen the most unfrequented roads, avoiding villages as he would a
+pestilence. Man and beast must be fed somewhere, however, and, according
+to Tom, the elephant was giving no uncertain signs that he wanted his
+dinner. So, against his better judgment, Scarsdale had turned aside into
+a neighbouring town, whence, after an hour's rest and refreshment, he
+determined to push on that afternoon to a quiet inn he knew of, near
+Fording Bridge, and thence to Christchurch the following morning.
+
+Both he and Mrs. Allingford had been as quiet as mice during the last
+hour; indeed, the novel position in which they found themselves inclined
+them rather to thought than conversation.
+
+Their entrance into the town was effected more easily than could have
+been hoped for; though, in some unknown manner, a rumour of their coming
+seemed to have preceded them: for a crowd had collected along the main
+street, which cheered them vociferously, under the mistaken impression
+that they were the proprietors of a circus. No travelling show that
+wound its course through those country lanes had ever possessed such an
+attraction, and the people moved away after they had passed, full of
+wonder at the appearance of this strange monster among them, and regret
+that with such a beginning there was nothing more to follow.
+
+Once they had come to a halt, they were surrounded by a curious crowd,
+and Scarsdale lost no time in entering into explanations with the
+landlord of the inn, who came hurrying out to receive his novel guests.
+
+It was at this point that their troubles first began; for mine host,
+while he professed to furnish entertainment for man and beast, was
+dubious concerning the monster which it was proposed to quarter on him
+so unexpectedly. The lady and gentleman, their coachman, horses, and
+even the cockney mahout were more than welcome; but elephants were not
+in his line of business. He didn't know if he could give satisfaction;
+feared his accommodations were not sufficiently ample; would like to
+oblige, but had the reputation of his house to maintain, &c., &c.
+
+When Scarsdale happened, however, casually to mention that it was Lady
+Melton's elephant a change came over the face of affairs, of which he
+was not slow to take advantage.
+
+Her ladyship was well known throughout the county, while her reputation
+for severity had a still wider circulation, and the landlord was in
+abject fear of her, though, nevertheless, obstinately determined to have
+none of the beast.
+
+The subject of all this altercation had meantime appropriated the public
+horse-trough to his exclusive use for drinking and bathing purposes, and
+was enjoying himself in consequence, which was more than could be said
+of his rider, who shared unwillingly in his ablutions.
+
+"Give 'im the word to sit down, sir. S'welp me, I'll be drownded with
+'is tricks!" cried Tom.
+
+"I don't speak his infernal language," returned Scarsdale testily;
+"that's your business."
+
+"I've told 'im all I know, sir, an' it's no use."
+
+"Then I'm afraid you'll have to stay up and get wet."
+
+"Couldn't yer 'elp me down, sir? Quit that, yer 'eathen!" as he dodged a
+shower of water.
+
+"Certainly not," replied Scarsdale. "You can't leave him riderless in a
+public place."
+
+Then, turning to the landlord, who stood by in sore perplexity,
+aimlessly rubbing his hands, he continued:
+
+"It's a beastly shame that a gentleman can't take a lady's elephant out
+for--exercise without running up against all this nonsense in the first
+little hamlet he comes across! One would almost think you had never seen
+an elephant before."
+
+The landlord, whose eyes had up to this time been fairly bulging with
+curiosity, now declared himself desolated at such an uncalled-for
+suspicion.
+
+"Perhaps it would be better if the gentleman were to send for a
+constable."
+
+Mine host neglected to add that he had done so on his own responsibility
+in his first burst of agitation.
+
+But Scarsdale, noting the excellent effect which his rating had produced
+on the landlord, determined that he should have some more of it.
+
+"If you are afraid," he said, "of damaging your ramshackle old inn,
+perhaps you'll consent to give my elephant his dinner in the square?"
+
+Mine host rolled up his eyes at this new phase of the question.
+
+"I suppose," continued Scarsdale, "that the dignity of this 'tuppenny
+ha'penny' town won't be seriously impaired by his presence for an hour
+in your elegant plaza!"
+
+The last portion of this speech was lost on the landlord, because he did
+not know what a "plaza" was; but it sounded imposing, and he hastened to
+assure his guest that the town would feel honoured by the elephant's
+presence, though he would have to procure a permit from the mayor.
+Should he show him the way to that functionary's house?
+
+This, however, proved to be unnecessary, as the mayor himself was
+present in the crowd, a pompous, fussy little man, full of the
+importance of his office. Lady Melton's name, which he had heard
+mentioned in connection with the affair, acted as a charm, and brought
+him bustling forward to shake Scarsdale's hand, assure him that no
+permit was required, and snub the innkeeper.
+
+"Anything I can do for a relation of her ladyship's--I think you said a
+relation?" he inquired.
+
+Scarsdale had not said anything of the kind, but unwillingly admitted
+that he was her nephew. Upon receiving this intelligence the mayor
+positively beamed, called Scarsdale "your lordship," and became most
+solicitous after Lady Melton's health. Her nephew gravely assured him
+that he might make his mind easy on that score, as his aunt was in the
+best of health, and that as soon as he returned to Melton Court (a most
+uncertain date, he thought grimly) he would be sure to convey to her his
+kind inquiries.
+
+His worship on this was positively effusive, declared himself devoted to
+Scarsdale's interests, and insisted that he and "her ladyship,"
+indicating Mrs. Allingford--another slip which his companion did not
+trouble to correct--must do him the honour of dining with Mrs. Mayor
+and himself.
+
+Scarsdale was now beginning to fear that he was doing it rather too
+well, and hastened to excuse "her ladyship" and himself, declaring that
+they could not think of trespassing on his worship's hospitality, and
+that they would be quite comfortable at the inn, if only the elephant
+might be permitted to have his dinner in the square.
+
+The mayor declared that it was just what he most desired; but would his
+lordship kindly indicate of what that meal must consist?
+
+This was a poser; but Scarsdale plunged recklessly on, for, having once
+entered the broad road of deception, there was no turning back, and he
+was surprised himself at the facility with which he could romance.
+
+"That is just the trouble of taking charge of other people's pets," he
+said, with shameless indifference to the demands of truth. "I'm sure I
+don't know much more about the brute than you do; and as his mahout was
+away when we started out, I had to take one of the grooms. What _does_
+Jehoshaphat eat, Tom?"
+
+"Hay, sir--me lud, I mean," answered Tom, falling in with the humour of
+the situation.
+
+"Oh! hay, of course," said Scarsdale.
+
+"How much, your lordship?" queried the mayor.
+
+"How much? Confound it! how should I know? Do you take me for an
+elephant trainer?" A remark which nearly reduced his worship to chaos;
+but Scarsdale, relenting, added:
+
+"Say five or six tons--I don't know."
+
+"But it is not easy, my lord, to procure such an amount at short
+notice," expostulated the official.
+
+"Oh, then, get him a waggon-load or two as a first course, and we'll
+find something else a little later."
+
+"It shall be procured at once. I--er--trust your lordship will not take
+it amiss, since you will not dine with me, if I offer you a glass
+of--shall we say champagne?"
+
+"With pleasure," said Scarsdale.
+
+"And her ladyship?" looking towards the carriage.
+
+Mrs. Allingford bowed, and the mayor whispered a few words in mine
+host's ear.
+
+Just at that moment, as Scarsdale was drawing his first easy breath,
+feeling at last that things were going smoothly, the very worst
+_contretemps_ that could possibly happen occurred. Two dusty figures
+shambled around the corner of a neighbouring street into the square, and
+one of them in a high-pitched voice, that was distinctly heard by every
+member of the crowd, exclaimed:
+
+"Hi, there! What are you doing with my elephant?"
+
+Scarsdale swung round to face the newcomers, a premonition of coming
+evil strong upon him, though a careful inspection assured him that he
+knew them not; yet conviction hang in every note of that challenge.
+
+They were, in a word, the owner of elephants and the unregenerate Dick.
+
+From early dawn they had made their way across country, in as straight
+a line as possible from Winchester to Salisbury, sometimes on foot and
+sometimes in such conveyances as they could hire from place to place;
+but ever buoyed up by hope--hope of finding that which was lost; hope of
+restoring elephants to their rightful owners; hope of clearing a
+brother's name. And here, unexpectedly, they had come upon the object of
+their search in the hands of total strangers.
+
+"Who the devil are you?" cried Scarsdale hotly, scenting danger, and
+determined to face the worst at once. "I don't know you."
+
+"I'm Richard Allingford," said the larger of the two men, pushing
+forward till he faced the bewildered Englishman.
+
+At this point Scarsdale, whose coolness alone could have saved the
+situation, lost his head. His temper, which had been severely tried by
+the vicissitudes of the day, gave way in the presence of the man whose
+escapades had caused him such needless suffering and indignity, and,
+regardless of results, he spoke his mind.
+
+"So you're Richard Allingford, are you? Then allow me to tell you that
+you are the prettiest scoundrel that I've run across in a long time!
+Curse you! Do you know I've spent two days, this week, in Winchester
+jail on your account?"
+
+A broad grin broke over Richard's face.
+
+"I guess you must be Scarsdale," he said. "But what in thunder are you
+doing with my brother's elephant?"
+
+"It's mine!" arose the shrill voice of his companion. "I tell you he
+stole it from me!"
+
+This was too much for Mrs. Allingford, and, to make a bad matter worse,
+she cried from the carriage:
+
+"The Consul did not steal the elephant! It is his property, and I'm his
+wife!"
+
+A voice from the crowd chimed in:
+
+"But 'e said it was 'er ladyship's helephant!"
+
+The mayor's face was a study in its various shades of suspicion--anger
+at being, as he very naturally supposed, duped; and certainty of the
+duplicity of all concerned, as the contradictory conversation
+continued. And there is no knowing how quickly he might have
+precipitated the final catastrophe, if the elephant had not chosen this
+opportunity for creating a diversion on his own account, which, for the
+time being, distracted every one's thoughts. He had had, it will be
+remembered, a very light breakfast, which only served to whet the edge
+of his appetite. It therefore took him but a short time to locate the
+whereabouts of a lad who, emerging from the inn with an appetising
+dinner of bacon and greens arranged in a basket balanced on his head,
+stood gaping on the outskirts of the crowd, unmindful of the cooling
+viands. Some playful breeze must have wafted the savoury odour of
+cabbage to the elephant's nostrils; for suddenly, and without previous
+warning, flinging his trunk in the air with a joyous trumpet, he pounded
+down the road, nearly unseating his rider, and scattering the crowd to
+right and left.
+
+"Wait for me when you get to Christchurch!" Scarsdale called to Tom as
+the latter shot past him, and then joined in the rush which followed
+close on the elephant's heels, the mayor and the landlord well to the
+fore; while Mrs. Allingford's driver, who was only human, increased the
+confusion by whipping up his horses and joining in the chase.
+
+Ahead of the excited beast and the noisy throng which followed it,
+holding on like grim death to his dinner-basket, fled the worse-scared
+boy that had ever been seen in that town. Fortunately the chase was of
+short duration, for the cubicle of the telegraph-clerk at the railway
+station was just ahead, and offered a ready refuge. Into it flew the
+lad, dinner and all, and slammed the door, just in time to escape from
+the elephant's curling trunk.
+
+The beast, despoiled of his meal, circled the building trumpeting with
+rage, and finally took up a position across the rails, where he stood
+guard, prepared to fall upon any one who should venture out.
+
+All the station attendants and officials were now added to the crowd
+which swarmed about the elephant, and the business of the town
+practically came to a standstill.
+
+The station-master only added to the excitement by declaring that a
+train for Salisbury was due, and that the line must be cleared; while
+the telegraph-clerk announced from an upper storey that wild horses, let
+alone elephants, would not drag him forth from the shelter of his
+office, and the blubbering of the unfortunate boy made a monotonous
+accompaniment to his speech. The mayor blustered, the navvies swore, Tom
+addressed floods of unintelligible jargon to the obstinate beast, and,
+as a last resort, Scarsdale coaxed and wheedled him in very defective
+Hindustani. But it was all useless; not an inch would the elephant
+budge, and no one in all that assemblage was clever enough to think of
+giving him the telegraph-clerk's dinner.
+
+In the midst of this confusion, a shrill whistle was heard in the
+distance, and some one with a clearer head than the rest cried out to
+"set the signals against the train"--a suggestion which was at once
+acted upon, and in a moment more the engine drew up, panting, within a
+dozen feet of the elephant, who was so intent on the contents of the
+cubicle that he never noticed its arrival.
+
+As a general thing, it is the American tourist who alights from a train
+on no provocation, while his English cousin is content to sit quiet, and
+leave the affairs of the line in the hands of the company. In this case,
+however, some subtle sense of the unusual obstacle seemed to have
+communicated itself to the passengers; for no sooner had the engine
+halted than heads were thrust out of every window, and the greatest
+excitement prevailed.
+
+"I don't know if Scarsdale and my wife are here," said Allingford, who,
+in company with Carrington and Mrs. Scarsdale, occupied one of the
+forward carriages, "but there is her ladyship's elephant!"
+
+"You're right," cried his fair companion, taking his place at the
+window. Then, as she caught sight of Scarsdale, she exclaimed "St.
+Hubart!" and pushing open the door, jumped out, and fled down the line.
+
+"By Jove! that's my wife!" exclaimed the Consul, fleeing after her, and
+upsetting a porter in his haste.
+
+From a distance Carrington saw a confused mingling of four persons, and
+sighed as he caught himself wondering if he would ever be fool enough to
+do that sort of thing in public.
+
+As he slowly approached them he heard scraps of their conversation.
+
+"By the way, Allingford," Scarsdale was saying, "I brought you back your
+elephant, which it seems you were careless enough, in the hurry of
+departure, to leave behind you at Melton Court. I hope you are properly
+grateful."
+
+"Oh, it isn't mine," replied the Consul; "it belongs to her Ladyship."
+
+"Well, she said it was yours," returned her nephew.
+
+"Ah, that was merely her excessive amiability," said Allingford.
+
+"It had not struck me in that light before," replied Scarsdale. "Anyway,
+I've brought it back to you, and a nice time I've had of it."
+
+"Did you pilot it all the way from Melton Court?" queried the Consul.
+
+"I did," replied the Englishman, "through the main streets of this town;
+that is where my Indian training stood me in good stead; but it has
+ruined my character--most of the inhabitants look on me with suspicion."
+
+"Was your holding up of our train intentional?"
+
+"No," said Scarsdale regretfully, "it wasn't. There are lots of damages
+to pay, I assure you."
+
+"You must settle them with Lady Melton."
+
+"But what am I to do with the beast?"
+
+"My dear fellow," returned the Consul, "I've been your wife's devoted
+slave for the last two days, and I have restored her safe and sound to
+your arms, but I really can't undertake to manage your aunt's elephants
+into the bargain."
+
+"But at least you might advise me."
+
+"Turn him over to Cassim."
+
+"To whom?"
+
+"Why, to his own mahout, the little brown man who is dancing round him
+now. I discovered him tearing his hair at Southampton station, where he
+was left by mistake yesterday, and brought him along."
+
+"Then for heaven's sake make him get his beast off the line!" cried
+Scarsdale, dragging Allingford up to the native keeper.
+
+"My lord desireth his mid-day meal, and the sahib of the watch-tower
+hath it within," explained that functionary.
+
+"Tell his lordship that he'll have a great deal better dinner if he will
+go back to the square," said Allingford.
+
+Just what the mahout said to the elephant will never be known, but it
+proved convincing: for, with a grunt of dissatisfaction, the beast
+consented to retrace his steps.
+
+"And now that we have settled this little matter," said the Consul,
+"there is nothing left for us but to express our unbounded gratitude
+to--well, to the elephant for reuniting us all, and start once more on
+our honeymoons; for which this train is mighty convenient."
+
+"I have a word to say about that," cried the mayor. "I'm by no means
+satisfied about the ownership of this elephant. I've been given to
+understand that it belongs to Lady Melton. Is this so?"
+
+"Yes," said the Consul and Mr. and Mrs. Scarsdale.
+
+"No," said Mrs. Allingford, Carrington, Tom, and the original owner, in
+one and the same breath.
+
+"I say, Bob, did you steal it after all?" queried the graceless Richard.
+
+"I took it in payment of a debt," replied his brother hotly.
+
+"Only twenty pounds!" groaned the elephant man. "It's as good as a
+steal!"
+
+"And I gave it to Lady Melton," continued the Consul, "in payment for my
+board and lodging."
+
+"And she gave it to me," said Mrs. Allingford.
+
+"I lost my lord at the place of docks," wailed the mahout.
+
+"'E 'ired me to ride hit," cried Tom, indicating Scarsdale.
+
+"And what right have you to it, sir?" blustered the mayor, turning to
+that gentleman.
+
+"I don't know," replied Scarsdale.
+
+"I consider this most unsatisfactory," continued his worship. "I think I
+may define the actions of those who have had a hand in this affair
+as--ahem!--contradictory and open to question. I shall telegraph Lady
+Melton, and pending her reply I must detain you all as suspicious
+characters."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+So it came to pass that the nine, gathered together in the chief parlour
+of the inn, with a constable on duty, awaited for some hours a response
+to the mayor's telegram. It arrived finally, embodied in the person of
+Aunt Eliza, who had gone to Melton Court that morning, and was now fresh
+from an interview with the mayor, which had resulted in the freedom of
+all concerned.
+
+The old lady looked the couples over through her eye-glasses, and gave
+vent to an expressive "Humph!"
+
+To her niece alone did she deign to express herself more fully, nor did
+she scruple to mince her words.
+
+"Well, Mabel," she remarked, "you ought to be ashamed of yourself. I
+gave you a first-class recommendation only two days ago, as being well
+fitted to plan and carry out a honeymoon, and look what a mess you've
+made of it! Where did you come from last?"
+
+"From Winchester," replied her niece, "where I was looking for my
+husband, who had been arrested for impersonating Mr. Allingford's
+brother," and she pointed to Dick, who joined the group on hearing his
+name mentioned.
+
+"What business have you to be holding a public office, with a brother
+like that?" Miss Cogbill demanded sternly of the Consul; but noting his
+evident discomfiture, she had the grace to add:
+
+"You're by no means a fool, however, barring your habit of losing
+things. That deed of gift you presented to Lady Melton was a clever
+stroke of business, and has helped you all out of a bad hole."
+
+"Have you seen her ladyship? What did she say?" cried the Consul.
+
+"She said a good deal," replied Aunt Eliza. "Naturally she was pretty
+mad, for the beast had done a heap of damage, but she was bound to admit
+you weren't to blame for its getting loose, and, as I pointed out to
+her, you had a right to pay for your board and lodging if you chose,
+though, from the looks of her ramshackle old place, I thought you'd
+given more than the accommodation was worth. Besides which there were
+grievances and plenty on your side of the question. By her own showing
+she hadn't been decently civil to you, and had turned over that monster
+to your deserted and defenceless wife, and cast my nephew adrift, and
+tried to send my niece home with the butler. Her ladyship saw the
+justice of my remarks. She means well, but her training's against her.
+When I came to the elephant, though, I struck a snag, for she gave me
+to understand that she'd turned it off the place and never wanted to
+hear of it again. 'Now, your ladyship,' says I, 'turning an elephant
+adrift in the world isn't like casting your bread upon the waters;
+you're bound to find it before many days.' And I hadn't more than got
+the words out of my mouth when in came that telegram from the mayor,
+saying that traffic was blocked on the railway in both directions, and
+nine people arrested, all along of that beast. Her ladyship's lawyer,"
+continued Aunt Eliza, indicating a gentleman of unmistakably legal
+appearance who had followed her into the room, "backed me up by pointing
+out that the deed of gift was good, and the elephant her property, and
+that she'd be obliged to pay for any damage it might do; after which she
+climbed down from her ancestral tree quick enough, and was willing to
+listen to reason. So here I am, and here is the lawyer; and now, if you
+please, we will attend to business."
+
+This she proceeded to do, and in an amazingly short space of time, with
+the authority of the lawyer, had settled the scruples of the mayor;
+received a release of indebtedness from the Consul, who willingly
+surrendered his papers, declaring that he had had "more than twenty
+pounds' worth of fun out of the elephant"; and transferred the documents
+to the lawyer, with instructions to sell the beast to the original
+consignees at Southampton, and to remit the purchase-money to the
+elephant man, less the twenty pounds for damages, which, she added,
+"Just cancels his debt to the Consul, making him square on the
+transaction."
+
+The lawyer patted his hands, saying:
+
+"Very well argued, Miss Cogbill."
+
+"Lady Melton," said Aunt Eliza, turning to Mr. and Mrs. Scarsdale and
+Mr. and Mrs. Allingford, "has authorised me to say, on her behalf, that
+she overlooks and regrets the events of the last few days, and wishes
+them to be forgotten. In token of which she requests you four to dine
+with her, and spend the night at Melton Court; and I may add that
+you'll be fools if you don't accept." After which dissent was
+impossible.
+
+"And I want to tell you," said Miss Cogbill, turning to Carrington,
+"that you've managed this affair very well; and as I'm in want of a
+likely young man as my business agent, if you call on me to-morrow in
+town, we'll see if we can't find something more profitable for you to do
+than hunting up stray honeymooners."
+
+"Say!" interjected the graceless Richard, who was far from pleased at
+the turn affairs had taken--"Say, where do I come in?"
+
+"Young man," said Aunt Eliza, turning on him like a flash, "did you buy
+a return ticket to America?"
+
+"Yes, but----"
+
+"Well, then," she interrupted, "you use it, the first chance you get.
+And as for you," addressing the two married couples, "the sooner you
+start for Melton Court the better; and don't let me hear of your being
+lost again."
+
+"Aren't you coming with us, Miss Cogbill?" asked Scarsdale.
+
+"The lawyer and I," replied that lady, "are the only two responsible
+persons in this crowd, and we'll stay right here and look after--Her
+Ladyship's Elephant."
+
+
+
+
+HEINEMANN'S
+
+CHEAPER NOVELS
+
+
+A LITTLE LIST OF DELIGHTFUL BOOKS TO READ BY
+
+  Sir G. Parker, M.P.
+  H. G. Wells
+  Jack London
+  E. F. Benson
+  John Galsworthy
+  H. de Vere Stacpoole
+  Philip Gibbs
+  Joseph Conrad
+  Stephen Crane
+  Duncan Schwann
+  Robert Hichens
+  Lloyd Osbourne
+  R. L. Stevenson
+  Richard Harding Davis
+  D. D. Wells
+  Baroness von Hutten
+  Frank Danby
+  Elizabeth Robins
+  Florence C. Price
+  Sybil Spottiswoode
+  Mrs. Henry Dudeney
+  Justin Huntly McCarthy
+  Eleanor Abbott
+  Charles Turley
+  Flora Annie Steel
+  Eleanor Mordaunt
+  Mrs. Hodgson Burnett
+  E. L. Voynich
+  Maxwell Gray
+
+_On all Bookstalls and of all Booksellers_
+
+LONDON
+WILLIAM HEINEMANN
+MCMXII
+
+
+
+
+_HEINEMANN'S 1s NET NOVELS_
+
+
+MOLLY MAKE-BELIEVE
+
+By ELEANOR HALLOWEL ABBOTT
+
+A New Novel
+
+Was that boy a fool? Or did he behave a trifle imprudently in trying
+circumstances? It is difficult to say till you know Molly, who is
+described by the press as "one of the most lovable, fascinating and
+wholly adorable little heroines whose acquaintance any man has made for
+years." One thing is certain, no sooner do you make Molly's acquaintance
+than you introduce her to all your friends.
+
+
+THE WEAVERS
+
+By Sir GILBERT PARKER
+
+Author of "The Ladder of Swords," etc.
+
+Sir Gilbert Parker is one of our finest romance writers of the present
+day. This is a story of Egypt--full of rich colour, brilliant flowing
+descriptions. It has the flavour of the Desert, the Nile and the
+indefinable sense of immortality that belongs to the land of the
+Pharaohs.
+
+
+TOTO
+
+By H. DE VERE STACPOOLE
+
+Author of "The Blue Lagoon," etc.
+
+Written with that _verve_ and wonderfully infectious humour which is
+characteristic of this author. THE OUTLOOK says: "That rare and
+delightful thing, a French novel written in English."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THREE BOOKS
+
+By BARONESS VON HUTTEN
+
+
+PAM
+
+Pam is a "classic" before her time so to speak. People are compared to
+"Pam"; so to their disadvantage are most girl heroines of the novels.
+She is inimitable, by herself, and oh! so wholly charming!
+
+
+WHAT BECAME OF PAM
+
+"Whether we have or have not read 'Pam,' we shall certainly find 'What
+became of Pam' interesting."--DAILY TELEGRAPH.
+
+
+OUR LADY OF THE BEECHES
+
+Balzac says "The dramas of life do not lie in the circumstances
+surrounding--they lie in the heart.' This is a drama of the heart.
+
+"This tender idyll ... we can only recommend our readers to buy and read
+it for themselves."--DAILY MAIL.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE ADVENTURER
+
+By LLOYD OSBOURNE
+
+"Crowded with thrilling incident the narrative races along. The book can
+be recommended to all who enjoy a tale of pure adventure."--TIMES.
+
+
+BACCARAT
+
+By FRANK DANBY
+
+Author of "Pigs in Clover," etc.
+
+This brilliant caustic writer here gives one of her vividest pictures of
+a certain clique in society. She wields no timid pen and does not
+hesitate to catch them _in flagrante delicto_. Yet the book is no
+"preachment" from a self-assumed pulpit, it is a novel simply.
+
+
+THE COUNTRY HOUSE
+
+By JOHN GALSWORTHY
+
+Author of "A Man of Property," etc.
+
+This problem of the country family, the county family, is such that it
+concerns every one of us vitally. What they had to solve we have to
+solve. And it is Mr. Galsworthy's strong point that he never fails to
+give us a new vision, nor to hold our interest intent throughout. It is
+an inspiring work.
+
+
+LORD KENTWELL'S LOVE AFFAIR
+
+By FLORENCE C. PRICE
+
+A good story of London society and of political society. Lord Kentwell
+and his sisters provide a most spirited picture, and there is besides a
+background of big happenings very cleverly drawn.
+
+
+THE SEA WOLF
+
+By JACK LONDON
+
+Author of "The Call of the Wild."
+
+A gruesome, thrilling story of the sea. Mr. London brings always the
+breath of big spaces, the tenseness of great actions and the flesh and
+blood of real life, of adventures really lived, into his books. As a
+story, apart from anything else, it is probably as good a book as Mr.
+London has ever written.
+
+
+THE NIGGER OF THE "NARCISSUS"
+
+By JOSEPH CONRAD
+
+Author of "Typhoon," etc.
+
+Mr. Conrad is a writer to whom the public instinctively turn nowadays
+for an exciting, closely analysed study of men. The DAILY CHRONICLE
+says: "It is written by a man who knows every phase of the sea ... and
+it is written by a man who can write."
+
+
+THE MAGNETIC NORTH
+
+By ELIZABETH ROBINS
+
+Author of "Come and Find Me," etc.
+
+A story of the ever-calling North.
+
+"It is all so excellently written, so vividly realised, so picturesquely
+put before the reader that it would be impossible not to be attracted."
+--WESTMINSTER GAZETTE.
+
+
+TWO NOVELS by E. F. BENSON
+
+Author of "Sheaves," etc. etc.
+
+
+THE BLOTTING BOOK
+
+A murder story, most ingeniously worked out. Mr. Benson carries the
+reader along full speed to a truly dramatic ending.
+
+
+THE BABE B.A.
+
+A very differed story from the "Blotting Book." It is a light, highly
+entertaining account of Cambridge undergraduate life which already ranks
+with "Verdant Green" among University classics.
+
+
+TWO NOVELS
+
+By Mrs. HENRY DUDENEY
+
+
+THE MATERNITY OF HARRIET WICKEN
+
+A picture in low tones, but of whole-hearted conviction and quiet
+sympathetic appeal. Mrs. Dudeney has realised to perfection the
+work-a-day world and its stories.
+
+
+THE ORCHARD THIEF
+
+A charming country tale with, in particular, one great scene of striking
+dramatic force. The contrast of this author's power to charm and to
+impress as she wills, is markedly shown in this capital book.
+
+
+THE TIME MACHINE
+
+By H. G. WELLS
+
+Author of "The War of the Worlds," "Kips," etc.
+
+You pull certain levers, having seated yourself in the saddle, and you
+are conveyed either backwards or forwards. When Mr. Wells is in the
+saddle it is easy to see how highly pleasurable the adventures will be.
+This clever idea has given Mr. Wells opportunity for full play of his
+philosophic views.
+
+
+IF I WERE KING
+
+By JUSTIN HUNTLY MCCARTHY
+
+A mediaeval romance of love and chivalry in which the poet Francois
+Villon plays the leading part. It has drama, this story, and it seizes
+the imagination.
+
+
+MARCIA IN GERMANY
+
+By SYBIL SPOTTISWOODE
+
+Author of "Hedwig in England," etc.
+
+Marcia is a bright, pleasant English girl, who goes to stay with her
+German relations. As others before she finds it difficult to grasp a
+different point of view, a different civilisation. The result is
+amusingly set forth by this author, whose dialogue is always good.
+
+
+GODFREY MARTIN: School Boy
+
+By CHARLES TURLEY
+
+One of the very best of boys' books. It is one of the rarest of all rare
+things--a thoroughly sensible school story. The boys are human, neither
+saints nor super-sinners, and the masters for once behave in a totally
+reasonable way. And that doesn't prevent it being a rattling good story.
+
+
+THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE
+
+By STEPHEN CRANE
+
+Author of "The Open Boat," etc.
+
+The thunders of war, the life of regiments, the soul of humanity in
+stress and dangers, its qualities and shortcomings are all written on
+the pages of this thrilling and absorbing book. From the first paragraph
+our enthusiasm is gained and is not let go till the last.
+
+"Simply unapproached in intimate knowledge and sustained imaginative
+strength."--SAT. REVIEW.
+
+
+The STREET of ADVENTURE
+
+By PHILIP GIBBS
+
+The "Street" is Fleet Street of course, for in what other are so many
+adventures to be found. The EVENING STANDARD says: "It has the quality
+of big work.... The book positively pants with life."
+
+
+
+
+_HEINEMANN'S 2s NET NOVELS_
+
+
+THE SHUTTLE
+
+By MRS. HODGSON BURNETT
+
+Author of "Little Lord Fauntleroy," "The Secret Garden," etc.
+
+"Takes its place at once and without dispute among the greater permanent
+works of fiction. Breadth and sanity of outlook, absolute mastery of
+human character and life, bigness of story interest, place Mrs. Hodgson
+Burnett's new book alongside the best work of George Eliot.... The
+dignity and strength of a great novel such as this put to the blush all
+but a very few living English storytellers."--PALL MALL GAZETTE.
+
+"A remarkable novel, for it is written with a sincerity and glow and
+power which bear the reader restlessly along the strange current of
+events that the writer sets herself to describe."--STANDARD.
+
+"Mrs. Burnett has the gift of a narrator to a high degree, and in spite
+of its faults, her latest novel makes a highly readable story."--DAILY
+MAIL.
+
+"A novel of the highest rank."--DAILY GRAPHIC.
+
+Mrs. Burnett is a past-master in drawing her own countrywomen, and Betty
+is a dazzling vision of youthful charm combined with business-like
+competence."--THE QUEEN.
+
+"The story is rich and spacious; it illustrates human nature, both
+British and American, in a simple and massive way, and paints both in
+the primary colours."--WESTMINSTER GAZETTE.
+
+
+BELLA DONNA
+
+By ROBERT HICHENS
+
+Author of "The Londoners," "Flames," "An Imaginative Man," etc.
+
+This is the excellent novel on which the excellent play of the same
+title is founded. It is a book full of weird, haunting scenes of passion
+in the desert, full of the strange sinister fatalism of Eastern minds.
+
+"This is one of the best novels that we have ever read, and quite the
+best that Mr. Robert Hichens has written. It combines the two elements
+of which every good novel ought to be composed, subtle analysis of
+character and an exciting plot.... We will not spoil the reading of this
+book by sketching the thrilling plot, which is enacted on the Nile and
+its banks. Needless to say, the Egyptian scenery and servants are
+described by Mr. Hichens with affectionate familiarity."--SATURDAY
+REVIEW.
+
+"It is admirable drama. It lives with a present life, and moves swiftly.
+Some of the situations are intensely thrilling; the dialogue is firm and
+easy; the whole treatment forcible without theatricalism.... Our
+attention is fixed at the start, and kept to the end, on a duel between
+Isaacson and Bella Donna. It is magnificent ... there can be no denying
+it is a very fine novel."--THE EVENING STANDARD AND ST. JAMES'S GAZETTE.
+
+"It is particularly interesting; its characters are drawn with
+particular care and splendid skill.... 'Bella Donna' is a fine study of
+a woman of passion; remorseless in its truth, fascinating in its
+unmasking of the hidden springs of selfish desire."--THE GLOBE.
+
+
+THE BOOK OF A BACHELOR
+
+By DUNCAN SCHWANN
+
+Author of "The Magic of the Hill"
+
+Mr. Duncan Schwann has recently been acclaimed as one of the four great
+humourists in England at the present time. This "Book of a Bachelor" is
+delightful reading of a light kind, but it carries weight also, for Mr.
+Schwann has picked out the little feeblenesses and frailty of this world
+as a background to his airy frivolity.
+
+"A picturesque romance of modern life is this story by Duncan
+Schwann.... There is, indeed, a good deal of cleverness in the
+book."--WESTMINSTER GAZETTE.
+
+"... Is decidedly entertaining. Mr. Schwann is an admirable journalist
+who has already given proof of his power, but he has done nothing so
+good as this ... which is intelligent, humorous, and on the side of the
+angels."--BRITISH WEEKLY.
+
+"There is knowledge of the world and some mild philosophy to be found in
+this pleasant romance of modern life."--GLOBE.
+
+
+A SHIP OF SOLACE
+
+By ELEANOR MORDAUNT
+
+Author of "The Garden of Contentment"
+
+"The Garden of Contentment," those charming letters to Mr. Nobody, has
+never ceased to sell from the moment it was published. The same may be
+said of "A Ship of Solace," which is filled with the breath of the sea,
+and the pleasing state of mind of complete idleness. It is a book for
+quiet hours, to which one can turn with pleasurable anticipation of
+repose and refreshment.
+
+"Readers who like the scent of real sea air will revel in this truly
+delightful book."--DAILY TELEGRAPH.
+
+
+THE GIFT OF THE GODS
+
+By FLORA ANNIE STEEL
+
+Author of "On the Face of the Waters," "The Potter's Thumb," "From the
+Five Rivers," etc. etc.
+
+"She has that gift, rare now among novelists, of being interested, first
+of all, in the story she has to tell. She is herself so strongly
+interested that her readers are carried along with her and share in her
+vitality and freshness."--STANDARD.
+
+"Mrs. Steel gives us one admirably dramatic scene,--the death of an old
+woman from shock at a sudden disillusion while on her way to the
+Communion Table.... The squalid and starveling lot of crofters living on
+barren soil in or towards the last decade of the 19th century is well
+depicted."--ATHENÆUM.
+
+
+
+
+THE NOVELS OF
+
+E. F. BENSON
+
+Uniform Edition. Crown 8vo. With coloured
+
+Frontispiece and Wrapper. Each vol. 2s net
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+DODO
+
+"The readers of Mr. Benson's book will delight in this story. It is full
+of interest and cleverness."--_Pall Mall Gazette._
+
+
+THE VINTAGE
+
+"We would recommend this to our readers. It has vivid characters staged
+cleverly and a subtle charm which make the work thoroughly
+enjoyable."--_British Weekly._
+
+
+MAMMON & CO.
+
+"Bright, witty dialogues and gay fascinating scenes. Full of humorous
+sayings and witty things."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+
+THE LUCK OF THE VAILS
+
+"This is a really thrilling and exciting tale of crime and mystery. It
+is readable all through and full of entertainment."--_Times._
+
+
+SCARLET AND HYSSOP
+
+"Must be accounted a really brilliant piece of work, unsurpassed by
+anything Mr Benson has given us."--_Pall Mall Gazette._
+
+
+THE BOOK OF MONTHS & A REAPING
+
+"The Bock of Months' is full of charm--real, persuasive, penetrating
+charm--there rings the sincerity of real feeling and purpose."--_Daily
+Chronicle._
+
+
+THE CHALLONERS
+
+"'The Challoners' must be pronounced not only the best book he has given
+us but one of the best novels."--_Daily Mail._
+
+
+THE ANGEL OF PAIN
+
+"An admirably constructed story, brilliant character sketches, flashes
+of good talk--a remarkably clever book."--_Guardian._
+
+
+THE IMAGE OF THE SAND
+
+"Even the sceptic must admit the grim power of the book."--_Bookman._
+
+
+PAUL
+
+"Mr. Benson at his gayest and best. Nothing could be more natural or
+more amusing than most of the dialogue--full of admirable portraiture
+and an abundance both of humour and humanity."--_Outlook._
+
+
+SHEAVES
+
+"Brilliant, clever, full of wise observations and sage
+counsels."--_Standard._
+
+
+THE CLIMBER
+
+"His story is written with striking effect, and the author's wonderful
+power of observation is to be found in almost every page."--_World._
+
+
+JUGGERNAUT
+
+"Delightful in its literary brightness and charm, it is also full of
+exquisite and appealing humanity ... a fine achievement."--_Liverpool
+Mercury._
+
+
+ACCOUNT RENDERED
+
+"This is an admirably written study of English modern life. Lovers of
+Mr. Benson's work will be charmed with his latest novel."--_T.P.'s
+Weekly._
+
+
+THE OSBORNES
+
+"As human and sincere as anything in 'Sheaves' or the 'Challoners.' A
+charming story."--_Observer._
+
+
+
+
+_HEINEMANN'S 7d NET NOVELS_
+
+
+THE BONDMAN
+
+By HALL CAINE
+
+"Mr. Hall Caine has in this work placed himself beyond the front rank of
+the novelists of the day. He has produced a story which is distinctly
+ahead of all the fictional literature of our time, and fit to rank with
+the most powerful fictional writing of the past century."--THE SCOTSMAN.
+
+
+THE SCAPEGOAT
+
+By HALL CAINE
+
+"There are passages in 'The Scapegoat' which entitle Mr. Hall Caine to a
+high place amongst contemporary writers of fiction."--DAILY CHRONICLE.
+
+
+THE EBB-TIDE
+
+By R. L. STEVENSON (In conjunction with LLOYD-OSBOURNE)
+
+"The master storyteller is apparent to the reader of this book. It is
+full of freshness, incident and character. It is a splendid
+tale."--GUARDIAN.
+
+
+THE CALL OF THE WILD
+
+By JACK LONDON
+
+"It is impossible not to recognise the skill with which Mr. London
+follows out point by point the training of a sledge dog. 'The Call of
+the Wild' is a very remarkable book."--DAILY TELEGRAPH.
+
+
+THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
+
+By H. G. WELLS
+
+"Original and ingenious romance which attests strongly the variety and
+fertility of Mr. Wells' imagination."--DAILY CHRONICLE.
+
+
+FLAMES
+
+By ROBERT HICHENS
+
+"The picturesque charm of Mr. Hichens' style and his indisputable
+command of the weird and mysterious will hold attention fixed from the
+first chapter of this powerful story to the last."--GRAPHIC.
+
+
+THE GADFLY
+
+By E. L. VOYNICH
+
+"It is more interesting and rich in promise than ninety-nine out of
+every hundred novels that pass through the reviewer's hand."--ACADEMY.
+
+
+SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE
+
+By RICHARD HARDING DAVIS
+
+"Mr. Davis has the dramatic gift--he carries you along with him. One
+need not wish for a better story of action than this."--ACADEMY.
+
+
+THE LAST SENTENCE
+
+By MAXWELL GRAY
+
+"Any reader who wants an absorbing story, full of cleverness and
+excitement, should read this book."--DAILY NEWS.
+
+
+HER LADYSHIP'S ELEPHANT
+
+By D. D. WELLS
+
+"It is an admirable piece of humour with not a dull page in it from
+beginning to end."--ATHENÆUM.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+London: WILLIAM HEINEMANN, 21 Bedford St., W.C.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Her Ladyship's Elephant, by David Dwight Wells
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HER LADYSHIP'S ELEPHANT ***
+
+***** This file should be named 28149-8.txt or 28149-8.zip *****
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+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Her Ladyship's, by D. D. Wells.
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Her Ladyship's Elephant, by David Dwight Wells
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Her Ladyship's Elephant
+
+Author: David Dwight Wells
+
+Release Date: February 21, 2009 [EBook #28149]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HER LADYSHIP'S ELEPHANT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Annie McGuire, from scans obtained from Google
+Print project.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<h1>Her Ladyship's</h1>
+
+<h1>Elephant</h1>
+
+<h3>By</h3>
+
+<h2>D. D. Wells</h2>
+
+<h3>London</h3>
+
+<h3>William Heinemann</h3>
+
+<h3>1912</h3>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">First Edition</span>, 3s. 6d., <i>May</i></h4>
+
+<h4><i>1898</i>. <span class="smcap">New Impressions</span>, <i>August</i></h4>
+
+<h4><i>1898</i>; <i>November 1899</i>; <i>September</i></h4>
+
+<h4><i>1905</i>. <span class="smcap">Heinemann's Sevenpenny</span></h4>
+
+<h4><span class="smcap">Novels</span>, <i>July 1912</i>.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 411px;">
+<img src="images/ill_001.jpg" width="411" height="600" alt="&quot;He sat down hurriedly on the breakfast table&quot;" title="" />
+<span class="caption">&quot;He sat down hurriedly on the breakfast table&quot;</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>HEINEMANN'S</h2>
+
+<h3>Sevenpenny Novels</h3>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">By Hall Caine</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">The Bondman</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">The Scapegoat</span><br /><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">By R. L. Stevenson</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">The Ebb-Tide</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 15em;">(With LLOYD OSBOURNE)</span><br /><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">By Jack London</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">The Call of the Wild</span><br /><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">By H. G. Wells</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">The War of the Worlds</span><br /><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">By Robert S. Hichens</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">Flames</span><br /><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">By R. Harding Davis</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">Soldiers of Fortune</span><br /><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">By E. L. Voynich</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">The Gadfly</span><br /><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">By Maxwell Gray</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">The Last Sentence</span><br /><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">By D. D. Wells</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 12em;">Her Ladyship's Elephant</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_I"><b>CHAPTER I</b></a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_II"><b>CHAPTER II</b></a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_III"><b>CHAPTER III</b></a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV"><b>CHAPTER IV</b></a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_V"><b>CHAPTER V</b></a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI"><b>CHAPTER VI</b></a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII"><b>CHAPTER VII</b></a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><b>CHAPTER VIII</b></a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX"><b>CHAPTER IX</b></a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_X"><b>CHAPTER X</b></a></span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI"><b>CHAPTER XI</b></a></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><i>A WORD TO THE WISE</i></h2>
+
+<p><i>A well-known English novelist once told me that of all his published
+works&mdash;and their name is legion&mdash;one only had been founded on fact, and
+that one his critics united in condemning as impossible and unnatural.
+In the case of my own little book, I venture to forestall such criticism
+by stating that while the characters which appear in its pages are at
+the most only composite photographs, the one "impossible" and
+"unnatural" figure, the elephant, had his foundation in actual fact; and
+the history of its acquirement by the Consul, as hereinafter set forth,
+is the truthful narration of an actual experience, one of many episodes,
+stranger than fiction, which went to form the warp and woof of my
+diplomatic experience.</i></p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 50em;"><i>DAVID DWIGHT WELLS.</i></span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH THE SAME QUESTION IS ANSWERED IN TWO WAYS</h3>
+
+<p>Harold Stanley Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale, Esq., of "The Towers,"
+Sussex, sat uncomfortably on a very comfortable chair. His
+patent-leather boots were manifestly new, his trousers fresh from the
+presser, his waistcoat immaculate, while his frock coat with its white
+gardenia, and his delicate grey suede gloves, completed an admirable
+toilet. He was, in short, got up for the occasion, a thoroughly healthy,
+muscular, well-groomed animal; good-natured too, fond in his big-hearted
+boyish way of most other animals, and enough of a sportsman to find no
+pleasure in winging tame or driven grouse and pheasants. He was
+possessed, moreover, of sufficient brains to pass with credit an
+examination which gave him a post in the War Office, and had recently
+become, owing to the interposition of Providence and a restive mare, the
+eldest son.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of all this, he was very much out of his depth as he sat there;
+for he was face to face with a crisis in his life, and that crisis was
+embodied in a woman. And such a woman!&mdash;quite unlike anything his
+conservative British brain had ever seen or imagined before the present
+London season: a mixture of Parisian daintiness and coquetry, nicely
+tempered by Anglo-Saxon breeding and common sense&mdash;in a word, an
+American.</p>
+
+<p>He had come to propose to her, or rather she had sent for him, to what
+end he hardly knew. Of this only was he certain, that she had turned his
+world topsy-turvy; cast down his conventional gods; admired him for what
+he considered his fallings-off from the established order of things;
+laughed at his great coups; cared not a whit for his most valued
+possessions; and become, in short, the most incomprehensible,
+bewitching, lovable woman on earth.</p>
+
+<p>He had talked to her about the weather, the opera, the Court Ball, and
+now&mdash;now he must speak to her of his love, unless, blessed reprieve! she
+spoke first&mdash;which she did.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, Mr. Scarsdale," she remarked, "I have not sent for you to talk
+amiable society nonsense: I want an explanation."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, Miss Vernon," he replied, nerving himself for the ordeal.</p>
+
+<p>"Why did you propose to Aunt Eliza at the Andersons' crush last night?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because&mdash;&mdash;" he faltered. "Well, really, you see she is your only
+relative in England&mdash;your chaperon&mdash;and it is customary here to address
+offers of marriage to the head of the family."</p>
+
+<p>"I really don't see why you want to marry her," continued his tormentor.
+"She is over sixty. Oh, you needn't be shocked; Aunt Eliza is not
+sensitive about her age, and it is well to look these things fairly in
+the face. You can't honestly call her handsome, though she is a dear
+good old soul, but, I fear, too inured to Chicago to assimilate readily
+with English society. Of course her private means are enormous&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Good heavens! Miss Vernon," he exclaimed, "there has been some dreadful
+mistake! I entertain the highest respect for your aunt, Miss Cogbill,
+but I don't wish to marry her; I wish to marry&mdash;somebody else&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Really! Why don't you propose to Miss Somebody Else in person, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is usual&mdash;&mdash;" he began, but she cut him short, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, bother! Excuse me, I didn't mean to be rude, but really, you know,
+any girl who was old enough to marry would be quite capable of giving
+you your&mdash;answer." The last word, after a pause for consideration, was
+accompanied by a bewitching, if ambiguous, smile.</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;I hope you are not offended," he floundered on, in desperate straits
+by this time.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh dear, no," she returned serenely, "I'm only grieved for Aunt Eliza.
+You shouldn't have done it, really; it must have upset her dreadfully;
+she's too old for that sort of thing. Do tell me what she said to you."</p>
+
+<p>"She said I must propose on my own account," he blurted out, "and that
+she could not pretend to advise me."</p>
+
+<p>"Clever Aunt Eliza!" murmured Miss Vernon.</p>
+
+<p>"So you see," continued her lover, determined to have it over and know
+the worst, "I came to you."</p>
+
+<p>"For more advice?" she queried, and, receiving no answer, continued
+demurely: "Of course I haven't the remotest idea whom you mean to
+honour, but it does seem to me that the wives of Englishmen allow
+themselves to be treated shamefully, and I once made out a list of
+objections which I always said I would present to any Englishman who
+proposed to me. Of course," she hastened to add, "you will probably
+marry an English girl, who won't mind."</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't said so!" he interjected.</p>
+
+<p>"No," she said meditatively, "you haven't. I'll tell you what they are
+if you wish."</p>
+
+<p>"Do," he begged.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, in the first place," she continued, "I should refuse to be a
+'chattel.'"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh I say&mdash;&mdash;" he began. But she went on, unheeding his expostulation:</p>
+
+<p>"Then my husband couldn't beat me, not even once, though the law allows
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you take us for?" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Then," she proceeded, "he would have to love me better than his horses
+and his dogs."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh I say! Mabel," he burst out, teased beyond all limits of endurance,
+"don't chaff me; I'm awfully in earnest, you know, and if you will
+accept what little I have to offer&mdash;three thousand a year, and 'The
+Towers,' now poor Bob's gone&mdash;&mdash;" He paused, but she made no answer,
+only he noticed that all of a sudden she had become very serious.</p>
+
+<p>"Lady Mary, my mother, you know, would of course leave the place to you
+at once, but there's no title; my father was only a knight. I'm
+sorry&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," she replied, "I wouldn't have married you if you had had one;
+quite enough of my countrywomen have made fools of themselves on that
+account."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you will marry me!" he cried, and sprang towards her.</p>
+
+<p>She saw her slip and tried to correct it.</p>
+
+<p>"I haven't said&mdash;&mdash;" she began, but the sentence was never finished; for
+Harold Stanley Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale, of "The Towers," Sussex,
+closed the argument and the lips of Miss Mabel Vernon, of Chicago,
+Illinois, U.S.A., at one and the same time.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>Robert Allingford, United States Consul at Christchurch, England, and
+Marion, youngest daughter of Sir Peter and Lady Steele, were seated on
+the balcony of the Hyde Park Club one hot afternoon. Everybody had gone
+down to the races at Goodwood, and the season was drawing its last gasp.
+The "Row," which they overlooked, was almost deserted, save for an
+occasional depressed brougham, while the stretches of the Park beyond
+were given over to nursemaids and their attendant "Tommies" and
+"Bobbies."</p>
+
+<p>Mamma was there, of course. One must be conventional in London, even in
+July; but she was talking to the other man, Jack Carrington, who had
+been invited especially for that purpose, and was doing his duty nobly.</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon tea had been cleared away, and the balcony was deserted.
+In another week Marion would go into the country, and he would return to
+his consulate. He might never have such another chance. Opportunities
+for a proposal are so rare in London that it does not do to miss them. A
+ball affords almost the only opening, and when one remembers the offers
+to which one has been a third party, on the other side of a thin paper
+screen&mdash;well, it makes a man cautious.</p>
+
+<p>Robert Allingford had planned and worked up this tea with patience and
+success. Jack was to be best man, in consideration of his devotion to
+mamma&mdash;provided, of course, that the services of a best man should be
+required. On this point Allingford was doubtful. He was sure that Lady
+Steele understood; he knew that Sir Peter had smiled on him indulgently
+for the past fortnight; his friends chaffed him about it openly at
+dinners and at the club; but Marion&mdash;he was very far from certain if she
+comprehended the state of affairs in the slightest degree.</p>
+
+<p>He had given her river-parties, box-parties, dinners, flowers, candy&mdash;in
+short, paid her every possible attention; but then she expected
+Americans to do so; it was "just their way," and "didn't mean anything."</p>
+
+<p>He greatly feared that his proposal would be a shock to her, and English
+girls, he had been told, did not like shocks. He wondered if it would
+have been better to ask Lady Steele for her daughter's hand, but this he
+felt was beyond him. Proposing was bad enough anyway, but to attempt a
+declaration in cold blood&mdash;he simply couldn't. Moreover he felt that it
+must be now or never. Jack had been giving him the field for five
+minutes already, and he had not even made a beginning. He would go in
+and get it over.</p>
+
+<p>"You are leaving town next week," he said. "I shall miss you."</p>
+
+<p>"You have been very good to me," she replied simply.</p>
+
+<p>"Good to myself, you mean. It is the greatest pleasure I have in life to
+give you pleasure, Marion."</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Allingford!" she said, half rising. He had used her Christian name
+for the first time.</p>
+
+<p>"Forgive me if I call you Marion," he went on, noting with relief that
+her ladyship was talking charity bazaar to Jack, and so assuring him
+from interruption.</p>
+
+<p>"I mean, give me the right to do so. You see I'm awfully in love with
+you; I can't help loving the sweetest girl I know. You must have seen
+how I cared."</p>
+
+<p>"Lately, yes&mdash;I have suspected it," she answered in a low voice.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mind? I can't help it if you do. I'll love you anyway, but I
+want you to be my wife, to care for me just a little; I don't ask
+more."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you must speak to mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"But I don't wish&mdash;I mean, can't you give me something to go on&mdash;some
+assurance?"</p>
+
+<p>She blushed and looked down, repeating the phrase, "I think you must
+speak to mamma."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that equivalent&mdash;&mdash;" he began; then he saw that it was, and added,
+"My darling!"</p>
+
+<p>Her head sank lower, he had her hand in a moment, and wondered if he
+might venture to kiss her, screened as they both were by her sunshade,
+but hesitated to do so because of the ominous silence at the other end
+of the balcony.</p>
+
+<p>"If you have nothing better to do this evening," said Lady Steele's
+voice to him, "come to us. Sir Peter and I are dining at home, and if
+you will partake of a family dinner with us we shall be delighted."</p>
+
+<p>He bowed his acceptance.</p>
+
+<p>"Come, Marion," her ladyship continued. "We have spent a charming
+afternoon, Mr. Allingford, thanks to your hospitality. We are at home on
+Thursdays after September; Mr. Carrington, you must come and hear more
+about my bazaar." And they were gone.</p>
+
+<p>Jack stepped to the bell. "Well, Bob," he said to Allingford, "is it
+brandy and soda or champagne?"</p>
+
+<p>"Champagne," replied that gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>"Then," remarked Carrington, after ordering a bottle of '80
+"Perrier"&mdash;"then, Bob, my boy, let me congratulate you."</p>
+
+<p>"I think I deserve it," he replied, as he wrung his friend's hand; "for
+I believe I have won for my wife the most charming girl in London."</p>
+
+<p>"I am awfully glad for you," said Carrington, "and I consider her a very
+lucky young woman."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know about that," returned Allingford, "and I'm sure I don't
+see what she can find to care for in me. Why, we hardly know each other.
+I've only met her in public, and not over a couple of dozen times at
+that."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you will find it much more fun becoming acquainted after you are
+engaged. Our English conventions are beautifully Chinese in some
+respects."</p>
+
+<p>Allingford laughed, saying: "I don't know that I'm going to be engaged.
+I can't imagine why her family should approve of the match; I haven't a
+title and never can have, and I'm only in consular service. Now if I had
+been a diplomat&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow," said Carrington, "you seem to forget that you have a
+few dozen copper-mines at your disposal, and a larger income than you
+can conveniently spend. Her people haven't forgotten it, however, as
+I'll venture to prophesy that you'll find out before to-morrow morning.
+As for your being an American and a Consul, that doesn't count. Just
+make the settlements sufficiently large, and as long as you don't eat
+with your knife or drink out of your finger-bowl they will pardon the
+rest as amiable eccentricities."</p>
+
+<p>"You are a cynic, Carrington, and I don't believe it," said Allingford,
+rising to go. "Anyway, what do you know about marriage?"</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing, and I am not likely to," rejoined his friend, "but I've lived
+in London."</p>
+
+<p>The dinner that night at Belgrave Square did not serve to put the Consul
+at his ease. True, he sat by Marion, but no word was spoken of what had
+passed that afternoon, and he could not help feeling that he was in an
+anomalous position. He had on his company manners, and was not at his
+best in consequence. He felt he was being watched and would be
+criticised in the drawing-room after dinner, which made him nervous. Sir
+Peter had several married daughters, one of whom was present, and
+Allingford wondered how their husbands had behaved under similar
+circumstances. He gave Lady Steele, at whose right he sat, ample
+opportunity to question him concerning his family history and future
+plans and prospects&mdash;a chance of which she was not slow to avail
+herself.</p>
+
+<p>When the ladies had departed and had left the two gentlemen to their
+coffee and cigars, Sir Peter lost no time in opening the question, and
+said, somewhat bluntly:</p>
+
+<p>"So I hear that you wish to marry my daughter."</p>
+
+<p>The Consul signified that such was the case.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I don't know why," resumed her father, with true British
+candour. "I become so used to my children that I sometimes wonder what
+other people can see in them. Marion is a good little girl, however,
+I'll say that for her&mdash;a good little girl and not extravagant."</p>
+
+<p>Sir Peter's manner was reassuring, and Allingford hastened to say that
+he was sensible of the great honour Miss Steele had done him in
+considering his suit, and that he should strive to prove himself worthy
+of her.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't doubt it, my dear fellow, I don't doubt it." And the baronet
+paused, smiling so amiably that the Consul was disconcerted, and began
+to fear an unpleasant surprise.</p>
+
+<p>"I trust," he returned, "that you are not averse to me as a son-in-law?"</p>
+
+<p>"Personally much the reverse; but I always ask the man who comes to me
+as you have done one question, and on his answer I base my approval or
+disapproval of his suit."</p>
+
+<p>"And that question is?"</p>
+
+<p>"Can you support a wife, Mr. Allingford?"</p>
+
+<p>"As a gentleman I could not have asked her hand if such were not the
+case."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah," replied Sir Peter, "that is quite right."</p>
+
+<p>"As for my position&mdash;&mdash;" continued the young man.</p>
+
+<p>"You hold a public office in the service of your country. I consider
+that sufficient guarantee of your position, both moral and social."</p>
+
+<p>Allingford, who knew something of American practical politics, thought
+this by no means followed, but forbore to say so, and Sir Peter
+continued:</p>
+
+<p>"Have you any family?"</p>
+
+<p>"No relations in the world except my younger brother, Dick, who manages
+the property at home, while I play at politics abroad."</p>
+
+<p>"I see," said his host. "One question more and I have done. I dislike
+talking business after dinner&mdash;it should be left to the lawyers; but,
+seeing that you are an American and do not understand such things, I
+thought&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>The Consul stopped him by a gesture. "You are referring to the
+settlements, Sir Peter," he said. "Set your mind at rest on that score.
+I'll do the proper thing."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course, my dear fellow, of course; I don't doubt that for a moment.
+But&mdash;er&mdash;you won't think me mercenary if I ask you to be&mdash;in short&mdash;more
+definite. I speak most disinterestedly, purely out of consideration for
+my daughter's future."</p>
+
+<p>Allingford frowned slightly as Carrington's prophecy came back to him.
+His prospective father-in-law was quite within his rights in speaking as
+he did, but why couldn't he have left it at least till to-morrow?</p>
+
+<p>"Would a copper-mine do?" he said, looking up. "I'd give her a
+copper-mine."</p>
+
+<p>"Really, I don't know what to say," replied Sir Peter, in some
+perplexity. "I'm quite ignorant of such matters. Are&mdash;er&mdash;copper-mines
+valuable?"</p>
+
+<p>"The one I'm thinking of has been worth a quarter of a million since it
+started, and we have only begun to work it," replied the Consul.</p>
+
+<p>"Bless my soul!" ejaculated his host. "You don't say so! Do you go in
+much for that sort of thing?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I've quite a number."</p>
+
+<p>"Dear me!" said Sir Peter dreamily, "a quarter of a million." Then
+waking up he added: "But I'm forgetting the time. My dear
+Allingford&mdash;er&mdash;your Christian name escapes me."</p>
+
+<p>"Robert, Sir Peter."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks. I was going to say, my dear Robert, that you must go upstairs
+and see mamma."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH THE CONSUL LOSES A RELATIVE AND GAINS A WIFE</h3>
+
+<p>When Robert Allingford entered the smoking-room of his club, one
+afternoon early in October, he was genuinely glad to find that it had
+but one occupant, and that he was Harold Scarsdale. The two men had met
+each other for the first time at a house-party some eighteen months
+before, and their acquaintance had ripened into true friendship.</p>
+
+<p>"Hello!" he cried, accosting that gentleman. "You're enjoying to the
+full your last hours of bachelor bliss, I see."</p>
+
+<p>"Speak for yourself," replied Scarsdale, who looked extremely bored.
+"You're also on the dizzy brink."</p>
+
+<p>"It's a fact," admitted the Consul; "we are both to be married
+to-morrow. But that is all the more reason why we should make the most
+of our remaining freedom. You look as glum as if you'd lost your last
+friend. Come, cheer up, and have something to drink."</p>
+
+<p>"They say," remarked the Englishman as he acquiesced in the Consul's
+suggestion, "that a man only needs to be married to find out of how
+little importance he really is; but I've been anticipating my fate. Miss
+Vernon's rooms are a wilderness of the vanities of life, and here I am,
+banished to the club as a stern reality."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite so," replied the American. "I'm in the same box. The dressmakers
+have driven me clean out of Belgrave Square. But you, you really have my
+sympathy, for you are to marry one of my countrywomen, and they are apt
+to prove rather exacting mistresses at times like these."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'm fairly well treated," said Scarsdale; "much better than I
+deserve, I dare say. How is it with you?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," laughed Allingford, "I feel as if I were playing a game of blind
+man's buff with English conventionalities: at least I seem to run foul
+of them most of the time. I used to imagine that getting married was a
+comparatively simple matter; but what with a highly complicated ceremony
+and an irresponsible best man, my cup of misery is well-nigh
+overflowing."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you have been doing your required fifteen days of residence
+in the parish? London is slow work, now every one is out of town,"
+remarked Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"My second-best hand-bag has been residing for the past fortnight in an
+adjacent attic, in fulfilment of the law," returned the American; "but
+affairs at the consulate have kept me on post more than I could have
+wished."</p>
+
+<p>"I should not think you would have much business at this season of the
+year."</p>
+
+<p>"On the contrary, it is just the time when the migratory American, who
+has spent the summer in doing Europe, returns to England dead broke, and
+expects, nay, demands, to be helped home."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you have many cases of that sort?"</p>
+
+<p>"Lots. In fact, one especially importunate fellow nearly caused me to
+lose my train for London yesterday. I gave him what he asked to get rid
+of him."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose that sort of thing is a good deal like throwing money into
+the sea," said Scarsdale. "It never comes back."</p>
+
+<p>"Not often, I regret to say; but in this case my distressed countryman
+put up collateral."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed. I trust you can realise on it if need be."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think I want to," said the Consul, "seeing it's an elephant."</p>
+
+<p>"What!" cried Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"An elephant, or rather, to be exact, an order for one to be delivered
+by the Nubian and Red Sea Line of freighters in two or three days at
+Southampton Docks. My friend promises to redeem it before arrival,
+expects advices from the States, &amp;c., but meanwhile is terribly hard
+up."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope he will be true to his promises, otherwise I wish you joy of
+your elephant. You might give it to Lady Steele," suggested Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. I think I can see it tethered to the railings in Belgrave Square,"
+remarked the Consul; "but I am not losing sleep on that account, for,
+though I've informed the steamship people that I am, temporarily, the
+owner of the beast, I more than suspect that the order and the elephant
+are both myths. But I have been telling you of my affairs long enough;
+how go yours?"</p>
+
+<p>"Swimmingly," replied the Englishman. "Miss Vernon has only one relative
+in England, thank Heaven! but my family have settled down on me in
+swarms."</p>
+
+<p>"Is Lady Diana Melton in town for the occasion?" asked Allingford.</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale flushed, and for the moment did not reply.</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon," said the American, "if I have asked an unfortunate
+question."</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all," replied his friend. "My great-aunt, who, as you know, is a
+somewhat determined old person, has the bad taste to dislike Americans.
+So she has confined herself to a frigid refusal of our wedding
+invitation, and sent an impossible spoon to the bride."</p>
+
+<p>"So you are not to have her country place for your honeymoon," said
+Allingford. "From what I have heard of Melton Court, it would be quite
+an ideal spot under the circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>"No, we are not going there. The fact is, I don't know where we are
+going," added Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"Really!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. As you were saying just now, your countrywomen are apt to prove
+exacting, and the future Mrs. Scarsdale has taken it into her head that
+I am much too prosaic to plan a wedding trip&mdash;that I would do the usual
+round, in fact, and that she would be bored in consequence; so she has
+taken the arrangements upon herself, and the whole thing is to be a
+surprise for me. I don't even know the station from which we start."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid I can't commiserate you," returned Allingford, laughing,
+"for I'm guilty of doing the very same thing myself, and my bride elect
+has no idea of our destination. She spends most of her spare time in
+trying to guess it."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment a card was handed to Allingford, who said: "Why, here is
+my best man, Jack Carrington. You know him, don't you? I wonder what can
+have started him on my trail," and he requested the page to show him up.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later Carrington entered the room. He was one of the
+best-dressed, most perfect-mannered young men in London, the friend of
+every one who knew him, a thoroughly delightful and irresponsible
+creature. To-day, however, there was a seriousness about his face that
+proclaimed his mission to be of no very pleasant character.</p>
+
+<p>After greeting his friends, he asked for a few words in private with his
+principal, and as a result of this colloquy Allingford excused himself
+to Scardsdale, saying that he must return to his lodgings at once, as
+Carrington had brought him news that his brother Dick had arrived
+unexpectedly from America, and was awaiting him there.</p>
+
+<p>"What a delightful surprise for you!" exclaimed Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very&mdash;of course," returned Allingford drily; and after a mutual
+interchange of congratulations on the events of the morrow, and regrets
+that neither could be at the wedding of the other, the Consul and his
+best man left the club.</p>
+
+<p>"He did not seem over-enthusiastic at Carrington's news," mused
+Scarsdale, and then his mind turned to his own affairs.</p>
+
+<p>It was not astonishing that Robert Allingford received the news of his
+brother's arrival without any show of rejoicing. A family skeleton is
+never an enjoyable possession, but when it is not even decently
+interred, but very much alive, and in the shape of a brother who has
+attained notoriety as a black sheep of an unusually intense dye, it may
+be looked upon as little less than a curse.</p>
+
+<p>Yet there were redeeming qualities about Dick Allingford. In spite of
+his thoroughly bad name, he was one of the most kind-hearted and
+engaging of men, while the way in which he had managed his own and his
+brother's property left nothing to be desired. Moreover, he was quite in
+his element among his miners. Indeed his qualities, good and bad, were
+of a kind that endeared him to them. He loved the good things of this
+life, however, in a wholly uncontrollable manner, and, as his income
+afforded almost unlimited scope for these desires, his achievements
+would have put most yellow-covered novels to the blush. Dick's redeeming
+virtue was a blind devotion to his elder brother, from whom he demanded
+unlimited advice and assistance in extricating him from a
+thousand-and-one scrapes, and inexhaustible patience and forgiveness for
+those peccadilloes. When Robert had taken a public office in England it
+was on the distinct understanding that Richard should confine his
+attentions to America, and so far he had not violated the contract. The
+Consul had taken care that his brother should not be informed of the
+day of his marriage until it was too late for him to attend in person,
+for he shuddered to think of the rig that Richard would run in staid and
+conventional English society. Accordingly he hastened to his lodgings,
+full of anxious fore-bodings. On arrival his worst fears were fulfilled.
+Dick received him with open arms, very affectionate, very penitent, and
+very drunk. From that gentleman's somewhat disconnected description the
+Consul obtained a lurid inkling of what seemed to have been a triumphal
+progress of unrestrained dissipation from Southampton to London, of
+which indignant barmaids and a wrecked four-in-hand formed the most
+redeeming features.</p>
+
+<p>"Now explain yourself!" cried Robert in wrath, at the conclusion of his
+brother's recital. "What do you mean by this disgraceful conduct, and
+why are you in England at all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Saw 'proaching marriage&mdash;newspaper," hiccoughed Dick&mdash;"took first
+steamer."</p>
+
+<p>"What did you come for?" demanded Allingford sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"Come? Congratulate you&mdash;see the bride."</p>
+
+<p>"Not on your life!" exclaimed the Consul. "You are beastly drunk and not
+fit for decent society."</p>
+
+<p>"Fault&mdash;railroad company&mdash;bad whisky," explained the unregenerate one.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take your word for it," replied his brother. "You ought to be a
+judge of whisky. But you won't go to my wedding unless you are sober."
+And he rang for his valet.</p>
+
+<p>"This is my brother, Parsons," he remarked to that individual when he
+entered. "You may put him to bed at once. Use my room for the purpose,
+and engage another for me for to-night."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," replied his valet, who was too well trained to betray any
+emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"When you have got him settled," continued the Consul, "lock him in, and
+let him stay till morning." With which he straightway departed, leaving
+his stupefied brother to the tender mercies of the shocked and sedate
+Parsons.</p>
+
+<p>Allingford stood a good deal in awe of his valet, and dreaded to see the
+reproachful look of outraged dignity which he knew would greet him on
+his return. So he again sought the club, intending to find Scarsdale and
+continue their conversation; but that gentleman had departed, and the
+Consul was forced to console himself with a brandy and soda, and settle
+down to a quiet hour of reflection.</p>
+
+<p>He had been engaged upwards of three months, and, it is needless to say,
+had learned much in that space of time. An engagement is a liberal
+education to any man, for it presents a series of entirely new problems
+to be solved. He ceases to think of and for himself alone, and the
+accuracy with which he can adjust himself to these novel conditions
+determines the success or failure of his married life. Robert
+Allingford, however, was engaged to a woman of another nation; of his
+own race, indeed, and speaking his own tongue, but educated under widely
+differing standards and ideals, and on a plane of comparative simplicity
+when viewed in the light of her complex American sister. The little
+English girl was an endless mystery to him, and it was only in later
+life that he discovered that he was constantly endowing her with a
+complicated nature which she did not possess. He could not understand a
+woman who generally&mdash;I do not say invariably, for Marion Steele was
+human after all, but who generally meant what she said, whose pleasures
+were healthy and direct, and who was really simple and genuinely
+ignorant of most things pertaining to the world worldly. He knew that
+world well enough&mdash;ten years of mining had taught him that&mdash;and he had
+been left to its tender mercies when still a boy, with no relatives
+except his younger brother, who, as may well be imagined, was rather a
+burden than a help.</p>
+
+<p>But if Robert Allingford had seen the rough side of life, it had taught
+him to understand human nature, and, as he had been blessed with a large
+heart and a considerable measure of adaptability, he managed to get on
+very well on both sides of the Atlantic. True, he seldom appreciated
+what the British mind held to contain worth; but he was tolerant, and
+his tolerance begat, unconsciously, sympathy. On the other hand, the
+Consul was as much of a mystery to his fianc&eacute;e as she had ever been to
+him. In her eyes he was always doing the unexpected. For one thing, she
+never knew when to take him seriously, and was afraid of what he might
+do or say; but she soon learned to trust him implicitly, and to estimate
+him at his true sterling worth.</p>
+
+<p>In short, both had partially adjusted themselves to each other, and were
+likely to live very happily, with enough of the unknown in their
+characters to keep them from becoming bored. Allingford had never spoken
+definitely to his fianc&eacute;e concerning his younger brother, and she knew
+instinctively that it was a subject to be avoided. To her father she had
+said something, but Sir Peter had little interest in his children's
+affairs beyond seeing that they were suitably married; and since he was
+satisfied with the settlements and the man, was content to leave well
+enough alone.</p>
+
+<p>The Consul, therefore, thought himself justified in saying nothing
+about the unexpected arrival of his brother, especially as the chances
+of that gentleman's being in a fit state to appear at the wedding seemed
+highly problematical.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning there were no signs of repentance or of Dick; for if a
+deserted bed, an open window, and the smashed glass of a neighbouring
+skylight signified anything, it was that Mr. Richard Allingford was
+still unregenerate and at large.</p>
+
+<p>The bridal day dawned bright and clear, and Carrington lunched with the
+Consul just before the ceremony, which, thanks to English law, took
+place at that most impossible hour of the day, 2.30 <span class="smcap">p.m.</span></p>
+
+<p>The bridegroom floundered through the intricacies of the service, signed
+his name in the vestry, and achieved his carriage in a kind of dream;
+but woke up sufficiently to the realities of life at the reception, to
+endure with fortitude the indiscriminate kissing of scores of new
+relations. Then he drank his own health and the healths of other
+people, and at last escaped upstairs to prepare for the journey and
+have a quiet fifteen minutes with his best man.</p>
+
+<p>"Now remember," he said to that irresponsible individual, "you are the
+only one who knows our destination this evening, and if you breathe it
+to a soul I'll come back and murder you."</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow," replied Carrington, "you don't suppose, after I've
+endured weeks of cross-questioning and inquisitorial advances from the
+bride and her family, that I am going to strike my colours and give the
+whole thing away at the eleventh hour."</p>
+
+<p>"You have been a trump, Jack," rejoined the Consul, "and I only wish you
+may be as happy some time as I am to-day."</p>
+
+<p>"It is your day; don't worry about my affairs," returned Carrington,
+with a forced laugh which gave colour to the popular report that the
+only vulnerable point in his armour of good nature lay in his
+impecunious condition and the consequent impossibility of his marrying
+on his own account.</p>
+
+<p>It was only a passing cloud, however, and he hastened to change the
+subject, saying: "Come, you are late already, and a bride must not be
+kept waiting."</p>
+
+<p>Allingford was thereupon hustled downstairs, and wept upon from all
+quarters, and his life was threatened with rice and old shoes; but he
+reached the street somehow with Mrs. Robert in tow, and, barring the
+circumstance that in his agitation he had embraced the butler instead of
+Sir Peter, he acquitted himself very well under the trying ordeal.</p>
+
+<p>As they drove to the station his wife was strangely quiet, and he
+rallied her on the fact.</p>
+
+<p>"Why," he said, "you haven't spoken since we started."</p>
+
+<p>Her face grew troubled. "I was wondering&mdash;&mdash;" she began.</p>
+
+<p>"If you would be happy?" he asked. "I'll do my best."</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, I'm sure of that, only&mdash;do tell me where we are going."</p>
+
+<p>The Consul laughed. "You women are just the same all the world over,"
+he replied, but otherwise did not commit himself; but his wife noticed
+that he looked worried and anxious, and that he breathed a sigh of
+unmistakable relief as their train drew out of Waterloo Station. She did
+not know that the one cloud which he had feared might darken his wedding
+day had now been dispelled: he had seen nothing of his brother.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH THE LONDON AND SOUTH WESTERN RAIL-WAY ACCOMPLISHES WHAT THE
+MARRIAGE SERVICE FORBIDS</h3>
+
+<p>It might be supposed that the heir to "The Towers" and Lady Scarsdale's
+very considerable property would meet with some decided opposition from
+his family to his proposed alliance with Mabel Vernon, an unknown
+American, who, though fairly provided with this world's goods, could in
+no sense be termed a great heiress. But the fact of the matter was that
+the prejudices of his own people were as nothing when compared with
+those of Aunt Eliza. In the first place she did not wish her niece to
+marry at all, on the ground that no man was good enough for her; and in
+the second place she had decided that if Mabel must have a partner in
+life, he was to be born under the Stars and Stripes. Her wrath,
+therefore, was great when she heard of the engagement, and she declared
+that she had a good mind to cut the young couple off with a cent, a
+threat that meant something from a woman who had bought corner lots in
+Chicago immediately after the great fire, and still held them. Scarsdale
+never forgot his first interview with her after she had learned the
+news.</p>
+
+<p>"I mistrusted you were round for no good," she said, "though I wasn't
+quite certain which one of us you wanted."</p>
+
+<p>He bit his lip.</p>
+
+<p>"There's nothing to laugh at, young man," she continued severely;
+"marrying me would have been no joke."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure, Miss Cogbill&mdash;&mdash;" began Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"You call me Aunt Eliza in the future," she broke in; "that is who I am,
+and if I choose to remember your wife when I'm gone she'll be as rich as
+a duchess, as I dare say you know."</p>
+
+<p>"I had no thought of your leaving her anything, and I am quite able to
+support her without your assistance," he replied, nettled by her
+implication.</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad to hear it; it sounds encouraging," returned the aunt. "Tell
+me, have you ever done anything to support yourself?"</p>
+
+<p>"Rather! As a younger son, I should have had a very poor chance if I'd
+not."</p>
+
+<p>"How many towers have you got?" was her next question.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said Scarsdale, laughing at her very literal
+interpretation of the name of his estate.</p>
+
+<p>"Have they fire-escapes?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid not," he replied, "but you must come and see for yourself.
+My mother will be happy to welcome you."</p>
+
+<p>"No, I guess not; I'm too old to start climbing."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you wouldn't have to live in them," he hastened to assure her;
+"there are other parts to the house, and my mother&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"That's her ladyship?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"You are sure you haven't any title?" asked Aunt Eliza suspiciously.</p>
+
+<p>"No, nor any chance of having one."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I do feel relieved," she commented. "The Psalms say not to put
+your trust in princes, but I guess if King David had ever been through a
+London season he wouldn't have drawn the line there; and what's good
+enough for him is good enough for me."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you can trust me, Aunt Eliza."</p>
+
+<p>"I hope so, though I never expected to see a niece of mine married to a
+man of war."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a man of war," he corrected, "only a man in the War Office&mdash;a very
+different thing, I assure you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am rejoiced to hear it," she replied. "Now run along to Mabel, and
+I'll write your mother and tell her that I guess you'll do." Which she
+straightway did, and that letter is still preserved as one of the
+literary curiosities of "The Towers," Sussex.</p>
+
+<p>The first meeting of Aunt Eliza and Lady Scarsdale took place the day
+before the wedding. It was pleasant, short, and to the point, and at
+its conclusion each parted from the other with mingled feelings of
+wonder and respect. Indeed, no one could fail to respect Miss Cogbill.
+Alone and unaided she had amassed and managed a great fortune. She was
+shrewd and keen beyond the nature of women, and seldom minced matters in
+her speech; but nevertheless she was possessed of much native refinement
+and prim, old-time courtesy that did not always seem in accordance with
+the business side of her nature.</p>
+
+<p>As time went on she became reconciled to Scarsdale, but his lack of
+appreciation of business was a thorn in her flesh, and, indeed, her
+inclinations had led her in quite another direction.</p>
+
+<p>"Now look at that young Carrington who comes to see you once in a while;
+if you had to marry an Englishman, why didn't you take him?" she said
+once to her niece.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Aunt Eliza," replied that young lady, "what are you thinking of?
+According to your own standards, he is much less desirable than Harold,
+for he has not a cent."</p>
+
+<p>"He'd make money fast enough if his training didn't get in his way," she
+retorted, "which is more than can be said of your future husband."</p>
+
+<p>The wedding was very quiet, at Miss Vernon's suggestion and with her
+aunt's approval, for neither of them cared for that lavish display with
+which a certain class of Americans are, unfortunately, associated. There
+was to be a reception at the hotel, to which a large number of people
+had been asked; but at the ceremony scarcely a dozen were present.
+Scarsdale's mother and immediate family, a brother official, who served
+as best man, and Aunt Eliza made up the party.</p>
+
+<p>At the bride's request, the service had been as much abbreviated as the
+Church would allow, and the whole matter was finished in a surprisingly
+short space of time. The reception followed, and an hour later the happy
+pair were ready to leave; but their destination was still a mystery to
+the groom.</p>
+
+<p>"I think you might just give me a hint," he suggested to Aunt Eliza,
+whom he shrewdly suspected knew all about it.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you?" she replied. "Well, I think that Mabel is quite capable of
+taking care of herself and you too, and that the sooner you realise it
+the better. As for your being consulted or informed about your wedding
+trip, why, my niece has been four times round the world already, and is
+better able to plan an ordinary honeymoon excursion than a man who
+spends his time turning out bombs, and nitro-glycerine, and monitors,
+and things."</p>
+
+<p>Aunt Eliza's notions of the duties of the War Office were still somewhat
+vague.</p>
+
+<p>After the bridal couple had left, Miss Cogbill and Lady Scarsdale
+received the remaining guests, and, when the function was over, her
+ladyship gave her American relative a cordial invitation to stay at "The
+Towers" till after the honeymoon; but Aunt Eliza refused.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll come some day and be glad to," she said; "but I'm off to-morrow
+for two weeks in Paris. I always go there when I'm blue; it cheers one
+up so, and you meet more Americans there nowadays than you do at home."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you will see the happy pair before you return," suggested Lady
+Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"Now, your ladyship," said Aunt Eliza, "that isn't fair; but to tell you
+the truth of the matter, I've no more idea where they are going, beyond
+their first stop, than you have."</p>
+
+<p>"And that is&mdash;&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>"They will write you from there to-morrow," replied Miss Cogbill, "and
+then you will know as much as I do."</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale was quite too happy to be seriously worried over his ignorance
+of their destination; in fact, he was rather amused at his wife's little
+mystery, and, beyond indulging in some banter on the subject, was well
+content to let the matter drop. He entertained her, however, by making
+wild guesses as to where they were to pass the night from what he had
+learned of their point of departure, Waterloo Station; but soon turned
+to more engrossing topics, and before he realised it an hour had passed
+away, and the train began to slow up for their first stop out of London.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this the end of our journey?" he queried.</p>
+
+<p>"What, Basingstoke?" she cried. "How could you think I'd be so
+unromantic? Why, it is only a miserable, dirty railway junction!"</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps we change carriages here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Wrong again; but the train stops for a few minutes, and if you'll be
+good you may run out and have a breath of fresh air and something to
+drink."</p>
+
+<p>"How do you know," he asked, "that I sha'n't go forward and see how the
+luggage is labelled?"</p>
+
+<p>"That would not be playing fair," she replied, pouting, "and I should be
+dreadfully cross with you."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll promise to be good," he hastened to assure her, and, as the train
+drew up, stepped out upon the platform.</p>
+
+<p>His first intention had been to make straight for the refreshment-room;
+but he had only taken a few steps in that direction, when he saw
+advancing from the opposite end of the train none other than Robert
+Allingford, who, like himself, was a bridegroom of that day.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Benedick!" he cried, "who would have thought of meeting you!"</p>
+
+<p>"Just what I was going to say," replied the Consul, heartily shaking his
+outstretched hand. "I never imagined that we would select the same
+train. Come, let's have a drink to celebrate our auspicious meeting.
+There is time enough."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure?" asked the careful Englishman.</p>
+
+<p>"Quite," replied his American friend. "I asked a porter, and he said we
+had ten minutes."</p>
+
+<p>They accordingly repaired to the luncheon-bar, and were soon discussing
+whiskies and sodas.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me," said the Consul, as he put down his glass, "have you
+discovered your destination yet?"</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't the remotest idea," returned the other. "Mrs. Scarsdale
+insisted on buying the tickets, and watches over them jealously. If it
+had not been for the look of the thing, I would have bribed the guard to
+tell me where I was going. By the way, won't you shake hands with my
+wife? She is just forward."</p>
+
+<p>"With pleasure," replied Allingford, "if you will return the compliment;
+my carriage is the first of its class at the rear of the train. We have
+still six minutes." With which the two husbands separated, each to seek
+the other's wife.</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale met with a cordial welcome from Mrs. Allingford, and was soon
+seated by her side chatting merrily.</p>
+
+<p>"We should sympathise with each other," she said, laughing, "for I
+understand that we are both in ignorance of our destination."</p>
+
+<p>"Indeed we should," he replied. "I dare say that at this moment your
+husband and my wife are gloating over their superior knowledge."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, well," she continued, "our time will come; and now tell me how you
+have endured the vicissitudes of the day."</p>
+
+<p>"I think you and I have no cause for complaint," rejoined Scarsdale.
+"You see we understand our conventions; but I fear that our respective
+partners have not had such an easy time."</p>
+
+<p>"I shouldn't think it would have worried Mrs. Scarsdale," returned the
+Englishwoman.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it didn't," said that lady's husband; "nothing ever worries
+her. But I think signing the register puzzled her a bit; she said it
+made her feel as if she was at an hotel."</p>
+
+<p>"Robert enjoyed it thoroughly," said Mrs. Allingford.</p>
+
+<p>"Had he no criticisms to offer?"</p>
+
+<p>"None, except that one seemed to get a good deal more for one's money
+than in the States."</p>
+
+<p>"The almighty dollar!" said Scarsdale, laughing, and added, as he looked
+at his watch: "I must be off, or your husband will be turning me out;
+our ten minutes are almost up."</p>
+
+<p>Once on the platform, he paused aghast. The forward half of the train
+had disappeared, and an engine was backing up in its place to couple on
+to the second part. Allingford was nowhere in sight.</p>
+
+<p>"Where is the rest of the train?" cried Scarsdale, seizing an astonished
+guard.</p>
+
+<p>"The forward division, sir?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes! yes! For Heaven's sake speak, man! Where is it?"</p>
+
+<p>"That was the Exeter division. Went five minutes ago."</p>
+
+<p>"But I thought we had ten minutes!"</p>
+
+<p>"This division, yes, sir," replied the guard, indicating that portion of
+the train still in the station, "the forward part only five."</p>
+
+<p>In this way, then, had Allingford unconsciously deceived him, and
+without doubt the American Consul had been carried off with his,
+Scarsdale's, wife. The awful discovery staggered him, but he controlled
+himself sufficiently to ask the destination of the section still in the
+station.</p>
+
+<p>"Bournemouth, sir, Southampton first stop. Are you going? we are just
+off."</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Scarsdale. The guard waved his flag, the shrill whistle
+blew, and the train began to move. Then he thought of Mrs. Allingford;
+he could scarcely leave her. Besides, what was the use of remaining at
+Basingstoke, when he did not even know his own destination? He tore open
+the door of the carriage he had just left, and swung himself in as it
+swept past him.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH LADY MELTON FEELS THAT HER AVERSION IS JUSTIFIED</h3>
+
+<p>From what has been said it may be imagined that Mrs. Scarsdale, <i>n&eacute;e</i>
+Vernon, was an excellent hand at light and amusing conversation; and so
+pleasantly did she receive the Consul, and so amusingly rally him on the
+events of the day, that he scarcely seemed to have been with her a
+minute, when a slight jolt caused him to look up and out, only to
+perceive the Basingstoke Station sliding rapidly past the windows.
+Allingford's first impulse was to dash from the carriage, a dangerous
+experiment when one remembers the rapidity with which a light English
+train gets under way. In this, however, he was forestalled by Mrs.
+Scarsdale, who clung to his coat-tails, declaring that he should not
+desert her; so that by the time he was able to free himself the train
+had attained such speed as to preclude any longer the question of
+escape. The sensations which Mr. Allingford and Mrs. Scarsdale
+experienced when they realised that they were being borne swiftly away,
+the one from his wife and the other from her husband, may be better
+imagined than described. The deserted bride threw herself into the
+farthest corner of the carriage and began to laugh hysterically, while
+the Consul plunged his hands into his pockets and gave vent to a
+monosyllabic expletive, of which he meant every letter.</p>
+
+<p>After the first moments of astonishment and stupefaction both somewhat
+recovered their senses, and mutual explanations and recriminations began
+forthwith.</p>
+
+<p>"How has this dreadful thing happened?" demanded Mrs. Scarsdale, in a
+voice quavering with suppressed emotion.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid it's my fault," said Allingford ruefully. "The guard told me
+we had ten minutes."</p>
+
+<p>"That was for your division of the train, stupid!" exclaimed the lady
+wrathfully.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't know that," explained the Consul, "and so I told your husband
+we had ten minutes, which probably accounts for his being left."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'll never, never forgive you," she cried, and burst into tears,
+murmuring between her sobs: "Poor, dear Harold! what will he do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do!" exclaimed the Consul, "I should think he had done enough, in all
+conscience. Why, confound him, he's gone off with my wife!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you call my husband names!" sobbed Mrs. Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, he certainly has enough of his own, that's a fact."</p>
+
+<p>"If you were a man," retorted the disconsolate bride, "you would do
+something, instead of making stupid jokes about my poor Stanley. I'm a
+distressed American citizen&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, you're not; you became a British subject when you married
+Scarsdale," corrected Allingford.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I won't be, so there! I tell you I'm an American woman in
+distress, and you are my Consul and you've got to help me."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll help you with the greatest pleasure in the world. I'm quite as
+anxious to recover my wife as you can be to find your husband."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what do you advise?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"We are going somewhere at a rapid rate," he replied. "When we arrive,
+we will leave the train and return to Basingstoke as soon as possible.
+Now do you happen to know our next stop?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes: Salisbury."</p>
+
+<p>"How long before we get there?"</p>
+
+<p>"About three quarters of an hour."</p>
+
+<p>"That will at least give us time," he said, "to consider what is best to
+be done. Have you a railway guide?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think there is a South Western time-table in the pocket of dear
+Malcolm's coat," she said, indicating a garment on the seat beside her.</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you call him St. Hubart and be done with it?" queried
+Allingford, as he searched for and found the desired paper. "You've
+given him all his other names."</p>
+
+<p>"I reserve that for important occasions," she replied; "it sounds so
+impressive."</p>
+
+<p>Mabel Scarsdale, it will be noticed, was fast regaining her composure,
+now that a definite course of action had been determined upon. But she
+could not help feeling depressed, for it must be admitted that it is
+disheartening to lose your husband before you have been married a day.
+What would he do, she wondered, when he found that the train had gone?
+Had he discovered its departure soon enough to warn Mrs. Allingford to
+leave her carriage? and if not, where had she gone, and had he
+accompanied her? The event certainly afforded ample grounds for
+speculation; but her reverie was interrupted by the Consul, who had been
+deeply immersed in the time-table.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no train back to Basingstoke before ten to-night," he said,
+"so we must spend the evening in Salisbury and telegraph them to await
+our return."</p>
+
+<p>"Possibly my husband may have chased the train and caught the rear
+carriage. I have seen people do that," she ventured.</p>
+
+<p>"The guard's van, you mean," he explained. "In that case he is
+travelling down with us and will put in an appearance directly we reach
+Salisbury, though I don't think it's likely. However, there's nothing to
+worry about, and I must beg you not to do so, unless you wish to make me
+more miserable than I already am for my share in this deplorable
+blunder."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't think they would follow us to Salisbury?"</p>
+
+<p>"No; that is"&mdash;and he plunged into the intricacies of the time-table
+once more&mdash;"they couldn't; besides, they would receive our telegram
+before they could leave Basingstoke."</p>
+
+<p>"Could they have gone off on the other train?"</p>
+
+<p>"Impossible," he replied. "By Jove, they neither of them know where
+they are bound for!"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite true," she said, "they do not. We had tickets for Exeter; but as
+a joke I never let my husband see them."</p>
+
+<p>"We were going to Bournemouth, and here are my tickets," he returned,
+holding them up, "but my wife doesn't know it."</p>
+
+<p>"You think there is no question that they are waiting for us at
+Basingstoke?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Not a doubt of it; and so we have nothing to do but kill time till we
+can rejoin them, which won't be hard in your society," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry I can't be so polite," she returned, "but I want my husband,
+and if you talk to me much more I shall probably cry."</p>
+
+<p>The Consul at this made a dive for an adjacent newspaper, in which he
+remained buried till the train slowed down for Salisbury.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose," he said apologetically, as they drew up at their
+destination, "that you won't object to my appropriating Scarsdale's
+coat and hat? I dare say he is sporting mine."</p>
+
+<p>A tearful sniff was the only reply as he gathered up the various
+impedimenta with which the carriage was littered, and assisted his fair
+though doleful companion to alight. Returning a few moments later from
+the arduous duty of rescuing her luggage, which was, of course, labelled
+for Exeter, he found her still alone, there being no sign of Scarsdale
+in or out of the train, and no telegram for them from Basingstoke&mdash;a
+chance on which Allingford had counted considerably, though he had not
+thought it wise to mention it. Indeed, the fact that no inquiry had been
+made for them puzzled and worried him greatly, for it seemed almost
+certain that were their deserted partners still at Basingstoke, their
+first action would have been to telegraph to the fugitives. However, he
+put the best face he could on the matter, assured Mrs. Scarsdale that
+everything must be all right, and despatched his telegram back to their
+point of separation. Under the most favourable circumstances they could
+not receive an answer under half an hour, and with this information the
+Consul was forced to return to the disconsolate bride.</p>
+
+<p>"There is no use in loafing around here," he said. "Suppose we go and
+see the cathedral? It will be something to do, and may distract our
+thoughts."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't think mine could well be more distracted than they are now,"
+replied she; "besides, we might miss the telegram."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'll fix that," he returned; "I'll have it sent up after us. Come,
+you had better go. You can't sit and look at that pea-green engine for
+thirty minutes; it is enough to give you a fit of the blues."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, just as you please," she said, and they started up into the town,
+and made their way to the cathedral.</p>
+
+<p>It is not to the point of this narrative to discourse on the beauties of
+that structure; the finest shaft of Purbec marble it contains would
+prove cold consolation to either a bride or a bridegroom deserted on the
+wedding day. But the cool quiet of the great building seemed
+unconsciously to soothe their troubled spirits, though when they each
+revisited the spot in after years they discovered that it was entirely
+new to them, and that they possessed not the faintest recollection of
+its appearance, within or without.</p>
+
+<p>At last, after having consulted their watches for the hundredth time,
+they began to stroll down the great central aisle, towards the main
+entrance. Suddenly Mrs. Scarsdale clutched the Consul's arm, and pointed
+before her to where a messenger-boy, with a look of expectancy on his
+face and an envelope in his hand, stood framed in a Gothic doorway. Then
+they made a wild, scrambling rush down the church, the bride reaching
+the goal first, and snatching the telegram from its astonished bearer.</p>
+
+<p>"For Mr. Allingford," he began, but she had already torn open the
+envelope and was devouring its contents.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the words seemed to swim before her eyes, then, as their
+meaning became clear to her, she gave a frightened gasp, dropped the
+message on the floor, sat down hard on the tomb of a crusader, and burst
+into tears.</p>
+
+<p>Allingford gazed at her silently for a moment, and meditatively
+scratched his head; then he paid and dismissed the amazed boy, and
+finally picked up the crumpled bit of paper. It was from the
+station-master at Basingstoke, and read as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>"Parties mentioned left in second division for Southampton and
+South Coast Resorts. Destination not known."</i></p></div>
+
+<p>It was incomprehensible, but he had expected it. If Mr. Scarsdale had
+remained at Basingstoke he would certainly have telegraphed them from
+there at their first stop, Salisbury. Evidently he, too, had been
+carried away on the train; but where? It was some relief to know that
+his wife was not wholly alone, but he did not at all like the idea of
+her going off into space with another man, and the fact that he had
+done the same thing himself was no consolation. Then his mind reverted
+to Mrs. Scarsdale, who still wept on the tomb of the crusader. What in
+thunder was he going to do with her? To get her back to her aunt in
+London at that time of night was out of the question; but where else
+could he take her?</p>
+
+<p>This point, however, was settled at once, and in an unexpected manner,
+by the lady herself. Drying her eyes, she remarked suddenly: "I'm a
+little fool!"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all," he replied; "your emotion is quite natural under the
+circumstances."</p>
+
+<p>"But crying won't get us out of this awful predicament."</p>
+
+<p>"Unfortunately no, or we should have arrived at a solution long ago."</p>
+
+<p>"That," remarked the lady, "is merely another way of making a statement
+which you just now disputed. I <i>am</i> a little fool, and I mean to dry my
+eyes and attend strictly to business. Tell me exactly what this message
+implies."</p>
+
+<p>"It means," said the Consul, "that it is impossible for you to rejoin
+your husband to-night."</p>
+
+<p>Her lip quivered dangerously; but she controlled herself sufficiently to
+exclaim: "But what are we to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he replied, "I should advise remaining here. There is a good
+hotel."</p>
+
+<p>"But we can't. Don't you see I must not remain&mdash;with you?" She spoke the
+last words with an effort.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he rejoined. "It is awkward; but you can't spend the night in the
+streets; you must have somewhere to sleep."</p>
+
+<p>"Let us go back to Basingstoke, then."</p>
+
+<p>"I can't see that that would help matters," he said gloomily; "we would
+have to spend the night there just the same. Besides, I think it is
+going to rain." They were standing outside the church by this time.
+"No," he continued, "our best course, our only course, in fact, is to
+stay here to-night, return to Basingstoke to-morrow morning, and wait
+for them there. You may be sure they are having quite as bad a time as
+we are. If I only knew some one here&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Bravo!" she interrupted, clapping her hands, "I believe you have solved
+the problem. Look: do you see that carriage over there? What coat of
+arms has it? Quick! your eyes are better than mine."</p>
+
+<p>In the gathering twilight he saw driving leisurely by, with coachman and
+footman on the box, a handsome barouche, on the panels of which a coat
+of arms was emblazoned.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said, gazing hard at it, "there is a helmet with a plume,
+balanced on a stick of peppermint candy&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, yes!" she cried, "the crest. Go on!"</p>
+
+<p>"Down on the ground-storey," he continued, "there is a pink shield
+divided in quarters, with the same helmet in the north-east division,
+and a lot of silver ticket-punchers in the one below it."</p>
+
+<p>"Spurs," she interjected.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, perhaps they are," he admitted. "Then there are a couple of
+two-tailed blue lions swimming in a crimson lake&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"The Melton arms!" she cried. "I looked them up in 'Burke's Peerage'
+when that old catawampus refused to come to our wedding. We will spend
+to-night with Lady Diana!"</p>
+
+<p>"But I thought&mdash;&mdash;" began the Consul, when his companion interrupted
+him, exclaiming:</p>
+
+<p>"Chase that carriage as hard as you know how, and bring it here!"</p>
+
+<p>Allingford felt that this was a time for action and not for speech. The
+days of his collegiate triumphs, when he had put his best foot foremost
+on the cinder-track, rose to his mind, and he fled across the green and
+into the gathering gloom, which had now swallowed up her ladyship's
+chariot, with a swiftness that caused his companion to murmur: "Well, he
+can sprint!"</p>
+
+<p>Presently the equipage was seen returning with the heated and triumphant
+Consul inside. It drew up before her, and the footman alighted and
+approached questioningly.</p>
+
+<p>"Is this Lady Melton's carriage?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, madam."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you may drive this gentleman and me to Melton Court."</p>
+
+<p>"But, madam&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I am Mrs. Scarsdale, Lady Diana's great-niece," she said quietly. The
+footman touched his hat.</p>
+
+<p>"Was her ladyship expecting you? We were sent to meet this next train,
+but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"No, we are here unexpectedly ourselves; but I dare say there will be
+room for all, as the carriage holds four."</p>
+
+<p>"There will only be Lord Cowbray, madam, and his lordship may not arrive
+till the nine-thirty. If you would not mind driving to the station?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is just what we wish," she replied, and calmly stepped into the
+carriage and seated herself by the Consul's side, who was so amazed at
+the turn affairs had taken that he remained speechless.</p>
+
+<p>"Shall I see to your luggage, madam?" inquired the footman as they drew
+up opposite the waiting-room door.</p>
+
+<p>"No," she replied, stepping out on the platform. "We will attend to it
+ourselves; it will only be necessary to take up our hand-bags for
+to-night."</p>
+
+<p>Accompanied by the Consul she went in search of their belongings, and at
+her suggestion he took a Gladstone belonging to the absent Scarsdale,
+and a dressing-case which she designated as her own property.</p>
+
+<p>"I was anxious to have a word alone with you," she said as they emerged
+once more on the platform, "and we can't talk on personal matters during
+the drive to the Court. You see my position is a little peculiar."</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me for asking the question," he replied, "but are your relations
+with your husband's great-aunt quite cordial?"</p>
+
+<p>"On the contrary, they are quite the reverse. She detests all Americans,
+and was very much put out at poor Harold for marrying me. Her refusal to
+be present at our wedding was almost an insult," she returned.</p>
+
+<p>"That doesn't seem to promise a pleasant reception at Melton Court," he
+said.</p>
+
+<p>"Far from it; but any port is acceptable in a storm, and she can hardly
+refuse us shelter. After all I've done nothing to be ashamed of in
+marrying my husband or being carried off with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I'll trust you to hold your own with any dowager in the United
+Kingdom; but where do I come in?"</p>
+
+<p>"You are my Consul, and under the circumstances my national protector; I
+can't do without you."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not at all sure that her ladyship will see it in that light; but,
+as you say, it is better than nothing, and our position can't be worse
+than it is at present."</p>
+
+<p>"Then it is agreed we stand by each other through thick and thin?"</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly," he replied, and shook her extended hand. At this moment the
+train came in, and they returned to the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>Lord Cowbray did not put in an appearance, and they were soon under way
+for Melton Court, which was some miles distant from the town. By the
+time they entered the grounds it was quite dark, and they could only see
+that the park was extensive, and that the Court seemed large and gloomy
+and might have dated from the Elizabethan period.</p>
+
+<p>On entering the central hall they at once saw evidences of a large
+house-party, whose presence did not tend to put them more at their ease,
+and Mrs. Scarsdale lost no time in sending a message to Lady Melton, to
+the effect that her great-niece had arrived unexpectedly and would much
+appreciate a few words with her in private.</p>
+
+<p>They were shown into a little reception-room, and the footman returned
+shortly to say that her ladyship would be with them soon. After what
+seemed an endless time, but was in reality barely fifteen minutes, their
+hostess entered. She was a fine-looking woman of sixty or over, with a
+stern, hard face, and a set expression about her thin lips, that boded
+little good to offenders, whatever their age or sex. She looked her
+guests over through her gold eye-glasses, and, after waiting a moment
+for them to speak, said coldly:</p>
+
+<p>"I think there is some mistake. I was told that my niece wished to see
+me."</p>
+
+<p>"I said your great-niece," returned Mrs. Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, my great-niece. Well? I do not recognise you."</p>
+
+<p>"It would be strange if you did, Lady Melton," returned the bride, "as
+you've never seen me. I am the wife of your great-nephew, Harold Stanley
+Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not see your husband present," said her ladyship, directing an icy
+glare at the unfortunate Consul.</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied her niece, "I've lost him."</p>
+
+<p>"Lost him!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, at Basingstoke. He went to speak to a lady in another part of the
+train. I could make it clearer to you, I think, by saying that she was
+Sir Peter Steele's youngest daughter."</p>
+
+<p>"I never thought of knowing the Steeles when I was in London," commented
+her hostess, "but St. Hubart was always liberal in his tastes." A remark
+which caused the Consul to flush with pent-up wrath.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, he didn't know her," interjected Mabel, hastening to correct the
+unfortunate turn which the conversation had taken. "She was this
+gentleman's wife."</p>
+
+<p>Her ladyship bowed very, very slightly in the Consul's direction, to
+indicate that his affairs, matrimonial or otherwise, could have for her
+no possible interest.</p>
+
+<p>"And that is the last we have heard of them," continued the bride,
+"except for a telegram from the station-master at Basingstoke, which
+says they went to Southampton&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Do I understand you to say," broke in their hostess, betraying the
+first sign of interest she had so far evinced, "that my nephew has
+eloped with&mdash;&mdash;?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no!" cried Mrs. Scarsdale, "you do not in the least comprehend the
+true state of affairs," and she poured forth a voluble if disconnected
+account of their adventures.</p>
+
+<p>"Pardon me," exclaimed the old lady when she had finished, "but what is
+all this rigmarole? A most surprising affair, I must say, and quite
+worthy of your nationality. I was averse to my nephew's marrying you
+from the first; but I hardly expected to be justified on his wedding
+day."</p>
+
+<p>"In that case," said Mrs. Scarsdale, "the sooner we leave your house the
+better."</p>
+
+<p>"You will do nothing of the sort," replied her great-aunt. "Your coming
+to me is the only wise thing you have done. Of course you will remain
+here till your husband can be found. As for this person&mdash;&mdash;" indicating
+Allingford.</p>
+
+<p>"This <i>gentleman</i>," said his partner in misfortune, coming to his
+rescue, "is Mr. Robert Allingford, United States Consul at Christchurch.
+As my husband had gone off with his wife, I thought the least I could do
+was to take him with me."</p>
+
+<p>"I can hardly see the necessity of that course," commented her hostess.</p>
+
+<p>"Now that I have seen Mrs. Scarsdale in safe hands, I could not think of
+trespassing longer upon your hospitality," put in the Consul; but his
+companion intervened.</p>
+
+<p>"I am not going to be deserted twice in a day!" she cried. "If you go, I
+go with you!"</p>
+
+<p>"About that," said her ladyship frigidly, "there can be no question,"
+and she rang the bell.</p>
+
+<p>"You will conduct this lady and this gentleman," she continued to the
+footman who answered her summons, "to the green room and the tower room
+respectively." Then, turning to her unwilling guests, she added: "As my
+dinner-table is fully arranged for this evening, and my guests are now
+awaiting me, you will pardon it if I have your dinner served in my
+private sitting-room. We will discuss your affairs at length to-morrow
+morning; but now I must bid you good-night," and with an inclination of
+her head she dismissed them from her presence.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH A TRUNK IS SENT TO MELTON COURT</h3>
+
+<p>Scarcely had the sun risen the next morning when the Consul, after a
+sleepless night, stole downstairs and found his way out upon the
+terrace, for a quiet stroll and a breath of fresh, cool air. Moreover,
+he was in need of an uninterrupted hour in which to arrange his plans in
+such a manner as would most surely tend to effect the double reunion he
+so earnestly desired.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed well-nigh impossible, in the small space of country which had
+probably been traversed by all parties, that they could lose each other
+for more than a few hours. To make the situation more clear to those who
+have never had the misfortune to suffer from the intricacies of English
+railway travel, the following diagram is appended. The triangle is
+isosceles, the sides being thirty-five miles long, the base twenty.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;">
+<img src="images/ill_002.jpg" width="500" height="415" alt="" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p>He reviewed his own adventures of yesterday afternoon. He had acted on
+what seemed to be the only sensible and reasonable plan to pursue;
+namely, to leave the train at its first stop, and return as soon as
+possible to the point of divergence. It seemed fair to assume that Mr.
+Scarsdale and Mrs. Allingford had done the same thing, and, such being
+the case, it was easy to imagine what their course of action had been. A
+glance at the time-table told him that the first point at which they
+could leave their division of the train had been Southampton; from which
+place they could, almost immediately, catch an express back to the
+junction they had left, arriving there shortly after seven on the past
+evening.</p>
+
+<p>His own course and that of Mrs. Scarsdale seemed clear; it was simply a
+return to Basingstoke immediately after breakfast, and rejoin their
+friends, who had been spending the night at that place.</p>
+
+<p>It was possible that they had lost the returning express and remained in
+Southampton; but if they acted in a rational manner, they must
+eventually return to the junction. But supposing Mrs. Allingford and Mr.
+Scarsdale had not done the obvious thing; supposing that chance had
+intervened and upset their plans, as in his own case? He suddenly found
+himself face to face with the startling fact that not only were he and
+Mrs. Scarsdale not at Salisbury or Basingstoke, but that they were at
+present at the one place where his wife and Mrs. Scarsdale's husband
+would never think of looking for them&mdash;Melton Court.</p>
+
+<p>Allingford jammed his hat hard on the back of his head, and set off at a
+brisk pace to Salisbury and the nearest telegraph station; arriving at
+his destination shortly before seven, to find that he had a good
+half-hour to wait before the operators arrived. The office was opened at
+last, however, and he lost no time in telegraphing to Basingstoke for
+information, and in a little while received an answer from the
+station-master at that point which cheered him up considerably, though
+it was not quite as explicit as he could have wished. It read as
+follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>"Scarsdale telegraphed last evening from Southampton, saying he
+had left train there with Mrs. Allingford and was returning at once
+to Basingstoke."</i></p></div>
+
+<p>The Consul was pleased to find that his conjectures had been correct.
+He felt that a great weight had been lifted from his mind. Their missing
+partners had undoubtedly spent the night at Basingstoke and would soon
+consult the station-master at that point, who would doubtless show them
+the messages he had received. Allingford looked out a good train,
+telegraphed the hour of their arrival, and then, as his reception of the
+night before had not inclined him to trespass on Lady Melton's grudging
+hospitality more than was absolutely necessary, he had a leisurely
+breakfast at the hotel, and, engaging a fly, drove back to the Court,
+reaching there about half-past nine.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Scarsdale had also passed a disturbed night, but, unlike her
+companion in misfortune, she did not venture out at unearthly hours in
+the morning. She was up, however, and saw him depart, which was in some
+ways a comfort, since it assured her that he was losing no time in
+continuing their quest.</p>
+
+<p>At eight a maid arrived with warm water and a message from her ladyship
+that she wished Mrs. Scarsdale to breakfast with her in private at nine
+o'clock, and that she would be obliged if her great-niece would keep her
+room till that time. The bride was considerably piqued by this message
+and the distrust it implied, but felt it would be wise to accede to the
+request, and sent word accordingly.</p>
+
+<p>As she entered Lady Melton's boudoir an hour later, her hostess rose to
+receive her, kissing her coldly on the forehead, and saying:</p>
+
+<p>"You will pardon my requesting you to keep your room; but your presence
+is not as yet known to my guests, and your appearance among them
+immediately after your marriage, without your husband, might cause
+unpleasant speculation and comment. Do you agree with me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite," replied Mrs. Scarsdale. She had misjudged Lady Melton, she
+thought; but she disliked her nevertheless, and wished to be very
+guarded.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said that personage, "I want to hear the whole affair. No, I do
+not want you to tell it," as her guest opened her mouth to speak; "not
+in your own way, I mean. You would probably wander from the point, and
+my time is of importance. I will ask you questions, and you will be kind
+enough to answer them, as plainly and shortly as possible."</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Scarsdale bowed; she was so angry at the cool insolence that this
+statement implied that she did not feel she could trust herself to
+speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Now we will begin," said her ladyship, as she proceeded to demolish a
+boiled egg. "What is your Christian name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mabel."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well. Then I shall call you Mabel in future; it is ridiculous to
+address you as Mrs. Scarsdale."</p>
+
+<p>"I really don't see&mdash;&mdash;" began that lady.</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me," interrupted her questioner, "I will make the comments when
+necessary. When were you married?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yesterday afternoon at two-thirty o'clock."</p>
+
+<p>"Where did you and your husband intend to pass last night?"</p>
+
+<p>"At Exeter."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you sure?"</p>
+
+<p>"I ought to be. I bought the tickets."</p>
+
+<p>"You bought the tickets! Is that customary in your country?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am not here to discuss the customs of my country, Lady Melton. I
+bought the tickets because I chose to do so, and considered myself
+better fitted to arrange the trip than my husband."</p>
+
+<p>"Really! I suppose that is the reason you selected the most roundabout
+way to reach Exeter. Your husband could have told you that you should
+have taken another railway, the Great Western."</p>
+
+<p>"My husband," said Mrs. Scarsdale stiffly, "did not know our
+destination."</p>
+
+<p>"What!"</p>
+
+<p>"I say that my husband did not know our destination."</p>
+
+<p>Her ladyship surveyed her for a moment in shocked and silent
+disapproval, and then remarked:</p>
+
+<p>"I think I understood you to say that you travelled together as far as
+Basingstoke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and there St. Hubart met a friend."</p>
+
+<p>"This consular person?"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Allingford? Yes. He was also married yesterday, and came to our
+carriage to congratulate me."</p>
+
+<p>"And my nephew went to speak to Mrs. Allingford."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. And the first thing we knew the train was moving."</p>
+
+<p>"Go on."</p>
+
+<p>"That is just what we did, though Mr. Allingford tried to leave the
+carriage and return to his wife."</p>
+
+<p>"It would have been better had he never left her."</p>
+
+<p>"But I restrained him."</p>
+
+<p>"How did you restrain him?"</p>
+
+<p>"By his coat-tails."</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me. Do I understand you to say that you forcibly detained him?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sorry if you are shocked; it was all I could catch hold of."</p>
+
+<p>"I shall reserve my criticism of these very astonishing performances,
+Mabel; but permit me to say that you have much to learn concerning the
+manners and customs of English society."</p>
+
+<p>"Then," said Mrs. Scarsdale, ignoring this last remark, "we came to
+Salisbury."</p>
+
+<p>"And telegraphed to Basingstoke for information."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly. But they could tell us nothing; so when I saw your
+carriage&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"How did you know it was mine?"</p>
+
+<p>"I looked out your coat of arms in 'Burke.'"</p>
+
+<p>Her ladyship smiled grimly. Perhaps something might be made of this fair
+barbarian&mdash;in time, a great deal of time; but still this knowledge of
+the peerage sounded hopeful, and it was with a little less severity in
+her voice that she demanded:</p>
+
+<p>"And what do you mean to do now?"</p>
+
+<p>"Go back to Basingstoke this morning."</p>
+
+<p>"Alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, with Mr. Allingford."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you expect to find your husband there?"</p>
+
+<p>"I should think he would naturally return as soon as possible to where
+he lost me."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," said her ladyship. "Was Mrs. Allingford pretty?"</p>
+
+<p>"If you are going to adopt that tack, Lady Melton, the sooner we part
+the better," said her visitor angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"We do not 'adopt tacks' in England," returned her ladyship calmly; "and
+as I consider myself responsible for your actions while you are under my
+roof, I shall not allow you to go to Basingstoke, or anywhere else, with
+a person who, whatever his official position, is totally unknown to me."</p>
+
+<p>"You don't mean to keep me here against my will!"</p>
+
+<p>"I mean to send you to your relations, wherever they are, under the
+charge of my butler&mdash;a most respectable married man&mdash;provided the
+journey can be accomplished between now and nightfall."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, it can't," replied her grand-niece triumphantly. "Aunt Eliza
+left for Paris this morning, and all my other relations are in Chicago."</p>
+
+<p>Lady Melton was, however, a woman of decision, and not to be easily
+baffled.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will send you to your mother-in-law, Lady Scarsdale; I suppose
+she has returned to 'The Towers'?"</p>
+
+<p>"I believe so. But I do not intend to go there without my husband; it
+would be ignominious."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you can suggest a better plan," said her ladyship coldly.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, if you refuse to let me go to Basingstoke&mdash;&mdash;" began the bride.</p>
+
+<p>"I do. Proceed."</p>
+
+<p>"Then Mr. Allingford might go for me, and tell St. Hubart where I am. I
+know he is waiting for me there, but he would never think of my being
+here&mdash;&mdash;Excuse me, I mean&mdash;&mdash;" she stammered, blushing, for she saw she
+had made a slip.</p>
+
+<p>"We will not discuss your meaning," said her hostess, "but your plan
+seems feasible and proper. You may receive the consular person in my
+private sitting-room and arrange matters at once."</p>
+
+<p>Her niece turned to go, but she stopped her, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"One word more. I do not think it necessary for your friend Mr.
+Allingford to return with my nephew. Pray make this clear to him."</p>
+
+<p>After having been dismissed from her hostess' presence, Mrs. Scarsdale
+lost no time in sending for the Consul, who had just returned, and
+proceeded to work off on that unfortunate gentleman the rage engendered
+by her recent interview.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm inclined to think," he said when she had finished, "that in this
+instance the catawampus is right. There is no use of your gallivanting
+over the country after your husband; he ought to come to you. I'll run
+down to Basingstoke at once, send him back, and with Mrs. Allingford go
+on my way rejoicing. There is no need of my returning, and I guess her
+ladyship won't cry her eyes out if I don't."</p>
+
+<p>"You haven't yet told me the result of your excursion this morning," she
+said, hoping to divert the conversation from so obvious a truth.</p>
+
+<p>"This," he replied, holding up the telegram he had just received from
+the station-master at Basingstoke.</p>
+
+<p>After reading the message, Mrs. Scarsdale was most anxious that he
+should lose no time in starting, and with mutual expressions of
+friendship, and boundless thanks from the deserted bride, they parted:
+he for the junction, she for a further interview with her great-aunt.</p>
+
+<p>When her ladyship learned that Scarsdale had left Southampton for
+Basingstoke, and was doubtless now in that place, she advised his wife
+to remain in seclusion till the members of the house-party, which
+luckily was breaking up that day, had departed; and retired herself to
+prepare a few remarks with which to welcome her errant great-nephew.
+Later in the day, however, she so far relented towards his wife as to
+suggest that she take a stroll on the terrace while the few remaining
+guests were indulging in a post-prandial siesta.</p>
+
+<p>It was from this coign of vantage that she saw approaching the worn and
+drooping figure of Mr. Allingford. She rushed to meet him, and demanded,
+without even giving him time to get his breath:</p>
+
+<p>"Where is my husband?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," he gasped.</p>
+
+<p>"Or your wife?"</p>
+
+<p>"Or my wife."</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't they in Basingstoke?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, and haven't been there. I've turned that confounded town inside
+out, and catechised every one about the station, from the divisional
+superintendent to the charwoman. They did not come last night, nor
+arrive this morning. Since leaving Southampton, if they did leave it,
+they have entirely disappeared."</p>
+
+<p>"Why do you say, 'if they did leave' Southampton?"</p>
+
+<p>"Because no one saw them go. I have learned by endless telegraphing that
+they alighted at that point, told a porter they had been carried past
+their destination, and wished to return at once to Basingstoke. He
+indicated their train, they disappeared in the crowd&mdash;and that's all."</p>
+
+<p>"Haven't they telegraphed again to Basingstoke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not since last night."</p>
+
+<p>"Or to Salisbury?"</p>
+
+<p>"No. I inquired on the chance, but no message had come."</p>
+
+<p>"It is horrible!" she exclaimed. "I'm the most miserable woman on
+earth!"</p>
+
+<p>"Don't cry," he begged despairingly.</p>
+
+<p>"No," she said, "I won't. Do you think it would be any good to telegraph
+to Aunt Eliza and Lady Scarsdale?"</p>
+
+<p>"I have already done so. Your Aunt Eliza has left for Paris. She
+wouldn't have done that if she had heard about this; and it gave Lady
+Scarsdale a fit&mdash;the telegram I mean&mdash;but she didn't know anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that all?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not quite. I have telegraphed to my Vice-Consul at Christchurch,
+asking for news of Scarsdale, and telling him to forward anything that
+had come for me. They might have <i>written</i> there, you know, to save talk
+in the office; but I haven't as yet had a reply."</p>
+
+<p>"I must consult Lady Melton; the situation is too dreadful for words.
+Suppose they have had an accident; suppose&mdash;&mdash;" she faltered.</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" he rejoined, "bad news always travels quickly; don't make
+yourself uneasy on that score. They've got side-tracked in some
+out-of-the-way place, just as we have. I'll go to Southampton to-morrow
+and work up the trail. Now you run off and consult the catawampus."</p>
+
+<p>When her ladyship had heard the whole story, she summed up as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"As your friend has seen fit to return, you may tell him his chamber
+will be again made ready for to-night, and you will both dine in my
+sitting-room as before. To-morrow I shall send you home to Lady
+Scarsdale."</p>
+
+<p>"But&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing more to be said on the subject. I have made up my
+mind." And having pronounced sentence, she left her distracted
+great-niece to her own reflections.</p>
+
+<p>It was a very doleful couple who sat down to dinner that evening in Lady
+Melton's private room.</p>
+
+<p>"It is ridiculous!" said Mrs. Scarsdale. "We are being treated like
+naughty children. I feel as if I were about to be whipped and put to
+bed. Sent home with the butler, indeed! I'd just like to see her
+ladyship try to do it!"</p>
+
+<p>"How are you going to prevent her?" asked the Consul.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not a child, and I won't be treated as one! If I am to be sent home
+in disgrace, you will have to come with me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I like that! You seem to forget I've lost my wife. My first duty
+is to find her."</p>
+
+<p>"Your first duty is to me. If you go to Southampton, I go with you."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid there'll be an awful row with her ladyship."</p>
+
+<p>"Let there be, then; I don't care!"</p>
+
+<p>"I really think," he expostulated, "that you had better stay here one
+day more. I'll get you a reprieve from the custody of the butler, and
+have a try at Southampton myself. There is a cross-line from here, and
+it won't take any time to run over. I've tracked horse-thieves in
+Kentucky when I was sheriff, and I guess I can find a bridegroom where
+it's all open country as it is round here."</p>
+
+<p>At this moment a servant knocked and entered, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Please, madam, her ladyship's orders is that you are to be ready at
+seven to-morrow morning, to start with Mr. Bright, the butler, for 'The
+Towers.'"</p>
+
+<p>"I&mdash;&mdash;!" began Mrs. Scarsdale, rising in wrath and indignation; but
+before she could further complicate matters by a direct refusal, the
+footman had turned to Allingford, and, handing him a telegram, had left
+the room. Forgetful of all else, she rushed to the Consul's side as
+with nervous fingers he tore it open. What joyful news might it not
+contain! One look at his face, however, blasted all her hopes. Horror,
+consternation, and surprise were depicted thereon as he read the
+despatch. Something dreadful must have happened.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me the worst!" she cried. "Is it Harold?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is the last straw," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Is he dead?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish he was."</p>
+
+<p>"You wish my husband dead?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, confound your husband!"</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Allingford&mdash;&mdash;!"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, I don't mean that. I'm not responsible for what I'm saying," he
+replied, and groaned aloud. But his companion was not to be put off.</p>
+
+<p>"Is that telegram from my husband?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"From my mother-in-law?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"From Aunt Eliza?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>"From the station-master at Basingstoke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Guess again."</p>
+
+<p>"From your Vice-Consul?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Has he heard anything of our lost ones?"</p>
+
+<p>"It has nothing to do with that."</p>
+
+<p>"Then what is the matter? What does it all mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"It means," replied the Consul, "that I've got to leave here by the
+first train."</p>
+
+<p>"Explain yourself," she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll try," he replied, mopping his brow. "You see, an American applied
+to me to lend him some money, a few days ago, and put up as collateral
+an elephant."</p>
+
+<p>"Harold told me the story. I thought it very amusing."</p>
+
+<p>"You won't when I've finished. The elephant arrived day before yesterday
+at Southampton, and, as I had informed the steamship company that I was
+the temporary owner of the beast, they forwarded it to my consulate at
+Christchurch."</p>
+
+<p>"How does that affect us?"</p>
+
+<p>"Affect us!" he cried. "Do you remember what I telegraphed my
+Vice-Consul?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, almost word for word," she answered. "You asked for news of the
+fugitives, and, on the chance of their writing to Christchurch, told him
+to forward here anything that might have come for you."</p>
+
+<p>"Exactly," shrieked the Consul; "and the blamed fool has forwarded the
+elephant!"</p>
+
+<p>"What! Here? To Melton Court?" she exclaimed, aghast.</p>
+
+<p>"That is what I said. The beast is on the way now, and ought to be here
+bright and early to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"How awful! What will you do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Get out," he replied laconically.</p>
+
+<p>"And leave me?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know about you, but I mean to leave the elephant. I don't wish
+to start a bigger circus than I have on hand already."</p>
+
+<p>"But would it be quite right to our hostess?" expostulated her niece.</p>
+
+<p>"If you've any conscientious scruples on the subject, you can stay and
+tend the beast. I'm leaving by the first train."</p>
+
+<p>"But it's your elephant."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it is, and I've a right to do what I choose with it. I mean
+to leave it to Lady Melton, in payment for my board and lodging. After
+the way she's treated me I don't want to owe her anything."</p>
+
+<p>"Really, Mr. Allingford&mdash;&mdash;" began his companion.</p>
+
+<p>"Now look here," he retorted; "would you want an elephant tagging you
+round on your honeymoon?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, no, I don't think I should," she replied, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"Besides," he continued, "how am I to prosecute a search for our missing
+halves with a Noah's ark in tow?"</p>
+
+<p>"That does put the matter in a different light," she admitted.</p>
+
+<p>"You bet it does!" he replied. "As for her ladyship, she can do what she
+pleases with my slight token of regard. Give it to the poor of the
+parish, if she likes; I don't ask her to keep it."</p>
+
+<p>"But what is to become of me?"</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you are to be sent home with the butler early to-morrow morning."</p>
+
+<p>"I won't go!"</p>
+
+<p>"Then join me."</p>
+
+<p>"But supposing we don't find my husband to-morrow&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'll take you down to my consulate at Christchurch for the night.
+I have plenty of friends there with whom you can stay."</p>
+
+<p>"That settles it," she replied.</p>
+
+<p>So it was that they stole away from the Court in the grey dawn of the
+next morning, footed it to Salisbury, recovered their baggage, and
+boarded the early train for Southampton. As it moved out of the station
+they passed a long line of box cars on a siding, from one of which the
+angry scream of an elephant resounded.</p>
+
+<p>"Just in time," said the Consul with a sigh of relief. "I wish her
+ladyship joy of my little remembrance."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH MR. SCARSDALE CHANGES HIS NAME</h3>
+
+<p>Mr. Scarsdale entered Mrs. Allingford's compartment with so great an
+impetus, when he swung himself into her carriage at Basingstoke, that he
+completely lost his balance, and shot past her on all fours, to land in
+a heap on the floor. A second later the guard banged the door, and the
+train was off.</p>
+
+<p>"What does this mean?" exclaimed the Consul's wife, "and where is my
+husband?"</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me," gasped Scarsdale, picking himself up from the floor, "but I
+couldn't leave you."</p>
+
+<p>"So it appears," she replied coldly. "But you have not answered my
+question, and&mdash;&mdash;" as the train began to move rapidly, "it is not
+possible that we are getting under way!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said gloomily, "we are off to Southampton."</p>
+
+<p>"Answer me instantly: where is my husband?" she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"Gone to Exeter, I suppose, with my wife."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you mean?"</p>
+
+<p>"That he was carried off in the first division of the train, which left
+five minutes ago."</p>
+
+<p>"But I thought we stopped ten minutes."</p>
+
+<p>"So <i>you</i> did; <i>we</i> stopped only five. When I left you just now, I saw
+that the forward half of this train had disappeared, and the guard told
+me it had gone to Exeter, and that this portion was just leaving for
+Southampton. I thought it better to stay with you than to let you go by
+yourself; so as the carriage was moving, and it was impossible to get
+you out, I jumped in."</p>
+
+<p>"Thank you," she said simply; and for a moment there was silence between
+them while the train rattled over the points, and, reaching the
+outskirts of the town, began to increase its speed. The little
+Englishwoman did not, however, emulate her fair American partner in
+distress, who was at this moment indulging in hysterics in the other
+train; she had been too well trained to betray her feelings before a man
+whom she knew but slightly, even over the loss of a husband; so, after
+remaining quiet for a little, she controlled herself sufficiently to
+say, very calmly:</p>
+
+<p>"I do not see that we can either of us blame ourselves for what has
+happened; we must try and make the best of it, and rejoin your wife and
+my husband as soon as possible."</p>
+
+<p>Plucky little woman! thought Scarsdale to himself; to Mrs. Allingford he
+said:</p>
+
+<p>"I am glad you see things in so sensible a light. You must let me help
+you in every way that is in my power."</p>
+
+<p>"You say our first stop is Southampton?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we reach there in less than an hour. They slip some carriages at
+Winchester, but the train doesn't stop," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Then I think we should alight at Southampton," she said, "and return
+at once to Basingstoke."</p>
+
+<p>"That would certainly be our best course. When you lose a man in a
+crowd, it is much better to wait at the point where you lost him till he
+finds you than to hunt for him yourself, as you will both miss each
+other."</p>
+
+<p>"Then you propose to let them find us."</p>
+
+<p>"That is my idea. Of course I'll telegraph to the station-master at
+Basingstoke that we will return there, so that if they wire for
+information concerning us he can give it them."</p>
+
+<p>"Where do you think they have gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"If we either of us knew our destination it would be far easier," he
+said, laughing. "I hope this will be a lesson to my wife."</p>
+
+<p>"But surely the train must stop before it reaches Exeter."</p>
+
+<p>"Undoubtedly; but as I have no time-table, I can't say where. Perhaps
+your husband has one in his overcoat. If you will permit me," and he
+proceeded to examine the garment in question.</p>
+
+<p>No time-table was forthcoming, however, and they were forced to resign
+themselves to waiting till they reached Southampton.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Allingford bore up bravely, and even tried to make conversation;
+but it proved to be a dreary ride, and when they drew up at their
+destination they were both exceedingly thankful.</p>
+
+<p>"Is there a train back to Basingstoke soon?" asked Scarsdale of the
+first railway porter he saw.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, over there on the left. Express leaves in three or four
+minutes," replied that individual, as he hurried away with somebody
+else's baggage.</p>
+
+<p>"I'll take you over," said Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied his companion, "I can find it. You attend to the telegram
+and my luggage."</p>
+
+<p>He dashed off accordingly, and when he returned they both entered the
+train on the left.</p>
+
+<p>"I've sent the telegram," he said, "and I have also discovered your
+destination."</p>
+
+<p>"How?" she inquired.</p>
+
+<p>"By the labels on the luggage. It was marked for Bournemouth, and a
+jolly hard time I had to induce them to take it out of the van and send
+it back with us."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to me," she said after a little, "that we've been waiting here
+more than four minutes. I trust we are not in the wrong train. One has
+just gone out."</p>
+
+<p>"Hi! guard!" called Scarsdale from the window. "Is this the express for
+Basingstoke?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, sir," replied the official. "It was the train beyond you, which has
+just left. Sorry if you've made a mistake, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Confound it, yes!" cried Scarsdale. "Where does this train go?"</p>
+
+<p>"Stopping train for Winchester."</p>
+
+<p>"Can we go on to Basingstoke?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not by this train, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"But from Winchester?"</p>
+
+<p>"There is sure to be a train this evening, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"It has been a chapter of accidents," he said, explaining it to Mrs.
+Allingford, "but we had better go to Winchester, I think; it is on the
+way anyhow."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," she assented, "and then get on to Basingstoke as fast as we can,
+and not be discouraged."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite right," he replied, and entered into a description of Southampton
+docks and the varied cargoes that were received there, in the hope of
+distracting her mind.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, look!" she cried, as, once more started on their travels, they came
+in sight of the shipping, "see what they are loading on that truck! I do
+believe it is an elephant!"</p>
+
+<p>After what seemed an interminable journey, they at length arrived at
+Winchester, and as soon as Scarsdale had seen Mrs. Allingford
+established in the ladies' waiting-room, he hastened to ascertain their
+chances of getting to Basingstoke that night. On his return he wore a
+very long face, which his companion was not slow to interpret.</p>
+
+<p>"Are there no trains?" she exclaimed, in evident dismay.</p>
+
+<p>"There is one," he replied, "but we should not reach our destination
+till very late, almost midnight in fact, and we cannot tell that we
+should find your husband even then. I think our best course would be to
+remain here."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, but that is impossible."</p>
+
+<p>"No, there is a very fair hotel."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't mean that. But can't you see the position in which I am
+placed?"</p>
+
+<p>He did see, and he knew that what he proposed seemed to her almost an
+impossibility; but as they were now situated he considered that
+circumstances altered cases.</p>
+
+<p>"I am sure, Mrs. Allingford," he said, "that your good sense, which has
+carried you through so much this afternoon, will show you the necessity
+of acting as I have suggested. You must not forget that you are now a
+married woman, and can do things which before were not permissible."</p>
+
+<p>"Still," she contended, "to go to a public hotel with a gentleman who is
+a comparative stranger, and pass the night there, seems to me not the
+thing at all; and if we were recognised by anybody&mdash;&mdash;" She paused,
+hardly knowing how to complete her sentence.</p>
+
+<p>"Then go alone. There are other hotels; I will put up somewhere else,"
+he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no, I couldn't be left alone; I've never been alone before in my
+life. That would be worse than all else. You see, if you were only
+related to me it would be so different."</p>
+
+<p>"I am quite willing to pass myself off as any relation you please, for
+the sake of appearances."</p>
+
+<p>"But that would be deceitful."</p>
+
+<p>"I think the exigencies of the case will excuse that; besides, it is my
+own affair, not yours. Will you have me as a brother for one night
+only?" he asked, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"But I have no brother," she replied.</p>
+
+<p>"Then as your husband's brother," he suggested; "that would be better
+still, as he is an American and not known here."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really think it best?"</p>
+
+<p>"To save you annoyance, I think it is a pardonable deception. What is
+his name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Richard. But I don't know much about him."</p>
+
+<p>"Then we will consider that that is settled," he said cheerfully, and,
+without giving her time to argue the matter, summoned a fly, which
+presently deposited them bag and baggage at the hotel door. To make
+assurance doubly sure, he hastened to sign their names in the visitors'
+book:</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Robert Allingford, Christchurch, England.</p>
+
+<p>"Mr. Richard Allingford, U.S.A."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you give my sister and me good rooms for to-night?" he asked the
+landlady.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir, two nice rooms just opposite each other."</p>
+
+<p>He said that that would do very well, and they were soon installed.</p>
+
+<p>Once in her apartment, Mrs. Allingford indulged in a good cry, while
+Scarsdale strolled out before dinner to have a smoke and think it over.
+He did not see much further use in telegraphing just at that moment.
+Later it would, perhaps, be well to send a message to Basingstoke,
+saying that they were detained at Winchester and would come on next
+morning; for he had quickly learned that Mrs. Scarsdale and Mr.
+Allingford would be able to leave the train at Salisbury, and justly
+surmised that they had done so.</p>
+
+<p>Presently, having finished his cigar, he returned to the hotel to find
+Mrs. Allingford ready for dinner, and much refreshed by her tears and
+subsequent ablutions. They neither of them ate much, and after the fish
+they gave up any attempt to make conversation as worse than useless, and
+finished the repast in silence.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid," she said, as she folded her napkin, "that you've found me
+very poor company."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm nothing to boast of myself," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"I hope they are not as miserable as we are," she added, as they rose to
+leave the table. "I haven't been able to eat a thing."</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale did not reply; he had a gloomy suspicion that his wife was
+making a very good meal somewhere. Not that he doubted her love; but he
+did not believe her devotion included loss of appetite.</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you think they are miserable?" she queried, uneasy at his
+silence.</p>
+
+<p>"Not so miserable as we are," he said. "They are both Americans, you
+see, and Americans don't take things seriously as a rule."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you suppose they are doing?" was her next question.</p>
+
+<p>"Seated swinging their feet over the edge of Salisbury platform,
+finishing my five-pound box of American candy," he said.</p>
+
+<p>She tried to be amused, and even forced a little laugh; but it was a
+dismal failure, and, realising it, she at once excused herself and
+retired to her room for the night, leaving Scarsdale to pass the evening
+as best he could. He approved of her circumspection, but it was beastly
+dull, and, as he sat smoking in the winter garden which the hotel
+boasted, he felt that he should soon become insufferably bored.</p>
+
+<p>He presently, therefore, overcame his natural reserve sufficiently to
+respond to the advances of the only person in the room who seemed
+inclined to be sociable. The stranger was a florid, shaggy-bearded man
+of a distinctively American type, a person Scarsdale would naturally
+have avoided under ordinary circumstances; but to-night he felt the need
+of human society, no matter whose, and in a few moments they had drifted
+into conversation. At first the subjects under discussion were harmless
+enough, relating mainly to Winchester and neighbouring points of
+interest, concerning which Scarsdale was forced to confess himself
+ignorant, as it was his first visit to the place. Before long, however,
+they began to touch on more dangerous ground, and he saw that, even with
+a casual acquaintance of this sort, he must be guarded if he was to
+remain consistent in his role of brother to the deserted bride.</p>
+
+<p>"Were you ever in America?" was the first question which startled him.</p>
+
+<p>He replied in the affirmative, as he could honestly do, having been
+taken by his father to Canada when but a lad. But the stranger was not
+satisfied, and began, after the manner of his nation, a series of
+leading questions, which kept Scarsdale busy in trying to assimilate
+with some regard to truth the character he had chosen. It was at this
+moment that a waiter came to him and asked in a perfectly audible voice
+if he was Mr. Richard Allingford. Scarsdale was forced to admit the
+fact, and to reply to a message sent, as the waiter took unnecessary
+pains to explain, "By your sister, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me," interjected his companion, "but may I ask if your sister's
+name is Mrs. Robert Allingford?"</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman would have given worlds to deny the fact, but in the
+presence of the waiter, who still lingered, and in the face of the
+evidence in the visitors' book, only one course was open to him, and he
+replied reluctantly in the affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>"Wife of the United States Consul at Christchurch?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>Now he could once more tell the truth, he felt happier; but he had a
+premonition that all was not well, and heartily wished he had never
+encouraged this American, who might know more than was convenient.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Dick!" said that personage, leaning across the little table that
+separated them, and grasping both his hands&mdash;"Why, Dick! Don't you know
+me?"</p>
+
+<p>If a thunderbolt had shattered the floor at the Englishman's feet he
+could not have been more dumfounded. The one seemingly impossible thing
+had come to pass. In all this great world, with every chance against it,
+fate had ordained that the little provincial city in which he had
+planned to play, for one night only, another man's part, should also
+contain one of that man's friends, and they two had met. He was so
+staggered, as the possibilities contingent on this mischance crowded
+through his brain, that he could only stammer out:</p>
+
+<p>"You have the advantage of me."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I don't much wonder," continued his new-found friend. "If I have
+changed as much in fifteen years as you have, it isn't strange you
+didn't recognise me. Lord! I'd never have known you if you hadn't told
+me who you were."</p>
+
+<p>"You must do me as great a favour," said Scarsdale, regaining a little
+of his self-composure. If so long a time had elapsed since their last
+meeting, he felt that things were not so bad after all, and that he
+could reasonably hope to bluff it out.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said the other, "the boys used to call me Faro Charlie; now you
+remember."</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman tried to look as if he did, and the American proceeded to
+further elucidate matters by saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Why, surely you ain't forgotten me as was your pal out to Red Dog, the
+time you was prospecting for copper and struck gold?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," said Scarsdale. "Of course I remember you now." He couldn't be
+supposed to have forgotten such an event, he felt; but the whole affair
+was most unfortunate.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you've settled down and become pious, from the looks of you,"
+continued Faro Charlie; "but you'll have a drink for old times' sake
+just the same."</p>
+
+<p>"No, thanks, you must excuse me," he replied, feeling that he must drop
+this unwelcome friend as soon as possible. But the friend had no
+intention of being dropped, and contented himself by saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Rats!" and ordering two whiskies.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, I've known the day," he continued, "when Slippery Dick&mdash;we used to
+call you Slippery Dick, you remember, 'cause you could cheat worse at
+poker than any man in the camp." Scarsdale writhed. "Well, as I was
+saying, you'd have shot a man then who refused to drink with you."</p>
+
+<p>The Englishman sat aghast. Little had he thought he was impersonating a
+card-sharper and a wholesale murderer. The whisky came and he drank it,
+feeling that he needed a bracer.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," said Faro Charlie, "I want to hear all about what you've been
+doing, first and last. Tending copper-mines, I heered, out to Michigan."</p>
+
+<p>This, the Englishman felt, was going too far. It was bad enough to have
+to impersonate such a fellow as "Slippery Dick," but to endow him with a
+fictitious history that was at all comparable with Faro Charlie's
+account of his earlier years required too great an effort of
+imagination. And the fact that a quiet little man, who was sitting near
+by, edged up his chair and seemed deeply interested in the conversation,
+did not tend to put him more at his ease. No wonder, he thought, the
+Consul did not talk much about his brother. He therefore hastened to
+change the subject.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you seen much of the Indians lately?" he ventured; it seemed such
+a safe topic.</p>
+
+<p>"Thinking of that little squaw you was so chummy with down to Injun
+Reservation?" queried his friend, punching him jovially in the ribs.
+"You knew, didn't you, that they'd had her up for horse-stealing to
+Fort Smith? Reckon as they'd a hung her if she hadn't been a woman. She
+was a limb! Guess you had your hands full when you tackled her."</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale decided his choice of a subject had not been fortunate, and
+begged Faro Charlie to have some more whisky.</p>
+
+<p>"Sure," replied that individual. "Drink with you all night."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid you can't do that," replied Scarsdale, hastening to rid
+himself of his unwelcome friend. "I have some important business to
+attend to this evening."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you weren't in such a rush. Come back and we'll paint the town,
+eh?"</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale thought it extremely unlikely, and shaking hands fled to the
+street with a sigh of relief; for he had had a very bad quarter of an
+hour. What cursed luck that he should have run across this American
+horror! He must avoid him at all costs to-morrow morning.</p>
+
+<p>In his hurry he had not noticed that the quiet little man had left the
+winter garden with him. His one thought was to get away. He determined
+to send that telegram to Basingstoke at once, and go to bed before any
+one else recognised him: one of Slippery Dick's friends was enough.</p>
+
+<p>But unkind fate had not yet done with him, and a new and more terrible
+surprise was in store for the unfortunate bridegroom. He had scarcely
+gone a dozen yards from the hotel entrance, when a voice said just
+beside him:</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me, Mr. Richard Allingford, but may I have a few words with
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale turned, and finding himself face to face with the quiet little
+man, who had seemed so interested in his conversation of a few moments
+ago, said:</p>
+
+<p>"I seem to be in great demand to-night. Why do you wish to see me? I
+don't know you."</p>
+
+<p>"No," said the man who stood beside him. "No, you do not know me, Mr.
+Richard Allingford; but you will."</p>
+
+<p>He was a quiet, unpretending little man; but there was something about
+his dress and bearing, and the snap with which he shut his jaw at the
+end of a sentence, an air of decision, in short, which caused the
+Englishman to feel that he would do well to conciliate this stranger,
+whoever he might be, so he said shortly:</p>
+
+<p>"What do you want with me? Speak quickly; I'm in a hurry."</p>
+
+<p>"I couldn't help overhearing some of your conversation just now at the
+hotel, and so I took the liberty of following you to ask you a
+question."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes?" said Scarsdale interrogatively.</p>
+
+<p>"If I mistake not you are the brother of the United States Consul at
+Christchurch, and came over to his wedding."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he admitted; for he did not see how he could well deny to one man
+what he had just confessed to another.</p>
+
+<p>"You have been in England about ten days, I think?"</p>
+
+<p>"As long as that, certainly."</p>
+
+<p>"May I ask what ship you came on?"</p>
+
+<p>"By what right do you ask me these questions?"</p>
+
+<p>"You will see presently."</p>
+
+<p>"But suppose I refuse to answer them?"</p>
+
+<p>The unknown shrugged his shoulders, and said quietly:</p>
+
+<p>"Now wasn't it the <i>Paris</i>?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said Scarsdale, who remembered with joy having seen that fact
+chronicled in a London paper.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you have never been in Winchester before?"</p>
+
+<p>"Never in my life."</p>
+
+<p>"Not last week?"</p>
+
+<p>"Look here!" said Scarsdale angrily, "what the devil are you driving
+at?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is a pity you should have such a good memory for past and not for
+recent events," said the quiet little man, "a great pity."</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you I have never been here!"</p>
+
+<p>"Didn't dine at the Lion's Head last Wednesday, for instance?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I did not, and I've had enough of this insolence!"</p>
+
+<p>"So have I," said the little man, blowing a little whistle. "So have I,
+and therefore I arrest you, Richard Allingford, in the Queen's name."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH MR. SCARSDALE REAPS ANOTHER'S WHIRLWIND</h3>
+
+<p>Scarsdale was absolutely staggered by the word "arrest." Arrest! What
+nonsense! Who was this man who talked of arresting <i>him</i>, Harold
+Scarsdale, peaceably engaged in trying to find his wife and proceed on
+his honeymoon? The first sensations of surprise and incredulity were
+quickly followed, however, by a realisation of the horrible situation in
+which his own stupidity had placed him. In the eyes of the law he was
+not Harold Scarsdale, but Richard Allingford, and he shuddered to think
+with what crime he might be charged; for, from what he had learned in
+the last half-hour, he could not doubt that he was posing as one of the
+most abandoned characters that had ever visited the town of Winchester.</p>
+
+<p>A person who consorted with horse-thieves, cheated at cards, and thought
+nothing of shooting friends who were not thirsty, would surely be
+satisfied with no ordinary crime. Of what was he accused? He hardly
+dared to ask. And how was he to get out of this dreadful dilemma? His
+reflections, however, were cut short by the arrival of a burly
+policeman, in answer to his captor's whistle. The little man at once
+addressed the newcomer, quite ignoring Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"Here's your man Allingford; not a doubt of it," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"Got your warrant?" inquired the policeman, laying a detaining hand on
+the prisoner's shoulder.</p>
+
+<p>"Here it is," replied the first speaker, producing a paper, which the
+officer glanced at and returned, saying at the same time to Scarsdale:</p>
+
+<p>"Now, then, come along o' me, and don't make no resistance if you knows
+what's good for you."</p>
+
+<p>"I do not intend to offer any resistance," replied that gentleman, and
+turning to the little man he asked: "By what right do you arrest me, and
+on what charge?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm Private Detective Smithers," replied his captor, "and this," again
+producing the paper he had already shown to the policeman, "is my
+warrant. You know the charge well enough."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm entirely ignorant of it!" cried Scarsdale hotly.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," said the detective. "They always are," and he winked at the
+officer.</p>
+
+<p>"I tell you I don't know anything about it!" reiterated the unfortunate
+bridegroom.</p>
+
+<p>"I must caution you," remarked the policeman, "that anything you says
+may be used against you as evidence."</p>
+
+<p>"I demand to know why I am arrested. I have a right to do so."</p>
+
+<p>"Tell him, Bill," said the detective, "and stop his row."</p>
+
+<p>The officer, thus admonished, nodded his head, and replied shortly:</p>
+
+<p>"Two charges: 'sault and battery on the landlord of the Lion's Head, and
+disturbing the peace on last Wednesday night."</p>
+
+<p>"I deny the charge!" cried Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course you do," replied the policeman; "I suppose you would. Now
+you've had your say, are you coming along peaceable, or are you not?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly I am," replied the prisoner, and they started up the street,
+followed by a small crowd, which had already collected.</p>
+
+<p>"I must warn you," continued Scarsdale, when they were fairly under way,
+"that you are making a mistake. I am not the man you take me for."</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose you'll deny your name is Richard Allingford next," said the
+detective, laughing.</p>
+
+<p>"I do deny it."</p>
+
+<p>"Well I'm blessed!" remarked his captor.</p>
+
+<p>The policeman simply said: "Come on, that's too thin!" and jerked him
+roughly by the arm.</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale quickened his pace, saying angrily:</p>
+
+<p>"If you'd only give a man a chance to explain!"</p>
+
+<p>"You'll have chance enough, when you come up to-morrow, to explain to
+the court," replied the officer, "and a pretty bill of damages into the
+bargain."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, if it's only a fine," remarked the prisoner, feeling much relieved,
+"I'll pay it and welcome, rather than have a row."</p>
+
+<p>"Maybe you won't have the option," replied one of his captors; while the
+other added cheerfully: "What you needs is thirty days, and I 'opes
+you'll get it."</p>
+
+<p>At the police court Scarsdale did not help his case by insisting on
+giving his right name, and denying all knowledge of the charge. His
+statements were entered against him, he was relieved of his watch,
+purse, and jewellery, and introduced to the cold comforts of the
+lock-up.</p>
+
+<p>On being asked if he wished to communicate with any one, he replied that
+the next morning would be quite time enough; for he knew that Mrs.
+Allingford could give him little help in his present predicament, and
+he did not wish to disturb her night's rest to no purpose.</p>
+
+<p>It can be well imagined that the accommodations of an English provincial
+prison are not luxurious; but the room was clean, and fortune favoured
+him in that he had only two companions, both of whom were stupid drunk,
+and went to sleep very peaceably on the floor.</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale improvised a bed on a settee, and, using his coat as a pillow,
+passed a fairly comfortable night. Luckily he was of a somewhat
+phlegmatic temperament, and withal very tired after the day's exertions;
+so, in spite of the misfortunes which were crowding about him, he was
+able to resign himself to the inevitable, and eventually to drop off to
+sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Early next morning, however, he arranged to have a note delivered to
+Mrs. Allingford at the hotel, in which he informed that lady of his
+unfortunate predicament, begging her not to distress herself on his
+account; and assuring her that in all probability it was merely a
+matter of a trifling fine, and that he should be at liberty to rejoin
+her within a few hours.</p>
+
+<p>He felt very little of what he wrote; but as long as there was a chance
+of things coming out right, he wished to spare her all possible worry.</p>
+
+<p>His ready money procured him a better breakfast than he could have hoped
+for, and by nine o'clock, when the court opened, he was refreshed and
+ready for whatever might befall. His two companions in misfortune
+preceded him for trial, but their cases were soon disposed of, and
+Harold Scarsdale, <i>alias</i> Richard Allingford, was put into the dock.</p>
+
+<p>The court-room consisted of a plainly furnished apartment, containing a
+raised platform at one end, on which were placed the desk and armchair
+of the police magistrate, while in front were several rows of benches
+for the accommodation of the public: but as the cases were of no general
+interest, Scarsdale was relieved to see that the attendance was meagre.
+Mrs. Allingford was present, however, looking very white and distressed,
+but managing to muster up a smile to greet him as he entered.</p>
+
+<p>The proceedings were short and to the point. The police constable, on
+being called and given the oath, kissed the book and deposed that at
+about a quarter to nine on the previous evening, while on his accustomed
+beat, he had been summoned by Private Detective Smithers to aid in
+arresting the prisoner, who had professed ignorance of the charge, the
+truth of which he afterwards denied, and who persisted in asserting that
+he was not Richard Allingford.</p>
+
+<p>Private Detective Smithers now took the stand and stated the case from
+his point of view; which was, in short, that the conversation he had
+overheard at the hotel between the prisoner and another person here
+present, and the statement which the prisoner made to him personally,
+proved that he was without doubt the Richard Allingford mentioned in the
+indictment. In conclusion he begged that the person styling himself Faro
+Charlie should be summoned to corroborate his testimony. Faro Charlie
+was accordingly called and placed in the dock, and after the usual
+preliminaries the magistrate examined him as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"What is your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Faro Charlie."</p>
+
+<p>"Any other name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Smith."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well, Charles Smith; are you a citizen of the United States?"</p>
+
+<p>"I be."</p>
+
+<p>"Of what occupation?"</p>
+
+<p>"Miner."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you recognise the prisoner as the person whom you met at the George
+last evening?"</p>
+
+<p>"I do."</p>
+
+<p>"Can you swear that he is Richard Allingford?"</p>
+
+<p>"No."</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale's heart leaped at that "no"; salvation was at hand after all.</p>
+
+<p>The magistrate continued:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you believe this person to be Richard Allingford?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, on the whole I think I do." The prisoner's heart sank. "But,"
+continued the witness, "I can't be sure. Fifteen years is a long time. I
+wouldn't have known him if he hadn't owned up to his name. He might be
+playing me for a sucker."</p>
+
+<p>"In other words, you think the prisoner to be Richard Allingford, but
+are unwilling to swear to his identity?"</p>
+
+<p>"That's the stuff," replied Faro Charlie. "I swored as a man was my
+uncle, three years ago at 'Frisco, and he put a bullet into me next day,
+'cause I lost him the case. After which I ain't swearing against a pal,"
+and he left the stand.</p>
+
+<p>The case now proceeded, and the detective related how on Wednesday, the
+16th of October, the prisoner, Richard Allingford, in company with other
+lawless characters, had dined at the Lion's Head, and, during a dispute
+with the landlord concerning the quality of the wine, had thrown that
+personage out of his own second-storey window; telling his wife, who
+protested against such actions, to put her husband in the bill, which
+they left without settling. Then they proceeded to paint the town of
+Winchester a lurid crimson, breaking windows, beating a policeman who
+interfered, and raiding a night coffee-stall in the process.</p>
+
+<p>This recital of wrong and outrage being finished, the magistrate
+addressed the prisoner as follows:</p>
+
+<p>"What is your name?"</p>
+
+<p>"Harold Stanley Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale."</p>
+
+<p>Some one in the audience murmured, "O Lor'!"</p>
+
+<p>"You refuse to admit that your name is Richard Allingford?" continued
+the justice.</p>
+
+<p>"I have just given you my name."</p>
+
+<p>"Are you an American?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, I am an Englishman."</p>
+
+<p>"Where do you live?"</p>
+
+<p>"'The Towers,' Sussex."</p>
+
+<p>The audience again voiced its sentiments; this time to the effect that
+the prisoner was "a 'owling swell"; but order was restored and the case
+once more proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>"What is your profession?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am a clerk in the War Office."</p>
+
+<p>"Does not that interfere with the management of your estate?" asked his
+interlocutor, to whom the last two statements savoured of contradiction.</p>
+
+<p>"I have just succeeded to the estate, through the death of an elder
+brother."</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, I see. Now in regard to last evening. Do you admit meeting at the
+George the person who calls himself Charles Smith?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Did not you represent yourself to him as being Richard Allingford?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>This reply caused a sensation in the court.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose," said the magistrate, "that you realise that this is a
+serious admission."</p>
+
+<p>"It is the truth."</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you can explain it to the satisfaction of the court."</p>
+
+<p>"I assumed the name," said Scarsdale with an effort, "to screen from
+possible annoyance a lady who was under my protection. With the
+permission of the court, however, I should prefer not to go into this
+matter further, as it has no direct bearing on the charge. My action was
+foolish, and I have been punished for it."</p>
+
+<p>"You certainly chose an unfortunate alias," commented the magistrate
+drily, and, much to the prisoner's relief, turned to another phase of
+the case.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing in Winchester?"</p>
+
+<p>"I am on my honeymoon. I was married yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>A titter of laughter ran round the court-room; but the magistrate
+frowned, and continued:</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose that is the reason why you registered under an assumed name,
+and are travelling with somebody else's wife?"</p>
+
+<p>There was more laughter, for the justice had a local reputation as a
+wit. Scarsdale boiled inwardly, but held his peace; while his judge, who
+seemed to feel that he had strayed a little from the subject in hand,
+after a moment's silence asked shortly:</p>
+
+<p>"Do you plead guilty or not guilty to these charges?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not guilty!"</p>
+
+<p>"Do you wish this matter settled here or in a superior court?"</p>
+
+<p>"I desire that it be settled here, provided I am given an opportunity to
+prove my identity."</p>
+
+<p>"You will be given every reasonable opportunity. What do you wish?"</p>
+
+<p>"I wish to ask first by whom these charges are preferred."</p>
+
+<p>"The charge of assault and battery has been brought by the landlord of
+the Lion's Head."</p>
+
+<p>"I infer that the landlord served Richard Allingford in person on the
+night in question, and would be likely to know him if he saw him."</p>
+
+<p>The magistrate conferred with the detective, and replied that such was
+the case.</p>
+
+<p>"If the question is not out of order," resumed the prisoner, "may I ask
+if the landlord of the Lion's Head is a reputable witness, and one whose
+testimony might be relied on?"</p>
+
+<p>"I think you may trust yourself in his hands," replied the justice, who
+had seen all along whither the case was tending.</p>
+
+<p>"Then," said Scarsdale, "I shall be satisfied to rest my case on his
+identification."</p>
+
+<p>"That is quite a proper request," replied the magistrate. "Is the
+landlord of the Lion's Head present?"</p>
+
+<p>At this a dapper little man jumped up in the audience, and explained
+that he was the landlord's physician, and that his patient, though
+convalescent, was still disabled by his injuries and unable to attend
+court.</p>
+
+<p>On inquiry being made as to when he could put in an appearance, the
+physician replied that he thought the landlord could come the next day.</p>
+
+<p>The magistrate therefore consulted for a moment with the detective, and
+then said to the prisoner:</p>
+
+<p>"Your case is remanded for trial until to-morrow."</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale held up his hand in token that he wished to speak.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said the magistrate, "what else?"</p>
+
+<p>"If I can, by the time this court meets to-morrow, produce reputable
+witnesses from London to prove my identity," asked the prisoner, "will
+their evidence be admitted?"</p>
+
+<p>"If they can identify themselves as such to the satisfaction of the
+court, yes."</p>
+
+<p>The magistrate thereupon dismissed the case, and Scarsdale was removed
+from the court-room.</p>
+
+<p>He felt he had come off singularly well, and, except for the annoyance
+and delay would have little further trouble. What he most desired was an
+interview with Mrs. Allingford; but what with a change in his quarters,
+owing to the deferment of the trial, and the difficulty of getting word
+to her, it was the middle of the afternoon before this was accomplished.</p>
+
+<p>The unfortunate little woman seemed completely broken down by this fresh
+disaster, and it was some time before she could control herself
+sufficiently to talk calmly with him.</p>
+
+<p>"I shall never, never forgive myself," she sobbed. "It is all my fault
+that you have incurred this disgrace. I can never look your wife in the
+face again."</p>
+
+<p>"Nonsense!" he said, trying to cheer her up. "There is no disgrace in
+being arrested for what somebody else has done; and as for its being
+your fault, why, it was I who proposed to pass myself off as your
+husband's brother."</p>
+
+<p>"But I allowed it, only I did not know anything about my brother-in-law,
+except that he existed; his being in England is a complete surprise to
+me." A remark which caused Scarsdale to be thankful that he had said
+nothing to her about that scene at the club when the Consul heard of
+Dick's arrival. "He must be very wicked. I'm so sorry. But we won't talk
+about him now; we will talk about you. What can I do to retrieve
+myself?" she continued.</p>
+
+<p>"Let us consider your own affairs first," he replied. "I wasn't able to
+send a telegram to Basingstoke last night; I was arrested on my way to
+the office."</p>
+
+<p>"I sent one, though, this morning, right after the trial."</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't know that you knew where to go," he said.</p>
+
+<p>"I didn't," she returned; "but that queer American person, who wouldn't
+swear to your identity, sent it for me. He is very odd, but I'm sure he
+has a good heart. He was so distressed over the whole affair, and
+offered to be of any assistance he could."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Scarsdale. He was not pre-possessed in Faro Charlie's favour.</p>
+
+<p>"So I think," she went on, "that if they are at Basingstoke, they will
+be here in a few hours. I told them all about your arrest and where I
+was staying."</p>
+
+<p>"So far so good. Allingford can identify me even to the satisfaction of
+this magistrate, I think. But it is just as well to have two strings to
+one's bow, so I have another plan to suggest; but first let me hear if
+you have done anything else."</p>
+
+<p>"No; but I think I shall telegraph to my mother. I can't spend another
+night here alone."</p>
+
+<p>"Why don't you wait and see if your husband does not turn up? I hate to
+give our affairs more publicity than is necessary," he suggested.</p>
+
+<p>"Would you prefer me to do so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, very much; if you don't mind."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I will. I think, after my share in this unfortunate business, you
+ought to have the first consideration. Now tell me your plan."</p>
+
+<p>"I propose that we telegraph to your husband's best man, Jack
+Carrington, asking him to come to Winchester this evening. He can
+identify me, and identify himself also, for he has a brother who is an
+officer in one of the regiments stationed here."</p>
+
+<p>"Just the thing!" she cried. "I'll send it at once."</p>
+
+<p>"No," replied Scarsdale. "You write it and I'll send it." He did not
+wish any more of his plans to be revealed to Faro Charlie.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH A SERIOUS CHARGE IS LAID AT THE CONSUL'S DOOR</h3>
+
+<p>Jack Carrington, Esquire, Gentleman, sat in his snug little
+sitting-room, in one of the side streets of Mayfair, shortly before
+seven in the evening, feeling uncommonly blue. He was, without doubt, in
+a most unfortunate position. Born and bred a gentleman; educated to do
+nothing, yet debarred by lack of family influence from the two
+professions he might properly have entered, the army and the diplomatic
+corps; with not quite enough money to support his position as a
+bachelor, and no hopes of ever having any more, the outlook,
+matrimonially at least, was anything but encouraging, and there was a
+lady&mdash;with whose existence this narrative has no concern&mdash;who, had
+fortune smiled, might now be Mrs. Carrington: a possibility which had
+brought our quondam best man almost to the point of determining,
+according to those false standards which are happily fast passing away
+from English society, to be no longer a <i>gentleman</i>, but to go into
+trade.</p>
+
+<p>Such, then, was his condition when the door-bell rang, and a moment
+later a card was brought to him bearing the name of Lady Scarsdale. He
+looked at it, scarcely believing his eyes. How came it that she should
+call on him at an hour so strikingly unconventional? It was therefore
+with no little bewilderment that he gave orders to have her shown in.</p>
+
+<p>When her ladyship, whom he had never seen before, entered his parlour,
+he found himself face to face with a strikingly handsome woman of middle
+age, dressed in semi-mourning. She accepted his outstretched hand, held
+it a second, and, taking the seat he offered, said, with just a glance
+in the direction of a demure little woman who followed her into the
+room:</p>
+
+<p>"Miss Wilkins."</p>
+
+<p>Carrington bowed, and Miss Wilkins, maid or attendant, whichever she
+might be, retired to the remote end of the room, and promptly immersed
+herself in the only volume within reach, a French novel which Jack felt
+sure she had never seen before, and would not be likely to peruse to any
+great extent.</p>
+
+<p>"You will naturally be surprised at my presence here this evening," said
+Lady Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>Her host bowed and smiled, to show that pleasure and gratification were
+mingled; indeed, until she further declared her position he hardly knew
+how he ought to feel.</p>
+
+<p>Her ladyship continued:</p>
+
+<p>"My object in coming is unusual; it is, in short, to request your aid
+and assistance in a very extraordinary and delicate matter."</p>
+
+<p>Jack bowed again, and his visitor proceeded:</p>
+
+<p>"You will excuse me if I seem agitated"&mdash;she certainly did seem very
+much so, if red eyes and a quivering lip meant anything&mdash;"but I have
+scarcely recovered from the shock occasioned by the arrival of a
+telegram received this morning from a Mr. Allingford, at whose marriage,
+I think, you assisted."</p>
+
+<p>"I was his best man."</p>
+
+<p>"So I understand."</p>
+
+<p>"Nothing wrong, I hope?"</p>
+
+<p>"That you shall hear. Do you know my son, Mr. Scarsdale?"</p>
+
+<p>"Only slightly."</p>
+
+<p>"You may be aware that he was married yesterday." Jack nodded, and she
+continued: "To a Miss Vernon, an American. You know her, I believe?"</p>
+
+<p>"Quite well," replied her host. "She is a most charming woman."</p>
+
+<p>"Now this Mr. Allingford telegraphs me," resumed his visitor, "from my
+aunt Lady Melton's country seat, Melton Court, that he is staying there
+with my son's wife, who was Miss Vernon."</p>
+
+<p>"Staying there with Allingford! At Melton Court!" gasped Jack, to whom
+this seemed the most improbable combination of circumstances. "But
+where is her husband?"</p>
+
+<p>"I regret to say," replied her ladyship, "that, as a result of the two
+couples meeting each other at Basingstoke, they in some way became
+separated and carried off in different trains; so that my
+daughter-in-law and Mr. Allingford are now at my aunt's country place,
+near Salisbury, while my son and Mrs. Allingford have gone off together
+somewhere on the South Coast, and no trace can be found of them."</p>
+
+<p>"But how did it happen?"</p>
+
+<p>"The whole affair seems to have been the result of some deplorable
+blunder or accident; but in any event it is most distressing, and I came
+up at once to London, thinking you might be able to help me. But I see
+from your surprise that you have heard nothing from either party."</p>
+
+<p>"Not a word. But I am quite at your service."</p>
+
+<p>"Thanks. You may not know that, actuated by a spirit which I cannot
+admire, my son's wife and your friend each insisted on arranging the
+details of their wedding trips, and keeping the matter a profound
+secret, so that neither Mrs. Allingford nor my son knew their
+destination."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I have heard something of it; but I infer that you have not
+honoured me by this visit without the hope that I may be able to aid
+you. Pray tell me how I can be of service."</p>
+
+<p>My chief desire in calling on you, Mr. Carrington, was to learn if you
+had had any news of my son or his wife; but, of course, on my journey to
+town I have been thinking of various expedients, and though I hesitate
+to ask so great a favour from one I hardly know, you could, I think, be
+of great assistance to me.</p>
+
+<p>"With pleasure. Do you wish me to telegraph to Allingford, or go in
+search of your son?"</p>
+
+<p>"Neither. But I should be very grateful to you if you would go for me to
+Melton Court; I have not myself sufficient strength for the journey
+to-night; it is already late and I have no one to send. But I feel that
+my daughter-in-law is in an anomalous and probably unpleasant position;
+so, as I knew you to be a friend of both parties, I thought that perhaps
+you would be good enough to represent me, and see what could be done
+towards the solution of this unfortunate problem. My son's best man left
+for the Continent immediately after the ceremony, or I would have gone
+to him instead."</p>
+
+<p>"There is nothing I should like better than to serve you," replied Jack,
+"but, to speak frankly, I have not the honour of knowing Lady Melton."</p>
+
+<p>"If you will permit me to use your desk, I will give you a line of
+introduction."</p>
+
+<p>Carrington bowed his consent.</p>
+
+<p>"Now," she said, giving him the note, "when can you leave?"</p>
+
+<p>"At once," he replied, "by the first train."</p>
+
+<p>"You will, of course, act as you think best," she continued. "I am
+staying at the Berkeley for to-night, and if Mabel's husband has not
+rejoined her before you arrive, you had better bring her to me there
+to-morrow. As you are going on my behalf you must, of course, let me
+bear all expenses of the trip."</p>
+
+<p>On this ground her ladyship was firm in spite of Carrington's
+protestations, and they finally parted, with many expressions of
+gratitude, on a mutual and highly satisfactory understanding.</p>
+
+<p>As Jack employed a valet only on state occasions, he was, after a
+hurried dinner, deep in his preparations for immediate departure, when,
+about half-past eight, Mrs. Allingford's telegram from Winchester
+arrived, which it is hardly necessary to say startled him considerably.
+The news that Scarsdale was under arrest for the crime of another
+person, and the fact that it lay in his power to free him, seemed to
+prove without doubt that his first duty was to go to Winchester; but he
+had promised Lady Scarsdale to go to Melton Court, and it was impossible
+to do both that night. He was uncertain how to act, and what his
+ultimate decision would have been it is difficult to say, had not an
+outside influence decided matters for him. Another caller was announced.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm not at home. Can't see anybody," said Carrington.</p>
+
+<p>"That's not true, young man, and you've got to see me," replied a voice,
+and, as the door opened, to his astonishment Aunt Eliza advanced into
+the middle of the room, which was littered with his toilet articles.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, Miss Cogbill!" he exclaimed, rising to greet her, "I thought you
+were in Paris."</p>
+
+<p>"So I should be if I hadn't been stopped at Calais by a telegram from
+that good-for-nothing Consul of yours."</p>
+
+<p>"Allingford. Then you know where they are?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, and of all the fools&mdash;&mdash;!"</p>
+
+<p>"I've also heard from Scarsdale and Mrs. Allingford."</p>
+
+<p>"You have! Where are they?"</p>
+
+<p>"Winchester."</p>
+
+<p>"Winchester! What are they doing there?"</p>
+
+<p>"He's been arrested."</p>
+
+<p>"Arrested!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. Sit down and I'll tell you about it." Which he proceeded to do,
+and also about Lady Scarsdale's visit.</p>
+
+<p>"Just so," commented Aunt Eliza when he had finished. "Now what do you
+propose doing next?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose the proper thing would be to put the two couples in
+communication with each other," suggested Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, I'm not so sure," she said. "You and I are the only ones who know
+all the facts, and we must not act in a hurry. Now there's Allingford
+and Mabel down at Melton Court. They'll keep till to-morrow, I guess. It
+would just spoil her night's rest to know that her husband was in jail
+at Winchester, and send her over to him by the first train to-morrow
+morning, like as not, to weep on his neck and complicate the course of
+justice. Anyway, I don't think the two couples had better meet till we
+are present to soothe their ruffled feelings; for, after the mess that
+the Consul's brother has got them into, I dare say that, left to
+themselves, the Scarsdales and Allingfords wouldn't be real cordial to
+each other. But I see you are packing up. Now where are you going?"</p>
+
+<p>"I was going down to Salisbury, at Lady Scarsdale's request."</p>
+
+<p>"You're needed elsewhere. You go right down to Winchester this evening,
+so as you can be there when the court opens first thing to-morrow
+morning, to identify my good-for-nothing nephew, liberate him, and send
+him and Mrs. Allingford over to Melton Court as soon as you can. I'll be
+there before you to break the news to Mabel."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you see," he said, "I've promised her ladyship."</p>
+
+<p>"Never mind that; your business is to fish these young people out of
+their troubles. I'll drive at once to Lady Scarsdale's hotel, and tell
+her of your change of plans, and go down myself by the first train
+to-morrow morning to Salisbury."</p>
+
+<p>"Then," he said, closing his valise with a snap, "I shall leave at once
+for Winchester."</p>
+
+<p>"Good boy!" said Aunt Eliza. "It's too bad they spoiled you by making
+you a gentleman; you have a first-class head for business."</p>
+
+<p>"It is just what I've been thinking myself," he said ruefully.</p>
+
+<p>"Have you?" cried the old lady, her face lighting up with genuine
+interest. "I'm glad to hear it. You just put this matter through
+successfully, and maybe it will be worth more to you than your expenses.
+Now I must be off, and so must you."</p>
+
+<p>"Very well. I'll put up at the George," he said, as he helped her into a
+hansom.</p>
+
+<p>"Right you are!" she cried, and signalled her driver to go on.</p>
+
+<p>As Carrington found that he would not reach Winchester till late, he
+telegraphed Mrs. Allingford that he would see her the next morning, and
+that he had received news of the whereabouts of her husband and
+Scarsdale's wife, who were all right and would join them on the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>On his arrival he went straight to the hotel that Mrs. Allingford had
+designated in her telegram, to find that that lady had retired for the
+night, leaving, however, a note for him which contained full
+instructions, and stated in addition that she had received his telegram,
+for which she was profoundly grateful, and that he must not hesitate to
+wake her if, by so doing, he could cause her to rejoin her husband one
+instant sooner.</p>
+
+<p>As it was by this time close upon midnight, Carrington decided to let
+matters rest as they were till morning; especially as he had before he
+slept to hunt up his brother at the barracks, and so insure his
+attendance at court the next day. This was easily arranged; but the two
+men had much to talk over, and it was nearly daybreak when Jack set out
+to return to the hotel.</p>
+
+<p>The shortest way back was by a cross cut through the mysterious darkness
+of the cathedral close, within which he heard the voices of two men in
+heated dispute, the tone of the one shrill with rage, while those of the
+other proclaimed that he had been drinking.</p>
+
+<p>Carrington would have passed without noticing, so intent was he on his
+own affairs, had not a name which one of them pronounced arrested his
+attention and caused him to stop.</p>
+
+<p>"You call Robert Allingford a thief!" came the thick tones of the
+intoxicated man.</p>
+
+<p>"I say he stole it!" cried the shrill voice of the other.</p>
+
+<p>"Call my brother a thief!" reiterated the first speaker. "He's
+Consul&mdash;gentleman. Gentlemen don't steal elephants."</p>
+
+<p>"I say he stole it! Right away that day! Didn't wait for me to redeem
+it."</p>
+
+<p>"You dare to call my brother thief!" The voice grew menacing.</p>
+
+<p>"Twenty pounds he gave me&mdash;only one hundred dollars&mdash;for an elephant. I
+say he's a thief&mdash;&mdash;!"</p>
+
+<p>Here the shrill voice died away in a gulp, and there was a sound of
+blows and scuffling.</p>
+
+<p>Carrington forced his way through the hedge, crying:</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on! What is this about?"</p>
+
+<p>At the sound of his voice the owner of elephants exclaimed: "The
+bobbies!" and, disengaging himself from the other, fled down the road;
+while his companion, who had started to follow him, was detained by
+Jack, who recognised his captive as none other than Richard Allingford.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you doing here?" he demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said Allingford, "it's Mr. Carrington. Delighted to see you, I'm
+sure. Correcting that fellow. Says brother Robert stole elephant." His
+arrest had somewhat sobered him.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course," said Carrington, "he didn't steal the elephant."</p>
+
+<p>"Where is he?"</p>
+
+<p>"Your brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"At Melton Court, near Salisbury; but you must not go there."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I will," replied Slippery Dick, waxing pugnacious, "Take the
+elephant fellow along, too&mdash;make him eat his words. Call my brother a
+thief, will he?"</p>
+
+<p>"You'll do nothing of the kind," said his captor. "You're wanted here by
+the police."</p>
+
+<p>"What!"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. For assault and battery, and disturbing the peace. They have
+arrested another man, a Mr. Scarsdale, by mistake in your place."</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know anything about it. Never been here before to-night,"
+protested the unregenerate one.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you must come along with me and give yourself up, or&mdash;&mdash;." But
+Carrington never finished the sentence; for at that moment he struck the
+ground very hard, and by the time he realised that Slippery Dick had
+tripped him, that personage had disappeared into the darkness, thus
+justifying his sobriquet.</p>
+
+<p>Jack picked himself up and struggled through the hedge; but no one was
+in sight, and the dull, distant sound of flying feet seemed to indicate
+that the Consul's brother was seeking fresh fields and pastures new with
+uncommon celerity.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH THE CONSUL AND MRS. SCARSDALE EMULATE THE KING OF FRANCE AND
+TWENTY THOUSAND OF HIS COMPATRIOTS</h3>
+
+<p>Another day was dawning, a day that was destined to be most arduous,
+eventful, and important in the lives of all those with whom this
+narrative has to deal. Yet, at this hour in the morning, Carrington,
+sitting shivering on his bedside; Lady Melton, listening in her chamber
+for the departing footsteps of the faithful Bright; Aunt Eliza, drinking
+an early cup of coffee in preparation for a long day's work; the Consul
+and Mrs. Scarsdale, journeying to Southampton; Slippery Dick, pouncing
+on the sometime owner of elephants at a way-side alehouse; Scarsdale,
+pacing his prison cell; Mrs. Allingford, waiting, 'twixt hope and fear,
+for news of her husband; and the elephant, shrieking in his
+box-stall&mdash;these, one and all, entered regretfully upon this day
+fraught with so many complications.</p>
+
+<p>Carrington had decided, as he wended his way home to the hotel after his
+somewhat startling encounter with the Consul's unregenerate brother,
+that he was in no wise bound to report the matter to the authorities.
+His mission was to extricate Mr. Scarsdale from unjust imprisonment, not
+to incriminate any one else; and he foresaw that any attempt on his part
+to interfere, as an avenger of justice, might entail subsequent
+attendance at the local police court whenever the true culprit fell into
+the hands of the law.</p>
+
+<p>When Jack had thus determined on his course of action, he resigned
+himself peacefully to slumber, of which he stood much in need; but no
+sooner, apparently, had his head touched the pillow than he was awakened
+by a knocking at his chamber door. In reply to his sleepy inquiries, he
+was informed that Mrs. Allingford was up and in the ladies'
+drawing-room, and would much appreciate it if she could see him as soon
+as possible.</p>
+
+<p>Carrington replied that he would be happy to wait on her in a few
+minutes, as soon as he was dressed, in fact, and cursed himself heartily
+for having been fool enough to be any one's best man. Half-past six! It
+was inhuman to call him up at such a time. He had not had three hours'
+sleep. He wished himself at Melton Court more than ever. There, at
+least, they rose at decent hours.</p>
+
+<p>As he entered the hotel drawing-room, a few minutes later, in a somewhat
+calmer frame of mind, due to a bath and a cup of coffee, Mrs. Allingford
+rose to meet him, took both his hands in hers, and, holding them
+tightly, stood for a moment with her upturned eyes looking fixedly into
+his. He would never have known her for the happy bride of two short days
+ago; she seemed more like a widow, years older, and with all the joy of
+her youth crushed out by trouble.</p>
+
+<p>"Words cannot express what your coming means to me. It is the kindest
+thing you've ever done," she said simply; but her tone and manner told
+him of her gratitude and relief.</p>
+
+<p>"It is very little to do," he replied, feeling, all at once, that he had
+been a brute not to have seen her the night before.</p>
+
+<p>"My husband! Oh, tell me about my husband!" she exclaimed, dropping all
+restraint.</p>
+
+<p>"What a child she was, in spite of her wedding-ring!" he thought; but he
+felt very sorry for her, and answered gently:</p>
+
+<p>"I blame myself for not telling you sooner. He is safe and well.'</p>
+
+<p>"Thank God!" she murmured.</p>
+
+<p>"And at present at Melton Court, the country place of Lady Melton, Mr.
+Scarsdale's great-aunt." And then he told her such of her husband's
+adventures as he knew.</p>
+
+<p>"When is the first train to Salisbury?" she cried, interrupting the
+recital.</p>
+
+<p>"I dare say there is an early morning train," he returned; "but I should
+suggest your waiting for the one at nine-thirty, as then Mr. Scarsdale
+can accompany you."</p>
+
+<p>"But he is in prison."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, I know; but he won't be very long."</p>
+
+<p>"You are sure they will release him?"</p>
+
+<p>"There's not a doubt of it. I have arranged all that."</p>
+
+<p>"Now tell me more about my husband, everything you know. Poor Bob! if he
+has suffered as I have, he must indeed be wretched."</p>
+
+<p>Jack was morally sure that the Consul had done nothing of the kind, but
+he forbore to say so. Not that he doubted for a moment that Allingford
+loved his wife ardently; but he knew him to be a somewhat easy-going
+personage, who, when he could not have things as he wanted them,
+resigned himself to making the best of things as they were. From what he
+knew of Mrs. Scarsdale, moreover, he thought it safe to conclude that
+she had resigned herself to the exigencies of the case, and that both of
+them looked on the whole affair as a practical joke played upon them by
+Fate, of which they could clearly perceive the humorous side. He
+therefore turned the conversation by recounting all he knew, even to the
+minutest circumstance, of her husband's adventures; and she, in her
+turn, poured into his ear her tale of woe in Winchester.</p>
+
+<p>"I can't understand," he said, at the conclusion of her narrative, "why
+Allingford did not receive the telegram you sent to Basingstoke
+yesterday."</p>
+
+<p>"As I think I told you," she replied, "that strange person, Faro
+Charlie, offered to send it for me, and as I had no change I gave him a
+five-pound note."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh!" said Carrington, "perhaps that solves the mystery. Did your friend
+bring you back the change?"</p>
+
+<p>"N&mdash;o," admitted Mrs. Allingford; "that is, not yet."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm afraid you will never hear from your five-pound note, and that
+Allingford never received his telegram from Winchester," commented
+Carrington; "but it has disposed of Faro Charlie as a witness, and
+perhaps that was worth the money."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really think he meant to take it?" she asked in a shocked tone.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure of it," he replied, "and time will prove the correctness of
+my theory." And time did.</p>
+
+<p>They breakfasted together, and, at Carrington's suggestion, all the
+baggage was sent to the station, in order that they might have every
+chance of making the train. Jack's brother joined them about half-past
+eight, and the three proceeded to the court, where a few words from that
+officer to the magistrate, with whom he was personally acquainted, were
+sufficient to bring Scarsdale's case first on the docket.</p>
+
+<p>The landlord of the Lion's Head appeared, a mass of bandages, and
+groaning dolefully to excite the sympathy of the court; but he testified
+without hesitation that the prisoner, though somewhat resembling Richard
+Allingford, was not he; and it did not need Carrington's identification
+to make Scarsdale a free man. Then there were mutual congratulations,
+and a hurried drive to the station, where they just succeeded in
+catching the train; and, almost before he knew it, Jack was standing
+alone upon the platform, while his two friends were speeding towards
+the goal of all their hopes, <i>vi&acirc;</i> Southampton and Salisbury.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>"I suppose," said Mrs. Scarsdale to the Consul, as their train drew out
+of Salisbury in the first flush of the sunrise on the morning which saw
+Mr. Scarsdale's liberation from durance vile&mdash;"I suppose you realise
+that you have exiled me from the home of my ancestors."</p>
+
+<p>"How so?" asked the Consul.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, you don't imagine that I shall ever dare to show my face at Melton
+Court again. Just picture to yourself her ladyship and your elephant!
+She will never forgive us, and will cut poor Harold off with a
+shilling."</p>
+
+<p>"That won't hurt him much, from all I've heard of her ladyship's
+finances," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"I think," she resumed, "that I ought to be very angry with you; but I
+can't help laughing, it is so absurd. A bull in a china-shop would be
+tame compared with an elephant at Melton Court. What do you think she
+will do with the beast?"</p>
+
+<p>"Pasture it on the front lawn to keep away objectionable relatives,"
+retorted the Consul. "But, seriously speaking, have you any definite
+plan of campaign?"</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not. What do you suppose I carry you round for, if it is not
+to plan campaigns?"</p>
+
+<p>"Which you generally alter. You will please remember that the visit to
+Melton Court was entirely owing to you."</p>
+
+<p>"Quite, and I shall probably upset this one; but proceed."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, in the first place, as soon as we reach Southampton I think we
+had better have a good breakfast."</p>
+
+<p>"That is no news. You are a man; therefore you eat. Go on."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you object?"</p>
+
+<p>"Not at all. I expected it; I'll even eat with you."</p>
+
+<p>"Well said. After this necessary duty, I propose to go to the station
+and thoroughly investigate the matter of the arrival and departure of
+my wife and your husband."</p>
+
+<p>"If they were at Basingstoke we should have heard from them before
+this," she said; "and even if they were not, they should have
+telegraphed."</p>
+
+<p>"Very probably they did," he replied; "but, as you ought to know, there
+is nothing more obliging and more generally dense than an English minor
+official. I dare say that the key to the whole mystery is at this moment
+reposing, neatly done up in red tape, at the office of that disgusting
+little junction. But here we are at Southampton. Now for breakfast; and
+then the American Sherlock Holmes will sift this matter to the bottom."
+And the Consul, in excellent spirits, assisted her to alight.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, now that the elephant had been left behind, he felt that,
+actually as well as metaphorically, a great weight had been lifted from
+his shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"Evidently," remarked Allingford, as they were finishing a breakfast in
+one of the cosy principal hotels&mdash;"evidently the loss of your husband
+has not included the loss of your appetite."</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it hasn't," replied Mrs. Scarsdale. "Why shouldn't I eat a
+good breakfast? I have no use for conventions which make one do
+disagreeable things just because one happens to feel miserable."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you feel very miserable? I thought you seemed rather cheerful on the
+whole," he commented.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, you are not to think anything so unpleasant or personal. I'm
+utterly wretched; and if you don't believe it I won't eat a mouthful."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure," he returned, "that your husband would be much put out if he
+knew you contemplated doing anything so foolish."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know," she said, "that I'm beginning to have serious doubts that
+I ever had a husband? Do you think he's a myth, and that you and I will
+have to go through life together in an endless pursuit of what doesn't
+exist?"</p>
+
+<p>"Good Lord, I hope not!" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"That is very uncomplimentary to me," she retorted.</p>
+
+<p>"In the face of that remark," he replied, pushing back his chair, "I am
+silent."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you know," said his companion after a moment, as she folded her
+napkin, "that the keen sense of humour with which we Americans are
+endowed saves a large percentage of us from going mad or committing
+suicide?"</p>
+
+<p>"Are you thinking of doing either?" he asked anxiously.</p>
+
+<p>"I am thinking," she replied, "that we have had two exceedingly amusing
+days, and I am almost sorry they are over."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't you want to find your husband?" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"Of course I do; but it has been a sort of breathing-space before
+settling down to the seriousness of married life, and that elephant
+episode was funny. I think it was worth two days of any husband; don't
+you?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," returned the Consul, somewhat ruefully. "I'd just as
+lief that Scarsdale had had the beast."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I wouldn't!" she cried. "He would have spoiled all the fun. He'd
+have done some stupid, rational thing. Donated it to the 'Zoo' in
+London, I should think; wasted the elephant, in fact. It took the spirit
+of American humour to play your colossal, practical joke. I wonder if it
+has arrived at the Court yet. I can fancy it sticking its head, trunk
+and all, through the great window in Lady Melton's dining-room."</p>
+
+<p>"She called me a consular person," remarked that official stiffly.</p>
+
+<p>"Hence the elephant," laughed his fair companion. "Cause and effect.
+But, joking apart, there is a pitiful side to our adventure. When I
+think of those two matter-of-fact, serious British things, your better
+half and my&mdash;my husband, and of what a miserable time they have been
+having, unrelieved by any spark of humour, it almost makes me cry."</p>
+
+<p>"Hold on!" cried Allingford, "You are just as bad as your great-aunt.
+She calls me a consular person, and you call my wife a British thing! I
+wish I had another elephant."</p>
+
+<p>"I beg your pardon, I do really," she replied. "I classed my husband in
+the same category. But don't you agree with me that it's sad? I'm sure
+your poor wife has cried her eyes out; and as for my husband, I doubt if
+he's eaten anything, and I'm certain he's worn his most unbecoming
+clothes."</p>
+
+<p>"You are wrong there," interrupted Allingford; "he packed all the worst
+specimens, and I rescued them at Salisbury. I tried them on yesterday,
+and there wasn't a suit I'd have had the face to wear in public."</p>
+
+<p>"There, run along and turn the station upside down; you've talked
+enough," she said, laughing, and drove him playfully out of the room.</p>
+
+<p>It was about half-past nine that the Consul meditatively mopped his
+head, as he reached the top step of the hotel porch. He was heated by
+his exertions, but exceedingly complacent. He had interviewed sixteen
+porters, five guards, the station agent, three char-women, four
+policemen, and the barmaid&mdash;the latter twice, once on business and once
+on pleasure; and he had discovered from the thirtieth individual, and
+after twenty-nine failures and a drink, the simple fact that those he
+sought had gone to Winchester. He did not think he could have faced Mrs.
+Scarsdale if he had failed. As it was, he returned triumphant, and, as
+he approached their private parlour, he mentally pictured in advance the
+scene which would await him: her radiant smile, her voluble expression
+of thanks, their joyful journey to Winchester; in short, success. He
+pushed open the door, and this is what really happened: an angry woman
+with a flushed, tear-stained face rushed across the room, shoved a
+newspaper at him, and cried:</p>
+
+<p>"You brute!"</p>
+
+<p>The Consul dropped into the nearest chair. He looked at the infuriated
+Mrs. Scarsdale, he looked at the crumpled newspaper, he heard the last
+echo of that opprobrious monosyllable, and he said:</p>
+
+<p>"Well I'm jiggered!"</p>
+
+<p>Then, recollecting his news, he continued:</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, I forgot. I've found out where they have gone; it's Winchester."</p>
+
+<p>"Is that all you've got to tell me?" she cried. "All, in the face of
+this?" And she again shoved the newspaper towards him. He looked to
+where her finger pointed. He was hopelessly bewildered, and wondered if
+her native humour had inopportunely failed her and she had gone mad.</p>
+
+<p>"Read!" she commanded.</p>
+
+<p>His wandering eye followed the direction of her finger, and he read
+slowly, with open mouth, a short account of the arrest and partial trial
+at Winchester of one Richard Allingford, who claimed to be Harold
+Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell me," she thundered, "is that my husband?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well," he said, slowly, "I guess it is," and he re-read the last
+sentence of the paragraph in the newspaper:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><i>"The prisoner insisted that he was Harold Scarsdale, and could
+prove his identity. He was accompanied by a woman who claimed to be
+Mrs. Robert Allingford, wife of the well-known United States Consul
+at Christchurch. The prisoner was remanded till this morning."</i></p></div>
+
+<p>"Have you a brother?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes."</p>
+
+<p>"Has he ever been arrested?"</p>
+
+<p>"Arrested! Why, I've spent most of my time for the past twenty years in
+bailing him out."</p>
+
+<p>"But why has my husband taken his name?" she demanded.</p>
+
+<p>"That is a matter you'll have to settle with Scarsdale; and if you look
+as you do now, I'm real sorry for him," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"You don't care a bit!" she cried.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, yes I do; but I want you to see it from its humorous side," he
+answered.</p>
+
+<p>At this remark Mrs. Scarsdale burst into a flood of tears, and
+Allingford gave a sigh of relief, and, strolling to the window, was soon
+lost in admiration of the view.</p>
+
+<p>Suddenly a voice said, in the sweetness of its accustomed tones:</p>
+
+<p>"Why were you so pleased when I began to cry?" And Mrs. Scarsdale, calm
+and composed, stood beside him.</p>
+
+<p>"Hard storm is a good thing to clear the atmosphere after a
+thunder-shower," replied the Consul laconically.</p>
+
+<p>"I was real mad with you," she admitted.</p>
+
+<p>"Great Scott! don't you suppose I knew that?" he cried.</p>
+
+<p>They both laughed, and peace was restored.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you really think it is poor Harold?"</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose he doesn't get called St. Hubart when he's in 'quod'?"</p>
+
+<p>"Be sensible and answer my question. Is it my husband or your brother
+who is on trial at Winchester?"</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," he replied.</p>
+
+<p>"What are you going to do about it?" she asked.</p>
+
+<p>"Go and see."</p>
+
+<p>"When is the next train?"</p>
+
+<p>The Consul pulled out his watch.</p>
+
+<p>"In twelve and a half minutes," he said. "I've paid the hotel bill.
+Here, hold on! You turn to the left for the elevator!" But Mrs.
+Scarsdale was half-way downstairs on her way to the station.</p>
+
+<p>An hour later, as the Consul and his fair companion emerged at the
+station at Winchester, the first person they saw was Carrington.</p>
+
+<p>"We've been found at last!" cried the Consul, advancing towards Jack
+with outstretched hand, exclaiming: "Well, Columbus Carrington, if ever
+I get lost again, I'll telegraph you first thing."</p>
+
+<p>In a minute questions and answers were flying between them. Where had
+they been? Where had they come from? Why was Carrington here? Why had
+Scarsdale been arrested?</p>
+
+<p>Jack bore up manfully, answering as best he could.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps you can tell me the whereabouts of my wife and this lady's
+husband?" said the Consul.</p>
+
+<p>"They have been staying here," he replied, "but they have gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Gone!" cried Allingford in blank amazement. "Gone! Where? When?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, to Salisbury," replied Jack. "I sent them over there early this
+morning."</p>
+
+<p>"You did, did you?" spluttered the Consul. "What right had you to send
+them anywhere?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, to join you at Lady Diana's."</p>
+
+<p>"Join us!" screamed Allingford. "Why, we left Melton Court at half-past
+four this morning, and have been on the road ever since trying to join
+them."</p>
+
+<p>"It seems to be a typical example of cross-purposes," replied
+Carrington.</p>
+
+<p>"It's pure cussedness!" said the Consul.</p>
+
+<p>"But I thought my husband was&mdash;in prison," chimed in Mrs. Scarsdale;
+"the paper said so."</p>
+
+<p>"Merely a case of mistaken identity," Jack hastened to assure her. "I
+had him set free in no time. And that reminds me: I ran across your
+brother here last evening, Allingford. It is he who has caused all the
+trouble. Frankly, I am almost sorry I did not give him over to the
+police."</p>
+
+<p>"I wish you had," replied the Consul; "I wouldn't have bailed him out
+till my honeymoon was over. Where is he now?"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm inclined to believe," replied Carrington, "that he has gone to
+Melton Court in search of you, in company with a man who talked some
+nonsense about your having stolen an elephant from him."</p>
+
+<p>Allingford and Mrs. Scarsdale both began to laugh.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't see anything funny about that," said Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, don't you?" returned the Consul. "Well, you would if you knew the
+rest of the story." And in a few brief words he explained about the
+elephant's arrival and their subsequent flight.</p>
+
+<p>"Heavens, man!" cried Carrington, "you don't seem to realise what you
+have let Scarsdale and your wife in for!"</p>
+
+<p>"Great Scott!" exclaimed the Consul, "I never thought of that. Why, I
+reckon it's rampaging all over the place by this time, and the old lady
+must be in a perfect fury. When's the next train back? We can't get
+there too quickly."</p>
+
+<p>"One goes in five minutes," said Jack.</p>
+
+<p>"If I'd ever suspected," gasped Mrs. Scarsdale to Allingford as they
+rushed down the platform, "that you were laying such a trap for my poor
+husband&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"I'm sure I didn't do it on purpose," he replied; "but if they happen to
+meet the catawampus after she's met the elephant, they'll be in for a
+pretty hot time."</p>
+
+<p>"Your brother was bad enough," she groaned as the train pulled out; "but
+as for your elephant&mdash;&mdash;! It's worse than being arrested!"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH LADY MELTON RECEIVES A STRANGE VISITOR</h3>
+
+<p>However harassing and disturbing the events of the past few days had
+been to the people particularly interested in them, to the mind of one
+the proceedings of all those with whom he had come in contact had been
+characterised by an ignorance, not only of the necessities of life, but
+even of the very etiquette that lends a becoming dignity to existence,
+which seemed almost pitiful. Not since the elephant left his native
+shore had he received what he considered to be proper, or even
+intelligent, attention. On the voyage, indeed, though his quarters were
+crowded, and denied by the proximity of low-caste beasts, his material
+wants had been considered; but since yesterday, when he had landed in
+the midst of a howling wilderness of iron monsters, who could neither
+see nor hear and were no respecters of persons, there had been a
+scarcity even of food and water. All night he had been dragged about the
+country at a speed unbecoming the dignity of a ruler of the jungle
+(without even the company of his mahout, who had lost the train at
+Southampton); and, now that the earth had ceased to move past him and
+was once more still, he expressed his opinion of the ignorant and
+degraded people of this wretched country in no uncertain voice. Then,
+finding that the pen in which he was confined was cramped and dirty, and
+wholly unfitted for one of his exalted position, he exerted himself to
+be free, and in a short time reduced his car to kindling-wood. Being now
+at liberty, he naturally desired his breakfast; but what was one to do
+when men disfigured the earth with bars of steel over which one tripped,
+and stored the fruits of the land in squat yellow bungalows, with fluted
+iron roofs which were difficult to tear off? Therefore the elephant
+lifted up his voice in rage, whereat many things happened, and a
+high-caste man, clad in the blue of the sky and the gold of the sun, ran
+up and down upon the earth, and declared that he should forthwith be
+taken to the "Court" and delivered to the "Damconsul."</p>
+
+<p>What a "Damconsul" was the elephant did not know; but concluded that it
+was the title these barbarous people bestowed on the Maharajah of that
+district. Since he lived at a Court, it seemed certain that he would
+know how to appreciate and fittingly entertain him. The elephant
+therefore consented to follow his attendant slaves, though they
+understood not the noble art of riding him, but were fain to lead him
+like a beast of burden. On the way he found a spring of sweet water, of
+which he drank his fill, despite the protestations of his leaders and
+the outcries of the inhabitants of the bungalow of the well, whose
+lamentations showed them to be of low caste and little sensible of the
+honour done them.</p>
+
+<p>The procession at length reached the gate of the Court; and while the
+attendants were in the lodge explaining matters to the astonished
+keeper, the elephant, realising that "drink was good but food better,"
+determined to do a little foraging on his own account, and so moved
+softly off, taking along the stake to which his keepers fondly imagined
+he was tethered.</p>
+
+<p>He judged that he was now in the park of the Court of the "Damconsul";
+and the fact that there were many clumps of familiar plants scattered
+over the grass increased his belief that this was the case. He tried a
+few coleus and ate a croton or two; but found them insipid and lacking
+the freshness of those which bloomed in his native land. Then turning to
+a grove of young palms, he tore a number up by the roots; which he found
+required no expenditure of strength, and so gave him little
+satisfaction. Moreover, they grew in green tubs, which rolled about
+between his feet and were pitfalls for the unwary. He lay down on a few
+of the beds; but the foliage was pitifully thin and afforded him no
+comfortable resting-place; moreover, there were curious rows of
+slanting things which glistened in the sunlight, and which he much
+wished to investigate. On examination he found them quite brittle, and
+easily smashed a number of them with his trunk. Nor was this all, for in
+the wreckage he discovered a large quantity of most excellent
+fruit&mdash;grapes and nectarines and some very passable plums. Evidently the
+"Damconsul" was an enlightened person, who knew how to live; and,
+indeed, it is not fitting for even an elephant to turn up his trunk at
+espalier peaches at a guinea apiece.</p>
+
+<p>Certainly, thought the elephant, things might be worse. And after a bath
+in a neighbouring fountain, which cost the lives of some two score of
+goldfish, he really felt refreshed, and approached the palace, which he
+considered rather dingy, in order to pay his respects to its owner.
+Coming round to the front of the building he discovered a marble
+terrace, gleaming white in the sunshine, and flanked by two groups of
+statuary&mdash;Hercules with his club, and Diana with her bow: though, being
+unacquainted with Greek mythology, he did not recognise them as such.
+On the terrace itself was set a breakfast-table resplendent with silver
+and chaste with fair linen; and by it sat a houri, holding a sunshade
+over her golden head. The elephant, wishing to conciliate this vision of
+beauty, advanced towards her, trumpeting gently; but his friendly
+overtures were evidently misinterpreted, for the houri, giving a wild
+scream, dropped her sunshade, and fled for safety to the shoulders of
+Hercules, from which vantage-point she called loudly for help.</p>
+
+<p>Feeling that such conduct was indecorous in the extreme, he ignored her
+with a lofty contempt; and, having tested the quality of the masonry,
+ventured upon the terrace and inspected the feast. There were more
+nectarines&mdash;but he had had enough of those&mdash;and something steaming in a
+silver vessel, the like of which he remembered to have encountered once
+before in the bungalow of a sahib. Moreover, he had not forgotten how it
+spouted a boiling liquid when one took it up in one's trunk. At this
+moment a shameless female slave appeared at a window, in response to
+the cries of the houri, and abused him. He could not, it is true,
+understand her barbarous language; but the tone implied abuse. Such an
+insult from the scum of the earth could not be allowed to pass
+unnoticed. He filled his trunk with water from a marble basin near at
+hand, and squirted it at her with all his force, and the scum of the
+earth departed quickly.</p>
+
+<p>"It would be well," thought the elephant, "to find the 'Damconsul'
+before further untoward incidents could occur"; and with this end in
+view, he turned himself about, preparatory to leaving the terrace. He
+forgot, however, that marble may be slippery; his hind legs suddenly
+slid from under him, and he sat hurriedly down on the breakfast-table.
+It was at this singularly inopportune moment that Lady Diana appeared
+upon the scene.</p>
+
+<p>Her ladyship awoke that morning to what was destined to be the most
+eventful and disturbing day of her peaceful and well-ordered life, with
+a feeling of irritation and regret that it had dawned, which, in the
+light of subsequent events, would seem to have been almost a
+premonition of coming evil. She was, though at this early hour she
+little knew it, destined to receive a series of shocks of volcanic force
+and suddenness, between sunrise and sunset, any one of which would have
+served to overthrow her preconceived notions of what life, and
+especially life at Melton Court, ought to be.</p>
+
+<p>As yet she knew nothing of all this; but she did know that, though it
+was long after the hour appointed, she had heard no sound of her
+great-niece's departing footsteps. She waited till she must have missed
+the train, and then rang her bedroom bell sharply to learn why her
+orders had been disobeyed.</p>
+
+<p>"If you please, my lady," replied her maid in answer to her mistress's
+questions, "Bright did not go because we could not find Mrs. Scarsdale."</p>
+
+<p>"Could not find my niece! And why not, pray?" demanded her ladyship
+angrily.</p>
+
+<p>"She was not in her room, my lady, or anywhere about the Court; only
+this note, directed to your ladyship, on her dressing-table."</p>
+
+<p>"Why didn't you say so to begin with, then?" cried her mistress testily.
+"Open the window, that I may see what this means."</p>
+
+<p>The note was short and painstakingly polite; but its perusal did not
+seem to please Lady Diana, for she frowned and set her thin lips as she
+re-read it. The missive ran as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Dear Lady Melton</span>,</p>
+
+<p>"I write to apologise for the somewhat unconventional manner in
+which I am leaving your house; but as your plans for my disposal
+to-day did not accord with my own ideas of what is fitting, I have
+thought it best to leave thus early, and so avoid any awkwardness
+which might arise from conflicting arrangements. I wish you to know
+that I shall be with friends by this evening, so that you need feel
+no anxiety about my position. Pray accept my thanks for your
+hospitality, which I am sure my husband will much appreciate, and
+believe me,</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;">"Yours respectfully,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 27em;">"<span class="smcap">Mabel Scarsdale</span>."</span><br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>This communication her ladyship tore up into small fragments, and then
+snapped out:</p>
+
+<p>"Is there anything more?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, if you please, my lady," replied the maid; "a note for you from
+Mr. Allingford, left in his room."</p>
+
+<p>Lady Melton took it as gingerly as if it were fresh from some infected
+district, and, spreading it out on the bed before her, read it with a
+contemptuous smile.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Your Ladyship</span>," wrote the Consul, "I have the honour to inform you
+that I am leaving at the earliest possible moment, not wishing to
+impose my company longer than is absolutely necessary where it is
+so evidently undesired. That there may be no burden of obligation
+between us, I beg you to accept a trunk belonging to me, which will
+arrive this morning, as compensation for my board and lodging.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: left">
+<span style="margin-left: 16em;">"I remain</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 18em;">"Your Ladyship's Obedient Servant,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 20em;">"<span class="smcap">Robert Allingford</span>,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 22em;">"<i>U.S. Consul, Christchurch, England</i>.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>"P.S.&mdash;I mail you to-day a deed of gift of the property in
+question, legally attested, so that there may be no question of
+ownership.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;">"R. A."</span><br />
+</p></div>
+
+<p>"Insolence!" gasped Lady Melton, when she comprehended the contents of
+this astonishing communication. Then turning to her maid, she commanded:</p>
+
+<p>"If this person's trunk arrives here, have it sent back to him
+instantly." And she fumed with rage at the thought.</p>
+
+<p>"How dare he suppose that I would for a moment accept a gratuity!"</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, so wrought up was she that it was with difficulty that she
+controlled herself sufficiently to breakfast on the terrace. Moreover,
+her interview with Bright, the butler, whom she encountered on her way
+downstairs and who announced the arrival of her great-nephew and a
+strange lady, was hardly soothing; for it forced her to believe that
+that faithful servant, after years of probity, had at last strayed from
+the temperate paths of virtue. Seeing him dishevelled and bewildered,
+she had sternly rebuked him for his appearance, and from his disjointed
+replies had only gathered that his astounding state was in some way due
+to the Consul.</p>
+
+<p>"Has that insolent person's trunk arrived?" she inquired; when, to her
+astonishment, her old retainer, who had always observed in her presence
+a respectful and highly deferential demeanour, actually tittered.</p>
+
+<p>"Bright!" she said sternly.</p>
+
+<p>"Beg pardon, my lady," giggled Bright, his face still wreathed in
+smiles; "but the way you put it."</p>
+
+<p>"What have you done with this person's belongings? Have my orders been
+carried out?"</p>
+
+<p>"You mean in regard to the&mdash;the&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Trunk. Yes, let it be put off the place immediately."</p>
+
+<p>"Please, your ladyship," he replied, with difficulty restraining his
+laughter, "it won't go."</p>
+
+<p>"Will not go?"</p>
+
+<p>"No, my lady; it's been rampaging through the greenhouses, and is now on
+the terrace, where it douched Anne most awful."</p>
+
+<p>"Leave me at once, Bright, and do not let me see you again till you are
+in a more decent state," she commanded, and swept by him, ignoring his
+protestations of innocence and respect.</p>
+
+<p>She found Scarsdale awaiting her in the reception-room, and accorded him
+a very frigid greeting, suggesting that they should have their interview
+on the terrace, where he had left Mrs. Allingford safely ensconced in an
+armchair, while he went to meet his great-aunt.</p>
+
+<p>Her ladyship had been considerably ruffled both by her interview with
+Bright and by the arrival of Scarsdale, towards whom, in the light of
+recent events, she felt a strong resentment; and a vision of the
+Consul's wife perched most indecorously on the shoulders of Hercules,
+which she beheld as she emerged on the terrace, did not tend to calm her
+already excited nerves. But before she could speak her eyes followed the
+direction of the unknown lady's gaze, and she saw, for the first time,
+her unwelcome visitor.</p>
+
+<p>When you come suddenly face to face with an elephant seated amidst the
+wreck of cherished Chippendale and ancestral S&egrave;vres, it is not
+calculated to increase your composure or equalise your temper; and Lady
+Diana may be pardoned, as the vastness of the Consul's impudence dawned
+upon her, for giving vent to expressions both of anger and amazement,
+albeit her appearance produced no less of a disturbance in the breast of
+him who sat amidst the ruins of the breakfast-table. The elephant felt
+that in the presence of the Maharanee, for such he believed her to be,
+his position was undignified. She was, without doubt, the wife of the
+"Damconsul," and, as such, should be paid all proper respect and
+deference. He, therefore, bowed his head in submission, completing in
+the process his work of destruction. Whereat Mrs. Allingford shrieked
+and clung more closely to the protecting shoulders of Hercules.</p>
+
+<p>Serious as the situation was, it was not without its humorous side, and
+it took all Scarsdale's command of himself to control his face
+sufficiently to address his relative with becoming respect.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, aunt," he said, "I didn't know that you had gone in for pets!"</p>
+
+<p>"Harold Stanley Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale," replied her ladyship&mdash;she
+prided herself on never forgetting a name&mdash;"you are one of the most
+impudent and worthless young men that I have the honour to count among
+my relatives; but you have been in India, and you ought to know how to
+manage this monster."</p>
+
+<p>"I've seen enough of them," he answered. "What do you want him to do?"</p>
+
+<p>"Do!" she cried wrathfully. "I should think anybody would know that I
+wished it to get up and go away."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh," said he, and made a remark in Hindustani to the elephant, whereat
+the beast gradually and deliberately proceeded to rise from the wreck of
+the breakfast, till he seemed to the spectators to be forty feet high.
+Then, in response to Scarsdale's cries of "Mail! mail!" (Go on) he
+turned himself about, and, after sending the teapot through the nearest
+window with a disdainful kick of one hind leg, he lurched down the steps
+of the terrace and on to the lawn, where he remained contentedly
+standing, gently rocking to and fro, while he meditatively removed from
+his person, by means of his trunk, the fragments of the feast, with
+which he was liberally bespattered.</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale, seeing that his lordship was in an amicable frame of mind,
+hastened to assist Mrs. Allingford to descend from her somewhat uneasy
+perch.</p>
+
+<p>"St. Hubart," said Lady Melton, who, throughout this trying ordeal, had
+lost none of her natural dignity, "you have done me a service. I shall
+not forget it."</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale thought it would be difficult to forget the elephant.</p>
+
+<p>"I will even forgive you," she continued, "for marrying that American."</p>
+
+<p>"It was so good of you to receive my wife," he said. "I trust you are
+pleased with her."</p>
+
+<p>"I am not pleased at all," she said sharply. "I consider her forward and
+disrespectful, and I am glad she is gone."</p>
+
+<p>"Gone!" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"You may well be surprised," said his great-aunt, "but such is the
+case."</p>
+
+<p>"But where has she gone?"</p>
+
+<p>"That I do not know; she left without consulting me, and against my
+advice and wishes."</p>
+
+<p>"Did she go alone?"</p>
+
+<p>"She went," replied her ladyship, "with one of the most insolent persons
+it has ever been my misfortune to meet. He is owner of that!" And she
+pointed to the elephant.</p>
+
+<p>"But who is he?" demanded Scarsdale, not recognising, from her
+description, his friend the Consul.</p>
+
+<p>"He disgraces," she continued, "a public office given him by a foreign
+Government."</p>
+
+<p>"You are surely not talking about Allingford!" he exclaimed.</p>
+
+<p>"That, I believe, is his name," replied Lady Melton.</p>
+
+<p>"What, my husband!" cried the Consul's wife, who up to this point had
+kept silence. "You dare to call my husband a disgrace&mdash;&mdash;!" Here Mrs.
+Allingford became dumb with indignation.</p>
+
+<p>"If he is your husband," returned her ladyship, "I am exceedingly sorry
+for you. As for 'daring' to apply to him any epithet I please, I
+consider myself fully justified in so doing after the indignity to which
+he has condemned me. I am glad, however, to have met you, as I am thus
+enabled to return you your husband's property, with the request that you
+take your elephant and leave my grounds as quickly as possible."</p>
+
+<p>"Do you mean to say that my husband owns that monster?" gasped Mrs.
+Allingford.</p>
+
+<p>"Such is the case," replied Lady Melton, "and I leave it in your hands.
+St. Hubart, I trust <i>you</i> will join me at breakfast as soon as another
+can be prepared."</p>
+
+<p>"Excuse me," he said apologetically, "but really, you know, I can't
+leave Mrs. Allingford in the lurch. Besides, I must follow my wife."</p>
+
+<p>His great-aunt faced round in a fury.</p>
+
+<p>"That is sufficient!" she cried. "Leave my presence at once! I never
+desire to see either of you again."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't let us part as enemies, aunt," he said, offering her his hand;
+but she swept past him into the house.</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale gloomily watched her depart, and then became conscious of a
+hand laid on his arm.</p>
+
+<p>"I am so sorry!" murmured Mrs. Allingford. "I only seem to bring you
+trouble."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, you mustn't feel badly about this," he said. "We have quarrelled
+ever since I was born. I'm much more worried about you."</p>
+
+<p>"What am I going to do with it?" she exclaimed, looking hopelessly at
+her husband's property as it stood rocking before her.</p>
+
+<p>"The first thing is to get it off the place," replied Scarsdale,
+assuming a cheerfulness which he did not feel. "We may find its keepers
+at the lodge, and we can make our plans as we walk along."</p>
+
+<p>"Come on, Jehoshaphat, or whatever you may happen to be called!" he
+cried, addressing the elephant, and at the same time grasping the rope
+bridle which still dangled from its neck; and the beast, recognising a
+kindred spirit speaking to him in his native tongue, followed docilely
+where he led.</p>
+
+<p>"I think," continued Scarsdale, as they trudged slowly across the park,
+"that our best course will be to take the elephant to Christchurch.
+Indeed, we ought to have gone there in the first instance."</p>
+
+<p>"What do you expect to gain by that?" she asked quickly, ready in this
+strange dilemma to catch at any straw which gave opportunity of escape.</p>
+
+<p>"Why, your husband's consulate is situated there, and that is his local
+habitation in this country, where he is certain to turn up sooner or
+later, and where, if the laws of his consular service are anything like
+ours, he would be obliged to report every few days."</p>
+
+<p>"You propose to go there and await his return?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," he said. "I don't see that we can do better. Ten to one your
+husband and my wife will hear of our affair at Winchester, and may be on
+their way there now to hunt us up; while if we attempted to follow them,
+it is more than likely that they would return here. I, for one, am about
+tired of chasing myself around the country; as a steady occupation it is
+beginning to pall."</p>
+
+<p>"There is a group of men at the lodge," she said, as they drew near the
+gates with the elephant in tow.</p>
+
+<p>"Then let us hope that there are some station people among them, and
+that we can arrange for Jehoshaphat's transportation without loss of
+time," replied Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>His hope was, in the first instance, justified; for the station-master
+at Salisbury, learning of the Consul's early departure that morning, and
+beginning to doubt the wisdom of inflicting the elephant on so important
+a personage as Lady Melton, had come up to the Court himself to see how
+things were going, and had been horrified beyond measure at the
+exaggerated reports of the lodgekeeper as to the havoc the beast had
+created. He was therefore unfeignedly relieved at Scarsdale's arrival; a
+relief, however, which instantly gave way to stubborn opposition at the
+first hint of putting the animal again in his charge.</p>
+
+<p>Elephants were not in his line, he pointed out, and he had no desire to
+transport them about the country. Couldn't think of acting without
+receiving advices from the main offices of the railway company in
+London, an affair of several days; wouldn't assume charge of the
+creature during the interval on any account; and shouldn't stir a step
+in the matter till the wrecked van had been paid for.</p>
+
+<p>This ended the affair, as far as Scarsdale was concerned. He had no
+intention of paying damages for the Consul's elephant, but he wished to
+deliver it and the Consul's wife at Christchurch as soon as possible. If
+this could not be accomplished one way, it must be another. There were
+plenty of horses and carriages to be had; indeed, the landau and pair
+which had brought them from Salisbury was still at the gates. The roads
+were good, the distance to Christchurch was not excessive&mdash;say thirty
+miles&mdash;and the elephant could walk. It merely remained to find a leader
+or driver, and they could start at once on their journey across country.</p>
+
+<p>All this he explained to his fair companion, and she readily acquiesced.</p>
+
+<p>"The only problem to be solved, then, is where to find a mahout," he
+said in conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>She threw him an inquiring glance; but he felt it was asking too much,
+and said so.</p>
+
+<p>"If it were any other country, I'd ride the beast myself to oblige you;
+but in England, and as a representative of one of the first families of
+the county, I couldn't. The prejudices of the locality would never
+recover from the shock, and I should not be able to show my face in the
+streets of Salisbury. But perhaps we can find a substitute. Is there any
+one here," he went on, addressing the little group of men, "who
+understands an elephant?"</p>
+
+<p>"Tom, 'e knows the bloomin' beasts," said a member of the company; and
+Tom, groom to her ladyship, and cockney every inch of him, was pushed
+forward for inspection.</p>
+
+<p>One glance at the trim form, concealed though it was by stable costume,
+was sufficient to assure Scarsdale that he had found his man.</p>
+
+<p>"You have been a soldier," he said, "and in India?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, sir," replied the man, touching the peak of his cap in a military
+salute.</p>
+
+<p>"Do you think you could manage him?" continued Scarsdale, indicating
+the elephant, which, wearied with the morning's exertions, had knelt
+down, and seemed on the point of taking a nap.</p>
+
+<p>"Do I think as 'ow I could manage 'im? I should 'ope so, if I ain't
+fergot is 'eathen language, sir."</p>
+
+<p>"I'll give you eighteen pence a mile," said Scarsdale, quick to act on
+the man's decision.</p>
+
+<p>"Make it two bob, sir, an' I'll ride 'im ter Inja."</p>
+
+<p>"That's too far," he replied, laughing; "my pocket wouldn't stand the
+strain; but I'll give you the price to Christchurch."</p>
+
+<p>"Right you are," replied the hostler, closing the bargain at once. "Me
+name's Tom Ropes. What d'yer call 'im, sir?" pointing to his recumbent
+charge.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know what he was christened. I call him Jehoshaphat."</p>
+
+<p>"A Christian name fer a 'eathen brute," commented Tom. "Give me a leg
+up, one er yer."</p>
+
+<p>Once astride the beast's neck, with Scarsdale's cane as an improvised
+ankus, he poured out a flood of cockney-Indian jargon which no Hindoo
+could ever have recognised as his native tongue, but which evidently had
+a familiar sound to the elephant, who proceeded to rise, first with his
+fore feet and then with his hind feet; after which his novel mahout, who
+throughout these man&oelig;uvres had retained a precarious hold by one ear,
+hastened to seat himself more firmly upon him.</p>
+
+<p>"All right?" queried Scarsdale, looking up; and on receiving an answer
+in the affirmative, added: "Keep your feet well under his ears, and hit
+him on the head with your stick if he gets fractious. All you need do is
+to follow our carriage. Trust to his judgment about bridges; he knows
+what will hold him."</p>
+
+<p>Arrangements, on a liberal scale, having been made for the use of the
+conveyance which had brought them from the station, they were ready to
+start in a very short space of time; Scarsdale stipulating that they
+head towards Southampton, taking the least travelled roads, and in any
+event giving Salisbury a wide berth. This was agreed to; and thereupon
+commenced one of the most extraordinary progresses that had ever stirred
+up a staid and conventional countryside: Scarsdale and Mrs. Allingford
+leading off in the landau, since it was necessary to keep the horse well
+in front of the elephant, and Tom and his charge plodding on in their
+wake.</p>
+
+<p>As they left the lodge behind them and came out into the open country,
+the Consul's wife, turning to her companion in misfortune, said, between
+tears and smiles:</p>
+
+<p>"What do you think is going to happen next?"</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2>
+
+<h3>IN WHICH THERE ARE TWO CLAIMANTS FOR ONE DINNER</h3>
+
+<p>The village clock was on the stroke of one when the little procession
+drew up before the door of the principal inn in the main square of a
+small town on the road between Salisbury and Southampton.</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale had been surprised to find how little excitement they had
+created in their progress through the countryside; but then he had
+chosen the most unfrequented roads, avoiding villages as he would a
+pestilence. Man and beast must be fed somewhere, however, and, according
+to Tom, the elephant was giving no uncertain signs that he wanted his
+dinner. So, against his better judgment, Scarsdale had turned aside into
+a neighbouring town, whence, after an hour's rest and refreshment, he
+determined to push on that afternoon to a quiet inn he knew of, near
+Fording Bridge, and thence to Christchurch the following morning.</p>
+
+<p>Both he and Mrs. Allingford had been as quiet as mice during the last
+hour; indeed, the novel position in which they found themselves inclined
+them rather to thought than conversation.</p>
+
+<p>Their entrance into the town was effected more easily than could have
+been hoped for; though, in some unknown manner, a rumour of their coming
+seemed to have preceded them: for a crowd had collected along the main
+street, which cheered them vociferously, under the mistaken impression
+that they were the proprietors of a circus. No travelling show that
+wound its course through those country lanes had ever possessed such an
+attraction, and the people moved away after they had passed, full of
+wonder at the appearance of this strange monster among them, and regret
+that with such a beginning there was nothing more to follow.</p>
+
+<p>Once they had come to a halt, they were surrounded by a curious crowd,
+and Scarsdale lost no time in entering into explanations with the
+landlord of the inn, who came hurrying out to receive his novel guests.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this point that their troubles first began; for mine host,
+while he professed to furnish entertainment for man and beast, was
+dubious concerning the monster which it was proposed to quarter on him
+so unexpectedly. The lady and gentleman, their coachman, horses, and
+even the cockney mahout were more than welcome; but elephants were not
+in his line of business. He didn't know if he could give satisfaction;
+feared his accommodations were not sufficiently ample; would like to
+oblige, but had the reputation of his house to maintain, &amp;c., &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>When Scarsdale happened, however, casually to mention that it was Lady
+Melton's elephant a change came over the face of affairs, of which he
+was not slow to take advantage.</p>
+
+<p>Her ladyship was well known throughout the county, while her reputation
+for severity had a still wider circulation, and the landlord was in
+abject fear of her, though, nevertheless, obstinately determined to have
+none of the beast.</p>
+
+<p>The subject of all this altercation had meantime appropriated the public
+horse-trough to his exclusive use for drinking and bathing purposes, and
+was enjoying himself in consequence, which was more than could be said
+of his rider, who shared unwillingly in his ablutions.</p>
+
+<p>"Give 'im the word to sit down, sir. S'welp me, I'll be drownded with
+'is tricks!" cried Tom.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't speak his infernal language," returned Scarsdale testily;
+"that's your business."</p>
+
+<p>"I've told 'im all I know, sir, an' it's no use."</p>
+
+<p>"Then I'm afraid you'll have to stay up and get wet."</p>
+
+<p>"Couldn't yer 'elp me down, sir? Quit that, yer 'eathen!" as he dodged a
+shower of water.</p>
+
+<p>"Certainly not," replied Scarsdale. "You can't leave him riderless in a
+public place."</p>
+
+<p>Then, turning to the landlord, who stood by in sore perplexity,
+aimlessly rubbing his hands, he continued:</p>
+
+<p>"It's a beastly shame that a gentleman can't take a lady's elephant out
+for&mdash;exercise without running up against all this nonsense in the first
+little hamlet he comes across! One would almost think you had never seen
+an elephant before."</p>
+
+<p>The landlord, whose eyes had up to this time been fairly bulging with
+curiosity, now declared himself desolated at such an uncalled-for
+suspicion.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps it would be better if the gentleman were to send for a
+constable."</p>
+
+<p>Mine host neglected to add that he had done so on his own responsibility
+in his first burst of agitation.</p>
+
+<p>But Scarsdale, noting the excellent effect which his rating had produced
+on the landlord, determined that he should have some more of it.</p>
+
+<p>"If you are afraid," he said, "of damaging your ramshackle old inn,
+perhaps you'll consent to give my elephant his dinner in the square?"</p>
+
+<p>Mine host rolled up his eyes at this new phase of the question.</p>
+
+<p>"I suppose," continued Scarsdale, "that the dignity of this 'tuppenny
+ha'penny' town won't be seriously impaired by his presence for an hour
+in your elegant plaza!"</p>
+
+<p>The last portion of this speech was lost on the landlord, because he did
+not know what a "plaza" was; but it sounded imposing, and he hastened to
+assure his guest that the town would feel honoured by the elephant's
+presence, though he would have to procure a permit from the mayor.
+Should he show him the way to that functionary's house?</p>
+
+<p>This, however, proved to be unnecessary, as the mayor himself was
+present in the crowd, a pompous, fussy little man, full of the
+importance of his office. Lady Melton's name, which he had heard
+mentioned in connection with the affair, acted as a charm, and brought
+him bustling forward to shake Scarsdale's hand, assure him that no
+permit was required, and snub the innkeeper.</p>
+
+<p>"Anything I can do for a relation of her ladyship's&mdash;I think you said a
+relation?" he inquired.</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale had not said anything of the kind, but unwillingly admitted
+that he was her nephew. Upon receiving this intelligence the mayor
+positively beamed, called Scarsdale "your lordship," and became most
+solicitous after Lady Melton's health. Her nephew gravely assured him
+that he might make his mind easy on that score, as his aunt was in the
+best of health, and that as soon as he returned to Melton Court (a most
+uncertain date, he thought grimly) he would be sure to convey to her his
+kind inquiries.</p>
+
+<p>His worship on this was positively effusive, declared himself devoted to
+Scarsdale's interests, and insisted that he and "her ladyship,"
+indicating Mrs. Allingford&mdash;another slip which his companion did not
+trouble to correct&mdash;must do him the honour of dining with Mrs. Mayor
+and himself.</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale was now beginning to fear that he was doing it rather too
+well, and hastened to excuse "her ladyship" and himself, declaring that
+they could not think of trespassing on his worship's hospitality, and
+that they would be quite comfortable at the inn, if only the elephant
+might be permitted to have his dinner in the square.</p>
+
+<p>The mayor declared that it was just what he most desired; but would his
+lordship kindly indicate of what that meal must consist?</p>
+
+<p>This was a poser; but Scarsdale plunged recklessly on, for, having once
+entered the broad road of deception, there was no turning back, and he
+was surprised himself at the facility with which he could romance.</p>
+
+<p>"That is just the trouble of taking charge of other people's pets," he
+said, with shameless indifference to the demands of truth. "I'm sure I
+don't know much more about the brute than you do; and as his mahout was
+away when we started out, I had to take one of the grooms. What <i>does</i>
+Jehoshaphat eat, Tom?"</p>
+
+<p>"Hay, sir&mdash;me lud, I mean," answered Tom, falling in with the humour of
+the situation.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! hay, of course," said Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"How much, your lordship?" queried the mayor.</p>
+
+<p>"How much? Confound it! how should I know? Do you take me for an
+elephant trainer?" A remark which nearly reduced his worship to chaos;
+but Scarsdale, relenting, added:</p>
+
+<p>"Say five or six tons&mdash;I don't know."</p>
+
+<p>"But it is not easy, my lord, to procure such an amount at short
+notice," expostulated the official.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, then, get him a waggon-load or two as a first course, and we'll
+find something else a little later."</p>
+
+<p>"It shall be procured at once. I&mdash;er&mdash;trust your lordship will not take
+it amiss, since you will not dine with me, if I offer you a glass
+of&mdash;shall we say champagne?"</p>
+
+<p>"With pleasure," said Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"And her ladyship?" looking towards the carriage.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Allingford bowed, and the mayor whispered a few words in mine
+host's ear.</p>
+
+<p>Just at that moment, as Scarsdale was drawing his first easy breath,
+feeling at last that things were going smoothly, the very worst
+<i>contretemps</i> that could possibly happen occurred. Two dusty figures
+shambled around the corner of a neighbouring street into the square, and
+one of them in a high-pitched voice, that was distinctly heard by every
+member of the crowd, exclaimed:</p>
+
+<p>"Hi, there! What are you doing with my elephant?"</p>
+
+<p>Scarsdale swung round to face the newcomers, a premonition of coming
+evil strong upon him, though a careful inspection assured him that he
+knew them not; yet conviction hang in every note of that challenge.</p>
+
+<p>They were, in a word, the owner of elephants and the unregenerate Dick.</p>
+
+<p>From early dawn they had made their way across country, in as straight
+a line as possible from Winchester to Salisbury, sometimes on foot and
+sometimes in such conveyances as they could hire from place to place;
+but ever buoyed up by hope&mdash;hope of finding that which was lost; hope of
+restoring elephants to their rightful owners; hope of clearing a
+brother's name. And here, unexpectedly, they had come upon the object of
+their search in the hands of total strangers.</p>
+
+<p>"Who the devil are you?" cried Scarsdale hotly, scenting danger, and
+determined to face the worst at once. "I don't know you."</p>
+
+<p>"I'm Richard Allingford," said the larger of the two men, pushing
+forward till he faced the bewildered Englishman.</p>
+
+<p>At this point Scarsdale, whose coolness alone could have saved the
+situation, lost his head. His temper, which had been severely tried by
+the vicissitudes of the day, gave way in the presence of the man whose
+escapades had caused him such needless suffering and indignity, and,
+regardless of results, he spoke his mind.</p>
+
+<p>"So you're Richard Allingford, are you? Then allow me to tell you that
+you are the prettiest scoundrel that I've run across in a long time!
+Curse you! Do you know I've spent two days, this week, in Winchester
+jail on your account?"</p>
+
+<p>A broad grin broke over Richard's face.</p>
+
+<p>"I guess you must be Scarsdale," he said. "But what in thunder are you
+doing with my brother's elephant?"</p>
+
+<p>"It's mine!" arose the shrill voice of his companion. "I tell you he
+stole it from me!"</p>
+
+<p>This was too much for Mrs. Allingford, and, to make a bad matter worse,
+she cried from the carriage:</p>
+
+<p>"The Consul did not steal the elephant! It is his property, and I'm his
+wife!"</p>
+
+<p>A voice from the crowd chimed in:</p>
+
+<p>"But 'e said it was 'er ladyship's helephant!"</p>
+
+<p>The mayor's face was a study in its various shades of suspicion&mdash;anger
+at being, as he very naturally supposed, duped; and certainty of the
+duplicity of all concerned, as the contradictory conversation
+continued. And there is no knowing how quickly he might have
+precipitated the final catastrophe, if the elephant had not chosen this
+opportunity for creating a diversion on his own account, which, for the
+time being, distracted every one's thoughts. He had had, it will be
+remembered, a very light breakfast, which only served to whet the edge
+of his appetite. It therefore took him but a short time to locate the
+whereabouts of a lad who, emerging from the inn with an appetising
+dinner of bacon and greens arranged in a basket balanced on his head,
+stood gaping on the outskirts of the crowd, unmindful of the cooling
+viands. Some playful breeze must have wafted the savoury odour of
+cabbage to the elephant's nostrils; for suddenly, and without previous
+warning, flinging his trunk in the air with a joyous trumpet, he pounded
+down the road, nearly unseating his rider, and scattering the crowd to
+right and left.</p>
+
+<p>"Wait for me when you get to Christchurch!" Scarsdale called to Tom as
+the latter shot past him, and then joined in the rush which followed
+close on the elephant's heels, the mayor and the landlord well to the
+fore; while Mrs. Allingford's driver, who was only human, increased the
+confusion by whipping up his horses and joining in the chase.</p>
+
+<p>Ahead of the excited beast and the noisy throng which followed it,
+holding on like grim death to his dinner-basket, fled the worse-scared
+boy that had ever been seen in that town. Fortunately the chase was of
+short duration, for the cubicle of the telegraph-clerk at the railway
+station was just ahead, and offered a ready refuge. Into it flew the
+lad, dinner and all, and slammed the door, just in time to escape from
+the elephant's curling trunk.</p>
+
+<p>The beast, despoiled of his meal, circled the building trumpeting with
+rage, and finally took up a position across the rails, where he stood
+guard, prepared to fall upon any one who should venture out.</p>
+
+<p>All the station attendants and officials were now added to the crowd
+which swarmed about the elephant, and the business of the town
+practically came to a standstill.</p>
+
+<p>The station-master only added to the excitement by declaring that a
+train for Salisbury was due, and that the line must be cleared; while
+the telegraph-clerk announced from an upper storey that wild horses, let
+alone elephants, would not drag him forth from the shelter of his
+office, and the blubbering of the unfortunate boy made a monotonous
+accompaniment to his speech. The mayor blustered, the navvies swore, Tom
+addressed floods of unintelligible jargon to the obstinate beast, and,
+as a last resort, Scarsdale coaxed and wheedled him in very defective
+Hindustani. But it was all useless; not an inch would the elephant
+budge, and no one in all that assemblage was clever enough to think of
+giving him the telegraph-clerk's dinner.</p>
+
+<p>In the midst of this confusion, a shrill whistle was heard in the
+distance, and some one with a clearer head than the rest cried out to
+"set the signals against the train"&mdash;a suggestion which was at once
+acted upon, and in a moment more the engine drew up, panting, within a
+dozen feet of the elephant, who was so intent on the contents of the
+cubicle that he never noticed its arrival.</p>
+
+<p>As a general thing, it is the American tourist who alights from a train
+on no provocation, while his English cousin is content to sit quiet, and
+leave the affairs of the line in the hands of the company. In this case,
+however, some subtle sense of the unusual obstacle seemed to have
+communicated itself to the passengers; for no sooner had the engine
+halted than heads were thrust out of every window, and the greatest
+excitement prevailed.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know if Scarsdale and my wife are here," said Allingford, who,
+in company with Carrington and Mrs. Scarsdale, occupied one of the
+forward carriages, "but there is her ladyship's elephant!"</p>
+
+<p>"You're right," cried his fair companion, taking his place at the
+window. Then, as she caught sight of Scarsdale, she exclaimed "St.
+Hubart!" and pushing open the door, jumped out, and fled down the line.</p>
+
+<p>"By Jove! that's my wife!" exclaimed the Consul, fleeing after her, and
+upsetting a porter in his haste.</p>
+
+<p>From a distance Carrington saw a confused mingling of four persons, and
+sighed as he caught himself wondering if he would ever be fool enough to
+do that sort of thing in public.</p>
+
+<p>As he slowly approached them he heard scraps of their conversation.</p>
+
+<p>"By the way, Allingford," Scarsdale was saying, "I brought you back your
+elephant, which it seems you were careless enough, in the hurry of
+departure, to leave behind you at Melton Court. I hope you are properly
+grateful."</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it isn't mine," replied the Consul; "it belongs to her Ladyship."</p>
+
+<p>"Well, she said it was yours," returned her nephew.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, that was merely her excessive amiability," said Allingford.</p>
+
+<p>"It had not struck me in that light before," replied Scarsdale. "Anyway,
+I've brought it back to you, and a nice time I've had of it."</p>
+
+<p>"Did you pilot it all the way from Melton Court?" queried the Consul.</p>
+
+<p>"I did," replied the Englishman, "through the main streets of this town;
+that is where my Indian training stood me in good stead; but it has
+ruined my character&mdash;most of the inhabitants look on me with suspicion."</p>
+
+<p>"Was your holding up of our train intentional?"</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Scarsdale regretfully, "it wasn't. There are lots of damages
+to pay, I assure you."</p>
+
+<p>"You must settle them with Lady Melton."</p>
+
+<p>"But what am I to do with the beast?"</p>
+
+<p>"My dear fellow," returned the Consul, "I've been your wife's devoted
+slave for the last two days, and I have restored her safe and sound to
+your arms, but I really can't undertake to manage your aunt's elephants
+into the bargain."</p>
+
+<p>"But at least you might advise me."</p>
+
+<p>"Turn him over to Cassim."</p>
+
+<p>"To whom?"</p>
+
+<p>"Why, to his own mahout, the little brown man who is dancing round him
+now. I discovered him tearing his hair at Southampton station, where he
+was left by mistake yesterday, and brought him along."</p>
+
+<p>"Then for heaven's sake make him get his beast off the line!" cried
+Scarsdale, dragging Allingford up to the native keeper.</p>
+
+<p>"My lord desireth his mid-day meal, and the sahib of the watch-tower
+hath it within," explained that functionary.</p>
+
+<p>"Tell his lordship that he'll have a great deal better dinner if he will
+go back to the square," said Allingford.</p>
+
+<p>Just what the mahout said to the elephant will never be known, but it
+proved convincing: for, with a grunt of dissatisfaction, the beast
+consented to retrace his steps.</p>
+
+<p>"And now that we have settled this little matter," said the Consul,
+"there is nothing left for us but to express our unbounded gratitude
+to&mdash;well, to the elephant for reuniting us all, and start once more on
+our honeymoons; for which this train is mighty convenient."</p>
+
+<p>"I have a word to say about that," cried the mayor. "I'm by no means
+satisfied about the ownership of this elephant. I've been given to
+understand that it belongs to Lady Melton. Is this so?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes," said the Consul and Mr. and Mrs. Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said Mrs. Allingford, Carrington, Tom, and the original owner, in
+one and the same breath.</p>
+
+<p>"I say, Bob, did you steal it after all?" queried the graceless Richard.</p>
+
+<p>"I took it in payment of a debt," replied his brother hotly.</p>
+
+<p>"Only twenty pounds!" groaned the elephant man. "It's as good as a
+steal!"</p>
+
+<p>"And I gave it to Lady Melton," continued the Consul, "in payment for my
+board and lodging."</p>
+
+<p>"And she gave it to me," said Mrs. Allingford.</p>
+
+<p>"I lost my lord at the place of docks," wailed the mahout.</p>
+
+<p>"'E 'ired me to ride hit," cried Tom, indicating Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"And what right have you to it, sir?" blustered the mayor, turning to
+that gentleman.</p>
+
+<p>"I don't know," replied Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"I consider this most unsatisfactory," continued his worship. "I think I
+may define the actions of those who have had a hand in this affair
+as&mdash;ahem!&mdash;contradictory and open to question. I shall telegraph Lady
+Melton, and pending her reply I must detain you all as suspicious
+characters."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>So it came to pass that the nine, gathered together in the chief parlour
+of the inn, with a constable on duty, awaited for some hours a response
+to the mayor's telegram. It arrived finally, embodied in the person of
+Aunt Eliza, who had gone to Melton Court that morning, and was now fresh
+from an interview with the mayor, which had resulted in the freedom of
+all concerned.</p>
+
+<p>The old lady looked the couples over through her eye-glasses, and gave
+vent to an expressive "Humph!"</p>
+
+<p>To her niece alone did she deign to express herself more fully, nor did
+she scruple to mince her words.</p>
+
+<p>"Well, Mabel," she remarked, "you ought to be ashamed of yourself. I
+gave you a first-class recommendation only two days ago, as being well
+fitted to plan and carry out a honeymoon, and look what a mess you've
+made of it! Where did you come from last?"</p>
+
+<p>"From Winchester," replied her niece, "where I was looking for my
+husband, who had been arrested for impersonating Mr. Allingford's
+brother," and she pointed to Dick, who joined the group on hearing his
+name mentioned.</p>
+
+<p>"What business have you to be holding a public office, with a brother
+like that?" Miss Cogbill demanded sternly of the Consul; but noting his
+evident discomfiture, she had the grace to add:</p>
+
+<p>"You're by no means a fool, however, barring your habit of losing
+things. That deed of gift you presented to Lady Melton was a clever
+stroke of business, and has helped you all out of a bad hole."</p>
+
+<p>"Have you seen her ladyship? What did she say?" cried the Consul.</p>
+
+<p>"She said a good deal," replied Aunt Eliza. "Naturally she was pretty
+mad, for the beast had done a heap of damage, but she was bound to admit
+you weren't to blame for its getting loose, and, as I pointed out to
+her, you had a right to pay for your board and lodging if you chose,
+though, from the looks of her ramshackle old place, I thought you'd
+given more than the accommodation was worth. Besides which there were
+grievances and plenty on your side of the question. By her own showing
+she hadn't been decently civil to you, and had turned over that monster
+to your deserted and defenceless wife, and cast my nephew adrift, and
+tried to send my niece home with the butler. Her ladyship saw the
+justice of my remarks. She means well, but her training's against her.
+When I came to the elephant, though, I struck a snag, for she gave me
+to understand that she'd turned it off the place and never wanted to
+hear of it again. 'Now, your ladyship,' says I, 'turning an elephant
+adrift in the world isn't like casting your bread upon the waters;
+you're bound to find it before many days.' And I hadn't more than got
+the words out of my mouth when in came that telegram from the mayor,
+saying that traffic was blocked on the railway in both directions, and
+nine people arrested, all along of that beast. Her ladyship's lawyer,"
+continued Aunt Eliza, indicating a gentleman of unmistakably legal
+appearance who had followed her into the room, "backed me up by pointing
+out that the deed of gift was good, and the elephant her property, and
+that she'd be obliged to pay for any damage it might do; after which she
+climbed down from her ancestral tree quick enough, and was willing to
+listen to reason. So here I am, and here is the lawyer; and now, if you
+please, we will attend to business."</p>
+
+<p>This she proceeded to do, and in an amazingly short space of time, with
+the authority of the lawyer, had settled the scruples of the mayor;
+received a release of indebtedness from the Consul, who willingly
+surrendered his papers, declaring that he had had "more than twenty
+pounds' worth of fun out of the elephant"; and transferred the documents
+to the lawyer, with instructions to sell the beast to the original
+consignees at Southampton, and to remit the purchase-money to the
+elephant man, less the twenty pounds for damages, which, she added,
+"Just cancels his debt to the Consul, making him square on the
+transaction."</p>
+
+<p>The lawyer patted his hands, saying:</p>
+
+<p>"Very well argued, Miss Cogbill."</p>
+
+<p>"Lady Melton," said Aunt Eliza, turning to Mr. and Mrs. Scarsdale and
+Mr. and Mrs. Allingford, "has authorised me to say, on her behalf, that
+she overlooks and regrets the events of the last few days, and wishes
+them to be forgotten. In token of which she requests you four to dine
+with her, and spend the night at Melton Court; and I may add that
+you'll be fools if you don't accept." After which dissent was
+impossible.</p>
+
+<p>"And I want to tell you," said Miss Cogbill, turning to Carrington,
+"that you've managed this affair very well; and as I'm in want of a
+likely young man as my business agent, if you call on me to-morrow in
+town, we'll see if we can't find something more profitable for you to do
+than hunting up stray honeymooners."</p>
+
+<p>"Say!" interjected the graceless Richard, who was far from pleased at
+the turn affairs had taken&mdash;"Say, where do I come in?"</p>
+
+<p>"Young man," said Aunt Eliza, turning on him like a flash, "did you buy
+a return ticket to America?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, then," she interrupted, "you use it, the first chance you get.
+And as for you," addressing the two married couples, "the sooner you
+start for Melton Court the better; and don't let me hear of your being
+lost again."</p>
+
+<p>"Aren't you coming with us, Miss Cogbill?" asked Scarsdale.</p>
+
+<p>"The lawyer and I," replied that lady, "are the only two responsible
+persons in this crowd, and we'll stay right here and look after&mdash;Her
+Ladyship's Elephant."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>HEINEMANN'S</h2>
+
+<h2>CHEAPER NOVELS</h2>
+
+<h3>A LITTLE LIST OF DELIGHTFUL BOOKS TO READ BY</h3>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Sir G. Parker, M.P.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">H. G. Wells</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Jack London</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">E. F. Benson</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">John Galsworthy</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">H. de Vere Stacpoole</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Philip Gibbs</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Joseph Conrad</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Stephen Crane</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Duncan Schwann</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Robert Hichens</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Lloyd Osbourne</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">R. L. Stevenson</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Richard Harding Davis</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">D. D. Wells</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Baroness von Hutten</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Frank Danby</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Elizabeth Robins</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Florence C. Price</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Sybil Spottiswoode</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Mrs. Henry Dudeney</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Justin Huntly McCarthy</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Eleanor Abbott</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Charles Turley</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Flora Annie Steel</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Eleanor Mordaunt</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Mrs. Hodgson Burnett</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">E. L. Voynich</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 11em;">Maxwell Gray</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<h4><i>On all Bookstalls and of all Booksellers</i></h4>
+
+<h3>LONDON</h3>
+
+<h3>WILLIAM HEINEMANN</h3>
+
+<h3>MCMXII</h3>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><i>HEINEMANN'S 1s NET NOVELS</i></h2>
+
+<h3>MOLLY MAKE-BELIEVE</h3>
+
+<h3>By ELEANOR HALLOWEL ABBOTT</h3>
+
+<h3>A <span class="u">New</span> Novel</h3>
+
+<p>Was that boy a fool? Or did he behave a trifle imprudently in trying
+circumstances? It is difficult to say till you know Molly, who is
+described by the press as "one of the most lovable, fascinating and
+wholly adorable little heroines whose acquaintance any man has made for
+years." One thing is certain, no sooner do you make Molly's acquaintance
+than you introduce her to all your friends.</p>
+
+<h3>THE WEAVERS</h3>
+
+<h3>By Sir GILBERT PARKER</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "The Ladder of Swords," etc.</h3>
+
+<p>Sir Gilbert Parker is one of our finest romance writers of the present
+day. This is a story of Egypt&mdash;full of rich colour, brilliant flowing
+descriptions. It has the flavour of the Desert, the Nile and the
+indefinable sense of immortality that belongs to the land of the
+Pharaohs.</p>
+
+<h3>TOTO</h3>
+
+<h3>By H. DE VERE STACPOOLE</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "The Blue Lagoon," etc.</h3>
+
+<p>Written with that <i>verve</i> and wonderfully infectious humour which is
+characteristic of this author. <span class="smcap">The Outlook</span> says: "That rare and
+delightful thing, a French novel written in English."</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>THREE BOOKS</h3>
+
+<h3>By BARONESS VON HUTTEN</h3>
+
+<h3>PAM</h3>
+
+<p>Pam is a "classic" before her time so to speak. People are compared to
+"Pam"; so to their disadvantage are most girl heroines of the novels.
+She is inimitable, by herself, and oh! so wholly charming!</p>
+
+<h3>WHAT BECAME OF PAM</h3>
+
+<p>"Whether we have or have not read 'Pam,' we shall certainly find 'What
+became of Pam' interesting."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Daily Telegraph</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>OUR LADY OF THE BEECHES</h3>
+
+<p>Balzac says "The dramas of life do not lie in the circumstances
+surrounding&mdash;they lie in the heart.' This is a drama of the heart.</p>
+
+<p>"This tender idyll ... we can only recommend our readers to buy and read
+it for themselves."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Daily Mail</span>.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>THE ADVENTURER</h3>
+
+<h3>By LLOYD OSBOURNE</h3>
+
+<p>"Crowded with thrilling incident the narrative races along. The book can
+be recommended to all who enjoy a tale of pure adventure."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Times</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>BACCARAT</h3>
+
+<h3>By FRANK DANBY</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "Pigs in Clover," etc.</h3>
+
+<p>This brilliant caustic writer here gives one of her vividest pictures of
+a certain clique in society. She wields no timid pen and does not
+hesitate to catch them <i>in flagrante delicto</i>. Yet the book is no
+"preachment" from a self-assumed pulpit, it is a novel simply.</p>
+
+<h3>THE COUNTRY HOUSE</h3>
+
+<h3>By JOHN GALSWORTHY</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "A Man of Property," etc.</h3>
+
+<p>This problem of the country family, the county family, is such that it
+concerns every one of us vitally. What they had to solve we have to
+solve. And it is Mr. Galsworthy's strong point that he never fails to
+give us a new vision, nor to hold our interest intent throughout. It is
+an inspiring work.</p>
+
+<h3>LORD KENTWELL'S LOVE AFFAIR</h3>
+
+<h3>By FLORENCE C. PRICE</h3>
+
+<p>A good story of London society and of political society. Lord Kentwell
+and his sisters provide a most spirited picture, and there is besides a
+background of big happenings very cleverly drawn.</p>
+
+<h3>THE SEA WOLF</h3>
+
+<h3>By JACK LONDON</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "The Call of the Wild."</h3>
+
+<p>A gruesome, thrilling story of the sea. Mr. London brings always the
+breath of big spaces, the tenseness of great actions and the flesh and
+blood of real life, of adventures really lived, into his books. As a
+story, apart from anything else, it is probably as good a book as Mr.
+London has ever written.</p>
+
+<h3>THE NIGGER OF THE "NARCISSUS"</h3>
+
+<h3>By JOSEPH CONRAD</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "Typhoon," etc.</h3>
+
+<p>Mr. Conrad is a writer to whom the public instinctively turn nowadays
+for an exciting, closely analysed study of men. The <span class="smcap">Daily Chronicle</span>
+says: "It is written by a man who knows every phase of the sea ... and
+it is written by a man who can write."</p>
+
+<h3>THE MAGNETIC NORTH</h3>
+
+<h3>By ELIZABETH ROBINS</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "Come and Find Me," etc.</h3>
+
+<h3>A story of the ever-calling North.</h3>
+
+<p>"It is all so excellently written, so vividly realised, so picturesquely
+put before the reader that it would be impossible not to be attracted."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Westminster
+Gazette</span>.
+</p>
+
+<h3>TWO NOVELS by E. F. BENSON</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "Sheaves," etc. etc.</h3>
+
+<h3>THE BLOTTING BOOK</h3>
+
+<p>A murder story, most ingeniously worked out. Mr. Benson carries the
+reader along full speed to a truly dramatic ending.</p>
+
+<h3>THE BABE B.A.</h3>
+
+<p>A very differed story from the "Blotting Book." It is a light, highly
+entertaining account of Cambridge undergraduate life which already ranks
+with "Verdant Green" among University classics.</p>
+
+<h3>TWO NOVELS</h3>
+
+<h3>By Mrs. HENRY DUDENEY</h3>
+
+<h3>THE MATERNITY OF HARRIET WICKEN</h3>
+
+<p>A picture in low tones, but of whole-hearted conviction and quiet
+sympathetic appeal. Mrs. Dudeney has realised to perfection the
+work-a-day world and its stories.</p>
+
+<h3>THE ORCHARD THIEF</h3>
+
+<p>A charming country tale with, in particular, one great scene of striking
+dramatic force. The contrast of this author's power to charm and to
+impress as she wills, is markedly shown in this capital book.</p>
+
+<h3>THE TIME MACHINE</h3>
+
+<h3>By H. G. WELLS</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "The War of the Worlds," "Kips," etc.</h3>
+
+<p>You pull certain levers, having seated yourself in the saddle, and you
+are conveyed either backwards or forwards. When Mr. Wells is in the
+saddle it is easy to see how highly pleasurable the adventures will be.
+This clever idea has given Mr. Wells opportunity for full play of his
+philosophic views.</p>
+
+<h3>IF I WERE KING</h3>
+
+<h3>By JUSTIN HUNTLY MCCARTHY</h3>
+
+<p>A mediaeval romance of love and chivalry in which the poet Francois
+Villon plays the leading part. It has drama, this story, and it seizes
+the imagination.</p>
+
+<h3>MARCIA IN GERMANY</h3>
+
+<h3>By SYBIL SPOTTISWOODE</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "Hedwig in England," etc.</h3>
+
+<p>Marcia is a bright, pleasant English girl, who goes to stay with her
+German relations. As others before she finds it difficult to grasp a
+different point of view, a different civilisation. The result is
+amusingly set forth by this author, whose dialogue is always good.</p>
+
+<h3>GODFREY MARTIN: School Boy</h3>
+
+<h3>By CHARLES TURLEY</h3>
+
+<p>One of the very best of boys' books. It is one of the rarest of all rare
+things&mdash;a thoroughly sensible school story. The boys are human, neither
+saints nor super-sinners, and the masters for once behave in a totally
+reasonable way. And that doesn't prevent it being a rattling good story.</p>
+
+<h3>THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE</h3>
+
+<h3>By STEPHEN CRANE</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "The Open Boat," etc.</h3>
+
+<p>The thunders of war, the life of regiments, the soul of humanity in
+stress and dangers, its qualities and shortcomings are all written on
+the pages of this thrilling and absorbing book. From the first paragraph
+our enthusiasm is gained and is not let go till the last.</p>
+
+<p>"Simply unapproached in intimate knowledge and sustained imaginative
+strength."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Sat. Review</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>The STREET of ADVENTURE</h3>
+
+<h3>By PHILIP GIBBS</h3>
+
+<p>The "Street" is Fleet Street of course, for in what other are so many
+adventures to be found. The <span class="smcap">Evening Standard</span> says: "It has the quality
+of big work.... The book positively pants with life."</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><i>HEINEMANN'S 2s NET NOVELS</i></h2>
+
+<h3>THE SHUTTLE</h3>
+
+<h3>By MRS. HODGSON BURNETT</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "Little Lord Fauntleroy," "The Secret Garden," etc.</h3>
+
+<p>"Takes its place at once and without dispute among the greater permanent
+works of fiction. Breadth and sanity of outlook, absolute mastery of
+human character and life, bigness of story interest, place Mrs. Hodgson
+Burnett's new book alongside the best work of George Eliot.... The
+dignity and strength of a great novel such as this put to the blush all
+but a very few living English storytellers."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Pall Mall Gazette</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"A remarkable novel, for it is written with a sincerity and glow and
+power which bear the reader restlessly along the strange current of
+events that the writer sets herself to describe."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Standard</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Burnett has the gift of a narrator to a high degree, and in spite
+of its faults, her latest novel makes a highly readable story."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Daily
+Mail</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"A novel of the highest rank."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Daily Graphic</span>.</p>
+
+<p>Mrs. Burnett is a past-master in drawing her own countrywomen, and Betty
+is a dazzling vision of youthful charm combined with business-like
+competence."&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Queen</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"The story is rich and spacious; it illustrates human nature, both
+British and American, in a simple and massive way, and paints both in
+the primary colours."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Westminster Gazette</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>BELLA DONNA</h3>
+
+<h3>By ROBERT HICHENS</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "The Londoners," "Flames," "An Imaginative Man," etc.</h3>
+
+<p>This is the excellent novel on which the excellent play of the same
+title is founded. It is a book full of weird, haunting scenes of passion
+in the desert, full of the strange sinister fatalism of Eastern minds.</p>
+
+<p>"This is one of the best novels that we have ever read, and quite the
+best that Mr. Robert Hichens has written. It combines the two elements
+of which every good novel ought to be composed, subtle analysis of
+character and an exciting plot.... We will not spoil the reading of this
+book by sketching the thrilling plot, which is enacted on the Nile and
+its banks. Needless to say, the Egyptian scenery and servants are
+described by Mr. Hichens with affectionate familiarity."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Saturday
+Review</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"It is admirable drama. It lives with a present life, and moves swiftly.
+Some of the situations are intensely thrilling; the dialogue is firm and
+easy; the whole treatment forcible without theatricalism.... Our
+attention is fixed at the start, and kept to the end, on a duel between
+Isaacson and Bella Donna. It is magnificent ... there can be no denying
+it is a very fine novel."&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Evening Standard and St. James's Gazette</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"It is particularly interesting; its characters are drawn with
+particular care and splendid skill.... 'Bella Donna' is a fine study of
+a woman of passion; remorseless in its truth, fascinating in its
+unmasking of the hidden springs of selfish desire."&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Globe</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>THE BOOK OF A BACHELOR</h3>
+
+<h3>By DUNCAN SCHWANN</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "The Magic of the Hill"</h3>
+
+<p>Mr. Duncan Schwann has recently been acclaimed as one of the four great
+humourists in England at the present time. This "Book of a Bachelor" is
+delightful reading of a light kind, but it carries weight also, for Mr.
+Schwann has picked out the little feeblenesses and frailty of this world
+as a background to his airy frivolity.</p>
+
+<p>"A picturesque romance of modern life is this story by Duncan
+Schwann.... There is, indeed, a good deal of cleverness in the
+book."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Westminster Gazette</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"... Is decidedly entertaining. Mr. Schwann is an admirable journalist
+who has already given proof of his power, but he has done nothing so
+good as this ... which is intelligent, humorous, and on the side of the
+angels."&mdash;<span class="smcap">British Weekly</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"There is knowledge of the world and some mild philosophy to be found in
+this pleasant romance of modern life."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Globe</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>A SHIP OF SOLACE</h3>
+
+<h3>By ELEANOR MORDAUNT</h3>
+
+<h3>Author of "The Garden of Contentment"</h3>
+
+<p>"The Garden of Contentment," those charming letters to Mr. Nobody, has
+never ceased to sell from the moment it was published. The same may be
+said of "A Ship of Solace," which is filled with the breath of the sea,
+and the pleasing state of mind of complete idleness. It is a book for
+quiet hours, to which one can turn with pleasurable anticipation of
+repose and refreshment.</p>
+
+<p>"Readers who like the scent of real sea air will revel in this truly
+delightful book."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Daily Telegraph</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>THE GIFT OF THE GODS</h3>
+
+<h3>By FLORA ANNIE STEEL</h3>
+
+<p>Author of "On the Face of the Waters," "The Potter's Thumb," "From the
+Five Rivers," etc. etc.</p>
+
+<p>"She has that gift, rare now among novelists, of being interested, first
+of all, in the story she has to tell. She is herself so strongly
+interested that her readers are carried along with her and share in her
+vitality and freshness."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Standard</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"Mrs. Steel gives us one admirably dramatic scene,&mdash;the death of an old
+woman from shock at a sudden disillusion while on her way to the
+Communion Table.... The squalid and starveling lot of crofters living on
+barren soil in or towards the last decade of the 19th century is well
+depicted."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Athen&aelig;um</span>.</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE NOVELS OF</h2>
+
+<h2>E. F. BENSON</h2>
+
+<h4>Uniform Edition. Crown 8vo. With coloured</h4>
+
+<h4>Frontispiece and Wrapper. Each vol. 2s net</h4>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h3>DODO</h3>
+
+<p>"The readers of Mr. Benson's book will delight in this story. It is full
+of interest and cleverness."&mdash;<i>Pall Mall Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<h3>THE VINTAGE</h3>
+
+<p>"We would recommend this to our readers. It has vivid characters staged
+cleverly and a subtle charm which make the work thoroughly
+enjoyable."&mdash;<i>British Weekly.</i></p>
+
+<h3>MAMMON &amp; CO.</h3>
+
+<p>"Bright, witty dialogues and gay fascinating scenes. Full of humorous
+sayings and witty things."&mdash;<i>Daily Telegraph.</i></p>
+
+<h3>THE LUCK OF THE VAILS</h3>
+
+<p>"This is a really thrilling and exciting tale of crime and mystery. It
+is readable all through and full of entertainment."&mdash;<i>Times.</i></p>
+
+<h3>SCARLET AND HYSSOP</h3>
+
+<p>"Must be accounted a really brilliant piece of work, unsurpassed by
+anything Mr Benson has given us."&mdash;<i>Pall Mall Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<h3>THE BOOK OF MONTHS &amp; A REAPING</h3>
+
+<p>"The Bock of Months' is full of charm&mdash;real, persuasive, penetrating
+charm&mdash;there rings the sincerity of real feeling and purpose."&mdash;<i>Daily
+Chronicle.</i></p>
+
+<h3>THE CHALLONERS</h3>
+
+<p>"'The Challoners' must be pronounced not only the best book he has given
+us but one of the best novels."&mdash;<i>Daily Mail.</i></p>
+
+<h3>THE ANGEL OF PAIN</h3>
+
+<p>"An admirably constructed story, brilliant character sketches, flashes
+of good talk&mdash;a remarkably clever book."&mdash;<i>Guardian.</i></p>
+
+<h3>THE IMAGE OF THE SAND</h3>
+
+<p>"Even the sceptic must admit the grim power of the book."&mdash;<i>Bookman.</i></p>
+
+<h3>PAUL</h3>
+
+<p>"Mr. Benson at his gayest and best. Nothing could be more natural or
+more amusing than most of the dialogue&mdash;full of admirable portraiture
+and an abundance both of humour and humanity."&mdash;<i>Outlook.</i></p>
+
+<h3>SHEAVES</h3>
+
+<p>"Brilliant, clever, full of wise observations and sage
+counsels."&mdash;<i>Standard.</i></p>
+
+<h3>THE CLIMBER</h3>
+
+<p>"His story is written with striking effect, and the author's wonderful
+power of observation is to be found in almost every page."&mdash;<i>World.</i></p>
+
+<h3>JUGGERNAUT</h3>
+
+<p>"Delightful in its literary brightness and charm, it is also full of
+exquisite and appealing humanity ... a fine achievement."&mdash;<i>Liverpool
+Mercury.</i></p>
+
+<h3>ACCOUNT RENDERED</h3>
+
+<p>"This is an admirably written study of English modern life. Lovers of
+Mr. Benson's work will be charmed with his latest novel."&mdash;<i>T.P.'s
+Weekly.</i></p>
+
+<h3>THE OSBORNES</h3>
+
+<p>"As human and sincere as anything in 'Sheaves' or the 'Challoners.' A
+charming story."&mdash;<i>Observer.</i></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><i>HEINEMANN'S 7d NET NOVELS</i></h2>
+
+<h3>THE BONDMAN</h3>
+
+<h3>By HALL CAINE</h3>
+
+<p>"Mr. Hall Caine has in this work placed himself beyond the front rank of
+the novelists of the day. He has produced a story which is distinctly
+ahead of all the fictional literature of our time, and fit to rank with
+the most powerful fictional writing of the past century."&mdash;<span class="smcap">The Scotsman</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>THE SCAPEGOAT</h3>
+
+<h3>By HALL CAINE</h3>
+
+<p>"There are passages in 'The Scapegoat' which entitle Mr. Hall Caine to a
+high place amongst contemporary writers of fiction."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Daily Chronicle</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>THE EBB-TIDE</h3>
+
+<h3>By R. L. STEVENSON (In conjunction with LLOYD-OSBOURNE)</h3>
+
+<p>"The master storyteller is apparent to the reader of this book. It is
+full of freshness, incident and character. It is a splendid
+tale."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Guardian</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>THE CALL OF THE WILD</h3>
+
+<h3>By JACK LONDON</h3>
+
+<p>"It is impossible not to recognise the skill with which Mr. London
+follows out point by point the training of a sledge dog. 'The Call of
+the Wild' is a very remarkable book."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Daily Telegraph</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>THE WAR OF THE WORLDS</h3>
+
+<h3>By H. G. WELLS</h3>
+
+<p>"Original and ingenious romance which attests strongly the variety and
+fertility of Mr. Wells' imagination."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Daily Chronicle</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>FLAMES</h3>
+
+<h3>By ROBERT HICHENS</h3>
+
+<p>"The picturesque charm of Mr. Hichens' style and his indisputable
+command of the weird and mysterious will hold attention fixed from the
+first chapter of this powerful story to the last."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Graphic</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>THE GADFLY</h3>
+
+<h3>By E. L. VOYNICH</h3>
+
+<p>"It is more interesting and rich in promise than ninety-nine out of
+every hundred novels that pass through the reviewer's hand."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Academy</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE</h3>
+
+<h3>By RICHARD HARDING DAVIS</h3>
+
+<p>"Mr. Davis has the dramatic gift&mdash;he carries you along with him. One
+need not wish for a better story of action than this."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Academy</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>THE LAST SENTENCE</h3>
+
+<h3>By MAXWELL GRAY</h3>
+
+<p>"Any reader who wants an absorbing story, full of cleverness and
+excitement, should read this book."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Daily News</span>.</p>
+
+<h3>HER LADYSHIP'S ELEPHANT</h3>
+
+<h3>By D. D. WELLS</h3>
+
+<p>"It is an admirable piece of humour with not a dull page in it from
+beginning to end."&mdash;<span class="smcap">Athen&aelig;um</span>.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h2>London: WILLIAM HEINEMANN, 21 Bedford St., W.C.</h2>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Her Ladyship's Elephant, by David Dwight Wells
+
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+</pre>
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Her Ladyship's Elephant, by David Dwight Wells
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Her Ladyship's Elephant
+
+Author: David Dwight Wells
+
+Release Date: February 21, 2009 [EBook #28149]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HER LADYSHIP'S ELEPHANT ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Annie McGuire, from scans obtained from Google
+Print project.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Her Ladyship's
+
+Elephant
+
+
+By
+
+D. D. Wells
+
+
+London
+William Heinemann
+1912
+
+
+FIRST EDITION, 3s. 6d., _May
+1898_. NEW IMPRESSIONS, _August
+1898_; _November 1899_; _September
+1905_. HEINEMANN'S SEVENPENNY
+NOVELS, _July 1912_.
+
+
+[Illustration: "He sat down hurriedly on the breakfast table"]
+
+
+
+
+HEINEMANN'S
+
+Sevenpenny Novels
+
+
+By Hall Caine
+
+  The Bondman
+  The Scapegoat
+
+By R. L. Stevenson
+
+  The Ebb-Tide
+      (With LLOYD OSBOURNE)
+
+By Jack London
+
+  The Call of the Wild
+
+By H. G. Wells
+
+  The War of the Worlds
+
+By Robert S. Hichens
+
+  Flames
+
+By R. Harding Davis
+
+  Soldiers of Fortune
+
+By E. L. Voynich
+
+  The Gadfly
+
+By Maxwell Gray
+
+  The Last Sentence
+
+By D. D. Wells
+
+  Her Ladyship's Elephant
+
+
+
+
+_A WORD TO THE WISE_
+
+
+_A well-known English novelist once told me that of all his published
+works--and their name is legion--one only had been founded on fact, and
+that one his critics united in condemning as impossible and unnatural.
+In the case of my own little book, I venture to forestall such criticism
+by stating that while the characters which appear in its pages are at
+the most only composite photographs, the one "impossible" and
+"unnatural" figure, the elephant, had his foundation in actual fact; and
+the history of its acquirement by the Consul, as hereinafter set forth,
+is the truthful narration of an actual experience, one of many episodes,
+stranger than fiction, which went to form the warp and woof of my
+diplomatic experience._
+
+  _DAVID DWIGHT WELLS._
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+IN WHICH THE SAME QUESTION IS ANSWERED IN TWO WAYS
+
+
+Harold Stanley Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale, Esq., of "The Towers,"
+Sussex, sat uncomfortably on a very comfortable chair. His
+patent-leather boots were manifestly new, his trousers fresh from the
+presser, his waistcoat immaculate, while his frock coat with its white
+gardenia, and his delicate grey suede gloves, completed an admirable
+toilet. He was, in short, got up for the occasion, a thoroughly healthy,
+muscular, well-groomed animal; good-natured too, fond in his big-hearted
+boyish way of most other animals, and enough of a sportsman to find no
+pleasure in winging tame or driven grouse and pheasants. He was
+possessed, moreover, of sufficient brains to pass with credit an
+examination which gave him a post in the War Office, and had recently
+become, owing to the interposition of Providence and a restive mare, the
+eldest son.
+
+In spite of all this, he was very much out of his depth as he sat there;
+for he was face to face with a crisis in his life, and that crisis was
+embodied in a woman. And such a woman!--quite unlike anything his
+conservative British brain had ever seen or imagined before the present
+London season: a mixture of Parisian daintiness and coquetry, nicely
+tempered by Anglo-Saxon breeding and common sense--in a word, an
+American.
+
+He had come to propose to her, or rather she had sent for him, to what
+end he hardly knew. Of this only was he certain, that she had turned his
+world topsy-turvy; cast down his conventional gods; admired him for what
+he considered his fallings-off from the established order of things;
+laughed at his great coups; cared not a whit for his most valued
+possessions; and become, in short, the most incomprehensible,
+bewitching, lovable woman on earth.
+
+He had talked to her about the weather, the opera, the Court Ball, and
+now--now he must speak to her of his love, unless, blessed reprieve! she
+spoke first--which she did.
+
+"Now, Mr. Scarsdale," she remarked, "I have not sent for you to talk
+amiable society nonsense: I want an explanation."
+
+"Yes, Miss Vernon," he replied, nerving himself for the ordeal.
+
+"Why did you propose to Aunt Eliza at the Andersons' crush last night?"
+
+"Because----" he faltered. "Well, really, you see she is your only
+relative in England--your chaperon--and it is customary here to address
+offers of marriage to the head of the family."
+
+"I really don't see why you want to marry her," continued his tormentor.
+"She is over sixty. Oh, you needn't be shocked; Aunt Eliza is not
+sensitive about her age, and it is well to look these things fairly in
+the face. You can't honestly call her handsome, though she is a dear
+good old soul, but, I fear, too inured to Chicago to assimilate readily
+with English society. Of course her private means are enormous----"
+
+"Good heavens! Miss Vernon," he exclaimed, "there has been some dreadful
+mistake! I entertain the highest respect for your aunt, Miss Cogbill,
+but I don't wish to marry her; I wish to marry--somebody else----"
+
+"Really! Why don't you propose to Miss Somebody Else in person, then?"
+
+"It is usual----" he began, but she cut him short, exclaiming:
+
+"Oh, bother! Excuse me, I didn't mean to be rude, but really, you know,
+any girl who was old enough to marry would be quite capable of giving
+you your--answer." The last word, after a pause for consideration, was
+accompanied by a bewitching, if ambiguous, smile.
+
+"I--I hope you are not offended," he floundered on, in desperate straits
+by this time.
+
+"Oh dear, no," she returned serenely, "I'm only grieved for Aunt Eliza.
+You shouldn't have done it, really; it must have upset her dreadfully;
+she's too old for that sort of thing. Do tell me what she said to you."
+
+"She said I must propose on my own account," he blurted out, "and that
+she could not pretend to advise me."
+
+"Clever Aunt Eliza!" murmured Miss Vernon.
+
+"So you see," continued her lover, determined to have it over and know
+the worst, "I came to you."
+
+"For more advice?" she queried, and, receiving no answer, continued
+demurely: "Of course I haven't the remotest idea whom you mean to
+honour, but it does seem to me that the wives of Englishmen allow
+themselves to be treated shamefully, and I once made out a list of
+objections which I always said I would present to any Englishman who
+proposed to me. Of course," she hastened to add, "you will probably
+marry an English girl, who won't mind."
+
+"I haven't said so!" he interjected.
+
+"No," she said meditatively, "you haven't. I'll tell you what they are
+if you wish."
+
+"Do," he begged.
+
+"Well, in the first place," she continued, "I should refuse to be a
+'chattel.'"
+
+"Oh I say----" he began. But she went on, unheeding his expostulation:
+
+"Then my husband couldn't beat me, not even once, though the law allows
+it."
+
+"What do you take us for?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Then," she proceeded, "he would have to love me better than his horses
+and his dogs."
+
+"Oh I say! Mabel," he burst out, teased beyond all limits of endurance,
+"don't chaff me; I'm awfully in earnest, you know, and if you will
+accept what little I have to offer--three thousand a year, and 'The
+Towers,' now poor Bob's gone----" He paused, but she made no answer,
+only he noticed that all of a sudden she had become very serious.
+
+"Lady Mary, my mother, you know, would of course leave the place to you
+at once, but there's no title; my father was only a knight. I'm
+sorry----"
+
+"Oh," she replied, "I wouldn't have married you if you had had one;
+quite enough of my countrywomen have made fools of themselves on that
+account."
+
+"Then you will marry me!" he cried, and sprang towards her.
+
+She saw her slip and tried to correct it.
+
+"I haven't said----" she began, but the sentence was never finished; for
+Harold Stanley Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale, of "The Towers," Sussex,
+closed the argument and the lips of Miss Mabel Vernon, of Chicago,
+Illinois, U.S.A., at one and the same time.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Robert Allingford, United States Consul at Christchurch, England, and
+Marion, youngest daughter of Sir Peter and Lady Steele, were seated on
+the balcony of the Hyde Park Club one hot afternoon. Everybody had gone
+down to the races at Goodwood, and the season was drawing its last gasp.
+The "Row," which they overlooked, was almost deserted, save for an
+occasional depressed brougham, while the stretches of the Park beyond
+were given over to nursemaids and their attendant "Tommies" and
+"Bobbies."
+
+Mamma was there, of course. One must be conventional in London, even in
+July; but she was talking to the other man, Jack Carrington, who had
+been invited especially for that purpose, and was doing his duty nobly.
+
+The afternoon tea had been cleared away, and the balcony was deserted.
+In another week Marion would go into the country, and he would return to
+his consulate. He might never have such another chance. Opportunities
+for a proposal are so rare in London that it does not do to miss them. A
+ball affords almost the only opening, and when one remembers the offers
+to which one has been a third party, on the other side of a thin paper
+screen--well, it makes a man cautious.
+
+Robert Allingford had planned and worked up this tea with patience and
+success. Jack was to be best man, in consideration of his devotion to
+mamma--provided, of course, that the services of a best man should be
+required. On this point Allingford was doubtful. He was sure that Lady
+Steele understood; he knew that Sir Peter had smiled on him indulgently
+for the past fortnight; his friends chaffed him about it openly at
+dinners and at the club; but Marion--he was very far from certain if she
+comprehended the state of affairs in the slightest degree.
+
+He had given her river-parties, box-parties, dinners, flowers, candy--in
+short, paid her every possible attention; but then she expected
+Americans to do so; it was "just their way," and "didn't mean anything."
+
+He greatly feared that his proposal would be a shock to her, and English
+girls, he had been told, did not like shocks. He wondered if it would
+have been better to ask Lady Steele for her daughter's hand, but this he
+felt was beyond him. Proposing was bad enough anyway, but to attempt a
+declaration in cold blood--he simply couldn't. Moreover he felt that it
+must be now or never. Jack had been giving him the field for five
+minutes already, and he had not even made a beginning. He would go in
+and get it over.
+
+"You are leaving town next week," he said. "I shall miss you."
+
+"You have been very good to me," she replied simply.
+
+"Good to myself, you mean. It is the greatest pleasure I have in life to
+give you pleasure, Marion."
+
+"Mr. Allingford!" she said, half rising. He had used her Christian name
+for the first time.
+
+"Forgive me if I call you Marion," he went on, noting with relief that
+her ladyship was talking charity bazaar to Jack, and so assuring him
+from interruption.
+
+"I mean, give me the right to do so. You see I'm awfully in love with
+you; I can't help loving the sweetest girl I know. You must have seen
+how I cared."
+
+"Lately, yes--I have suspected it," she answered in a low voice.
+
+"Do you mind? I can't help it if you do. I'll love you anyway, but I
+want you to be my wife, to care for me just a little; I don't ask
+more."
+
+"I think you must speak to mamma."
+
+"But I don't wish--I mean, can't you give me something to go on--some
+assurance?"
+
+She blushed and looked down, repeating the phrase, "I think you must
+speak to mamma."
+
+"Is that equivalent----" he began; then he saw that it was, and added,
+"My darling!"
+
+Her head sank lower, he had her hand in a moment, and wondered if he
+might venture to kiss her, screened as they both were by her sunshade,
+but hesitated to do so because of the ominous silence at the other end
+of the balcony.
+
+"If you have nothing better to do this evening," said Lady Steele's
+voice to him, "come to us. Sir Peter and I are dining at home, and if
+you will partake of a family dinner with us we shall be delighted."
+
+He bowed his acceptance.
+
+"Come, Marion," her ladyship continued. "We have spent a charming
+afternoon, Mr. Allingford, thanks to your hospitality. We are at home on
+Thursdays after September; Mr. Carrington, you must come and hear more
+about my bazaar." And they were gone.
+
+Jack stepped to the bell. "Well, Bob," he said to Allingford, "is it
+brandy and soda or champagne?"
+
+"Champagne," replied that gentleman.
+
+"Then," remarked Carrington, after ordering a bottle of '80
+"Perrier"--"then, Bob, my boy, let me congratulate you."
+
+"I think I deserve it," he replied, as he wrung his friend's hand; "for
+I believe I have won for my wife the most charming girl in London."
+
+"I am awfully glad for you," said Carrington, "and I consider her a very
+lucky young woman."
+
+"I don't know about that," returned Allingford, "and I'm sure I don't
+see what she can find to care for in me. Why, we hardly know each other.
+I've only met her in public, and not over a couple of dozen times at
+that."
+
+"Oh, you will find it much more fun becoming acquainted after you are
+engaged. Our English conventions are beautifully Chinese in some
+respects."
+
+Allingford laughed, saying: "I don't know that I'm going to be engaged.
+I can't imagine why her family should approve of the match; I haven't a
+title and never can have, and I'm only in consular service. Now if I had
+been a diplomat----"
+
+"My dear fellow," said Carrington, "you seem to forget that you have a
+few dozen copper-mines at your disposal, and a larger income than you
+can conveniently spend. Her people haven't forgotten it, however, as
+I'll venture to prophesy that you'll find out before to-morrow morning.
+As for your being an American and a Consul, that doesn't count. Just
+make the settlements sufficiently large, and as long as you don't eat
+with your knife or drink out of your finger-bowl they will pardon the
+rest as amiable eccentricities."
+
+"You are a cynic, Carrington, and I don't believe it," said Allingford,
+rising to go. "Anyway, what do you know about marriage?"
+
+"Nothing, and I am not likely to," rejoined his friend, "but I've lived
+in London."
+
+The dinner that night at Belgrave Square did not serve to put the Consul
+at his ease. True, he sat by Marion, but no word was spoken of what had
+passed that afternoon, and he could not help feeling that he was in an
+anomalous position. He had on his company manners, and was not at his
+best in consequence. He felt he was being watched and would be
+criticised in the drawing-room after dinner, which made him nervous. Sir
+Peter had several married daughters, one of whom was present, and
+Allingford wondered how their husbands had behaved under similar
+circumstances. He gave Lady Steele, at whose right he sat, ample
+opportunity to question him concerning his family history and future
+plans and prospects--a chance of which she was not slow to avail
+herself.
+
+When the ladies had departed and had left the two gentlemen to their
+coffee and cigars, Sir Peter lost no time in opening the question, and
+said, somewhat bluntly:
+
+"So I hear that you wish to marry my daughter."
+
+The Consul signified that such was the case.
+
+"I'm sure I don't know why," resumed her father, with true British
+candour. "I become so used to my children that I sometimes wonder what
+other people can see in them. Marion is a good little girl, however,
+I'll say that for her--a good little girl and not extravagant."
+
+Sir Peter's manner was reassuring, and Allingford hastened to say that
+he was sensible of the great honour Miss Steele had done him in
+considering his suit, and that he should strive to prove himself worthy
+of her.
+
+"I don't doubt it, my dear fellow, I don't doubt it." And the baronet
+paused, smiling so amiably that the Consul was disconcerted, and began
+to fear an unpleasant surprise.
+
+"I trust," he returned, "that you are not averse to me as a son-in-law?"
+
+"Personally much the reverse; but I always ask the man who comes to me
+as you have done one question, and on his answer I base my approval or
+disapproval of his suit."
+
+"And that question is?"
+
+"Can you support a wife, Mr. Allingford?"
+
+"As a gentleman I could not have asked her hand if such were not the
+case."
+
+"Ah," replied Sir Peter, "that is quite right."
+
+"As for my position----" continued the young man.
+
+"You hold a public office in the service of your country. I consider
+that sufficient guarantee of your position, both moral and social."
+
+Allingford, who knew something of American practical politics, thought
+this by no means followed, but forbore to say so, and Sir Peter
+continued:
+
+"Have you any family?"
+
+"No relations in the world except my younger brother, Dick, who manages
+the property at home, while I play at politics abroad."
+
+"I see," said his host. "One question more and I have done. I dislike
+talking business after dinner--it should be left to the lawyers; but,
+seeing that you are an American and do not understand such things, I
+thought----"
+
+The Consul stopped him by a gesture. "You are referring to the
+settlements, Sir Peter," he said. "Set your mind at rest on that score.
+I'll do the proper thing."
+
+"Of course, my dear fellow, of course; I don't doubt that for a moment.
+But--er--you won't think me mercenary if I ask you to be--in short--more
+definite. I speak most disinterestedly, purely out of consideration for
+my daughter's future."
+
+Allingford frowned slightly as Carrington's prophecy came back to him.
+His prospective father-in-law was quite within his rights in speaking as
+he did, but why couldn't he have left it at least till to-morrow?
+
+"Would a copper-mine do?" he said, looking up. "I'd give her a
+copper-mine."
+
+"Really, I don't know what to say," replied Sir Peter, in some
+perplexity. "I'm quite ignorant of such matters. Are--er--copper-mines
+valuable?"
+
+"The one I'm thinking of has been worth a quarter of a million since it
+started, and we have only begun to work it," replied the Consul.
+
+"Bless my soul!" ejaculated his host. "You don't say so! Do you go in
+much for that sort of thing?"
+
+"Yes, I've quite a number."
+
+"Dear me!" said Sir Peter dreamily, "a quarter of a million." Then
+waking up he added: "But I'm forgetting the time. My dear
+Allingford--er--your Christian name escapes me."
+
+"Robert, Sir Peter."
+
+"Thanks. I was going to say, my dear Robert, that you must go upstairs
+and see mamma."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+IN WHICH THE CONSUL LOSES A RELATIVE AND GAINS A WIFE
+
+
+When Robert Allingford entered the smoking-room of his club, one
+afternoon early in October, he was genuinely glad to find that it had
+but one occupant, and that he was Harold Scarsdale. The two men had met
+each other for the first time at a house-party some eighteen months
+before, and their acquaintance had ripened into true friendship.
+
+"Hello!" he cried, accosting that gentleman. "You're enjoying to the
+full your last hours of bachelor bliss, I see."
+
+"Speak for yourself," replied Scarsdale, who looked extremely bored.
+"You're also on the dizzy brink."
+
+"It's a fact," admitted the Consul; "we are both to be married
+to-morrow. But that is all the more reason why we should make the most
+of our remaining freedom. You look as glum as if you'd lost your last
+friend. Come, cheer up, and have something to drink."
+
+"They say," remarked the Englishman as he acquiesced in the Consul's
+suggestion, "that a man only needs to be married to find out of how
+little importance he really is; but I've been anticipating my fate. Miss
+Vernon's rooms are a wilderness of the vanities of life, and here I am,
+banished to the club as a stern reality."
+
+"Quite so," replied the American. "I'm in the same box. The dressmakers
+have driven me clean out of Belgrave Square. But you, you really have my
+sympathy, for you are to marry one of my countrywomen, and they are apt
+to prove rather exacting mistresses at times like these."
+
+"Oh, I'm fairly well treated," said Scarsdale; "much better than I
+deserve, I dare say. How is it with you?"
+
+"Oh," laughed Allingford, "I feel as if I were playing a game of blind
+man's buff with English conventionalities: at least I seem to run foul
+of them most of the time. I used to imagine that getting married was a
+comparatively simple matter; but what with a highly complicated ceremony
+and an irresponsible best man, my cup of misery is well-nigh
+overflowing."
+
+"I suppose you have been doing your required fifteen days of residence
+in the parish? London is slow work, now every one is out of town,"
+remarked Scarsdale.
+
+"My second-best hand-bag has been residing for the past fortnight in an
+adjacent attic, in fulfilment of the law," returned the American; "but
+affairs at the consulate have kept me on post more than I could have
+wished."
+
+"I should not think you would have much business at this season of the
+year."
+
+"On the contrary, it is just the time when the migratory American, who
+has spent the summer in doing Europe, returns to England dead broke, and
+expects, nay, demands, to be helped home."
+
+"Do you have many cases of that sort?"
+
+"Lots. In fact, one especially importunate fellow nearly caused me to
+lose my train for London yesterday. I gave him what he asked to get rid
+of him."
+
+"I suppose that sort of thing is a good deal like throwing money into
+the sea," said Scarsdale. "It never comes back."
+
+"Not often, I regret to say; but in this case my distressed countryman
+put up collateral."
+
+"Indeed. I trust you can realise on it if need be."
+
+"I don't think I want to," said the Consul, "seeing it's an elephant."
+
+"What!" cried Scarsdale.
+
+"An elephant, or rather, to be exact, an order for one to be delivered
+by the Nubian and Red Sea Line of freighters in two or three days at
+Southampton Docks. My friend promises to redeem it before arrival,
+expects advices from the States, &c., but meanwhile is terribly hard
+up."
+
+"I hope he will be true to his promises, otherwise I wish you joy of
+your elephant. You might give it to Lady Steele," suggested Scarsdale.
+
+"Yes. I think I can see it tethered to the railings in Belgrave Square,"
+remarked the Consul; "but I am not losing sleep on that account, for,
+though I've informed the steamship people that I am, temporarily, the
+owner of the beast, I more than suspect that the order and the elephant
+are both myths. But I have been telling you of my affairs long enough;
+how go yours?"
+
+"Swimmingly," replied the Englishman. "Miss Vernon has only one relative
+in England, thank Heaven! but my family have settled down on me in
+swarms."
+
+"Is Lady Diana Melton in town for the occasion?" asked Allingford.
+
+Scarsdale flushed, and for the moment did not reply.
+
+"I beg your pardon," said the American, "if I have asked an unfortunate
+question."
+
+"Not at all," replied his friend. "My great-aunt, who, as you know, is a
+somewhat determined old person, has the bad taste to dislike Americans.
+So she has confined herself to a frigid refusal of our wedding
+invitation, and sent an impossible spoon to the bride."
+
+"So you are not to have her country place for your honeymoon," said
+Allingford. "From what I have heard of Melton Court, it would be quite
+an ideal spot under the circumstances."
+
+"No, we are not going there. The fact is, I don't know where we are
+going," added Scarsdale.
+
+"Really!"
+
+"Yes. As you were saying just now, your countrywomen are apt to prove
+exacting, and the future Mrs. Scarsdale has taken it into her head that
+I am much too prosaic to plan a wedding trip--that I would do the usual
+round, in fact, and that she would be bored in consequence; so she has
+taken the arrangements upon herself, and the whole thing is to be a
+surprise for me. I don't even know the station from which we start."
+
+"I'm afraid I can't commiserate you," returned Allingford, laughing,
+"for I'm guilty of doing the very same thing myself, and my bride elect
+has no idea of our destination. She spends most of her spare time in
+trying to guess it."
+
+At this moment a card was handed to Allingford, who said: "Why, here is
+my best man, Jack Carrington. You know him, don't you? I wonder what can
+have started him on my trail," and he requested the page to show him up.
+
+A moment later Carrington entered the room. He was one of the
+best-dressed, most perfect-mannered young men in London, the friend of
+every one who knew him, a thoroughly delightful and irresponsible
+creature. To-day, however, there was a seriousness about his face that
+proclaimed his mission to be of no very pleasant character.
+
+After greeting his friends, he asked for a few words in private with his
+principal, and as a result of this colloquy Allingford excused himself
+to Scardsdale, saying that he must return to his lodgings at once, as
+Carrington had brought him news that his brother Dick had arrived
+unexpectedly from America, and was awaiting him there.
+
+"What a delightful surprise for you!" exclaimed Scarsdale.
+
+"Yes, very--of course," returned Allingford drily; and after a mutual
+interchange of congratulations on the events of the morrow, and regrets
+that neither could be at the wedding of the other, the Consul and his
+best man left the club.
+
+"He did not seem over-enthusiastic at Carrington's news," mused
+Scarsdale, and then his mind turned to his own affairs.
+
+It was not astonishing that Robert Allingford received the news of his
+brother's arrival without any show of rejoicing. A family skeleton is
+never an enjoyable possession, but when it is not even decently
+interred, but very much alive, and in the shape of a brother who has
+attained notoriety as a black sheep of an unusually intense dye, it may
+be looked upon as little less than a curse.
+
+Yet there were redeeming qualities about Dick Allingford. In spite of
+his thoroughly bad name, he was one of the most kind-hearted and
+engaging of men, while the way in which he had managed his own and his
+brother's property left nothing to be desired. Moreover, he was quite in
+his element among his miners. Indeed his qualities, good and bad, were
+of a kind that endeared him to them. He loved the good things of this
+life, however, in a wholly uncontrollable manner, and, as his income
+afforded almost unlimited scope for these desires, his achievements
+would have put most yellow-covered novels to the blush. Dick's redeeming
+virtue was a blind devotion to his elder brother, from whom he demanded
+unlimited advice and assistance in extricating him from a
+thousand-and-one scrapes, and inexhaustible patience and forgiveness for
+those peccadilloes. When Robert had taken a public office in England it
+was on the distinct understanding that Richard should confine his
+attentions to America, and so far he had not violated the contract. The
+Consul had taken care that his brother should not be informed of the
+day of his marriage until it was too late for him to attend in person,
+for he shuddered to think of the rig that Richard would run in staid and
+conventional English society. Accordingly he hastened to his lodgings,
+full of anxious fore-bodings. On arrival his worst fears were fulfilled.
+Dick received him with open arms, very affectionate, very penitent, and
+very drunk. From that gentleman's somewhat disconnected description the
+Consul obtained a lurid inkling of what seemed to have been a triumphal
+progress of unrestrained dissipation from Southampton to London, of
+which indignant barmaids and a wrecked four-in-hand formed the most
+redeeming features.
+
+"Now explain yourself!" cried Robert in wrath, at the conclusion of his
+brother's recital. "What do you mean by this disgraceful conduct, and
+why are you in England at all?"
+
+"Saw 'proaching marriage--newspaper," hiccoughed Dick--"took first
+steamer."
+
+"What did you come for?" demanded Allingford sternly.
+
+"Come? Congratulate you--see the bride."
+
+"Not on your life!" exclaimed the Consul. "You are beastly drunk and not
+fit for decent society."
+
+"Fault--railroad company--bad whisky," explained the unregenerate one.
+
+"I'll take your word for it," replied his brother. "You ought to be a
+judge of whisky. But you won't go to my wedding unless you are sober."
+And he rang for his valet.
+
+"This is my brother, Parsons," he remarked to that individual when he
+entered. "You may put him to bed at once. Use my room for the purpose,
+and engage another for me for to-night."
+
+"Yes, sir," replied his valet, who was too well trained to betray any
+emotion.
+
+"When you have got him settled," continued the Consul, "lock him in, and
+let him stay till morning." With which he straightway departed, leaving
+his stupefied brother to the tender mercies of the shocked and sedate
+Parsons.
+
+Allingford stood a good deal in awe of his valet, and dreaded to see the
+reproachful look of outraged dignity which he knew would greet him on
+his return. So he again sought the club, intending to find Scarsdale and
+continue their conversation; but that gentleman had departed, and the
+Consul was forced to console himself with a brandy and soda, and settle
+down to a quiet hour of reflection.
+
+He had been engaged upwards of three months, and, it is needless to say,
+had learned much in that space of time. An engagement is a liberal
+education to any man, for it presents a series of entirely new problems
+to be solved. He ceases to think of and for himself alone, and the
+accuracy with which he can adjust himself to these novel conditions
+determines the success or failure of his married life. Robert
+Allingford, however, was engaged to a woman of another nation; of his
+own race, indeed, and speaking his own tongue, but educated under widely
+differing standards and ideals, and on a plane of comparative simplicity
+when viewed in the light of her complex American sister. The little
+English girl was an endless mystery to him, and it was only in later
+life that he discovered that he was constantly endowing her with a
+complicated nature which she did not possess. He could not understand a
+woman who generally--I do not say invariably, for Marion Steele was
+human after all, but who generally meant what she said, whose pleasures
+were healthy and direct, and who was really simple and genuinely
+ignorant of most things pertaining to the world worldly. He knew that
+world well enough--ten years of mining had taught him that--and he had
+been left to its tender mercies when still a boy, with no relatives
+except his younger brother, who, as may well be imagined, was rather a
+burden than a help.
+
+But if Robert Allingford had seen the rough side of life, it had taught
+him to understand human nature, and, as he had been blessed with a large
+heart and a considerable measure of adaptability, he managed to get on
+very well on both sides of the Atlantic. True, he seldom appreciated
+what the British mind held to contain worth; but he was tolerant, and
+his tolerance begat, unconsciously, sympathy. On the other hand, the
+Consul was as much of a mystery to his fiancee as she had ever been to
+him. In her eyes he was always doing the unexpected. For one thing, she
+never knew when to take him seriously, and was afraid of what he might
+do or say; but she soon learned to trust him implicitly, and to estimate
+him at his true sterling worth.
+
+In short, both had partially adjusted themselves to each other, and were
+likely to live very happily, with enough of the unknown in their
+characters to keep them from becoming bored. Allingford had never spoken
+definitely to his fiancee concerning his younger brother, and she knew
+instinctively that it was a subject to be avoided. To her father she had
+said something, but Sir Peter had little interest in his children's
+affairs beyond seeing that they were suitably married; and since he was
+satisfied with the settlements and the man, was content to leave well
+enough alone.
+
+The Consul, therefore, thought himself justified in saying nothing
+about the unexpected arrival of his brother, especially as the chances
+of that gentleman's being in a fit state to appear at the wedding seemed
+highly problematical.
+
+Next morning there were no signs of repentance or of Dick; for if a
+deserted bed, an open window, and the smashed glass of a neighbouring
+skylight signified anything, it was that Mr. Richard Allingford was
+still unregenerate and at large.
+
+The bridal day dawned bright and clear, and Carrington lunched with the
+Consul just before the ceremony, which, thanks to English law, took
+place at that most impossible hour of the day, 2.30 P.M.
+
+The bridegroom floundered through the intricacies of the service, signed
+his name in the vestry, and achieved his carriage in a kind of dream;
+but woke up sufficiently to the realities of life at the reception, to
+endure with fortitude the indiscriminate kissing of scores of new
+relations. Then he drank his own health and the healths of other
+people, and at last escaped upstairs to prepare for the journey and
+have a quiet fifteen minutes with his best man.
+
+"Now remember," he said to that irresponsible individual, "you are the
+only one who knows our destination this evening, and if you breathe it
+to a soul I'll come back and murder you."
+
+"My dear fellow," replied Carrington, "you don't suppose, after I've
+endured weeks of cross-questioning and inquisitorial advances from the
+bride and her family, that I am going to strike my colours and give the
+whole thing away at the eleventh hour."
+
+"You have been a trump, Jack," rejoined the Consul, "and I only wish you
+may be as happy some time as I am to-day."
+
+"It is your day; don't worry about my affairs," returned Carrington,
+with a forced laugh which gave colour to the popular report that the
+only vulnerable point in his armour of good nature lay in his
+impecunious condition and the consequent impossibility of his marrying
+on his own account.
+
+It was only a passing cloud, however, and he hastened to change the
+subject, saying: "Come, you are late already, and a bride must not be
+kept waiting."
+
+Allingford was thereupon hustled downstairs, and wept upon from all
+quarters, and his life was threatened with rice and old shoes; but he
+reached the street somehow with Mrs. Robert in tow, and, barring the
+circumstance that in his agitation he had embraced the butler instead of
+Sir Peter, he acquitted himself very well under the trying ordeal.
+
+As they drove to the station his wife was strangely quiet, and he
+rallied her on the fact.
+
+"Why," he said, "you haven't spoken since we started."
+
+Her face grew troubled. "I was wondering----" she began.
+
+"If you would be happy?" he asked. "I'll do my best."
+
+"No, no, I'm sure of that, only--do tell me where we are going."
+
+The Consul laughed. "You women are just the same all the world over,"
+he replied, but otherwise did not commit himself; but his wife noticed
+that he looked worried and anxious, and that he breathed a sigh of
+unmistakable relief as their train drew out of Waterloo Station. She did
+not know that the one cloud which he had feared might darken his wedding
+day had now been dispelled: he had seen nothing of his brother.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+IN WHICH THE LONDON AND SOUTH WESTERN RAIL-WAY ACCOMPLISHES WHAT THE
+MARRIAGE SERVICE FORBIDS
+
+
+It might be supposed that the heir to "The Towers" and Lady Scarsdale's
+very considerable property would meet with some decided opposition from
+his family to his proposed alliance with Mabel Vernon, an unknown
+American, who, though fairly provided with this world's goods, could in
+no sense be termed a great heiress. But the fact of the matter was that
+the prejudices of his own people were as nothing when compared with
+those of Aunt Eliza. In the first place she did not wish her niece to
+marry at all, on the ground that no man was good enough for her; and in
+the second place she had decided that if Mabel must have a partner in
+life, he was to be born under the Stars and Stripes. Her wrath,
+therefore, was great when she heard of the engagement, and she declared
+that she had a good mind to cut the young couple off with a cent, a
+threat that meant something from a woman who had bought corner lots in
+Chicago immediately after the great fire, and still held them. Scarsdale
+never forgot his first interview with her after she had learned the
+news.
+
+"I mistrusted you were round for no good," she said, "though I wasn't
+quite certain which one of us you wanted."
+
+He bit his lip.
+
+"There's nothing to laugh at, young man," she continued severely;
+"marrying me would have been no joke."
+
+"I'm sure, Miss Cogbill----" began Scarsdale.
+
+"You call me Aunt Eliza in the future," she broke in; "that is who I am,
+and if I choose to remember your wife when I'm gone she'll be as rich as
+a duchess, as I dare say you know."
+
+"I had no thought of your leaving her anything, and I am quite able to
+support her without your assistance," he replied, nettled by her
+implication.
+
+"I am glad to hear it; it sounds encouraging," returned the aunt. "Tell
+me, have you ever done anything to support yourself?"
+
+"Rather! As a younger son, I should have had a very poor chance if I'd
+not."
+
+"How many towers have you got?" was her next question.
+
+"I don't know," said Scarsdale, laughing at her very literal
+interpretation of the name of his estate.
+
+"Have they fire-escapes?"
+
+"I'm afraid not," he replied, "but you must come and see for yourself.
+My mother will be happy to welcome you."
+
+"No, I guess not; I'm too old to start climbing."
+
+"Oh, you wouldn't have to live in them," he hastened to assure her;
+"there are other parts to the house, and my mother----"
+
+"That's her ladyship?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"You are sure you haven't any title?" asked Aunt Eliza suspiciously.
+
+"No, nor any chance of having one."
+
+"Well, I do feel relieved," she commented. "The Psalms say not to put
+your trust in princes, but I guess if King David had ever been through a
+London season he wouldn't have drawn the line there; and what's good
+enough for him is good enough for me."
+
+"I think you can trust me, Aunt Eliza."
+
+"I hope so, though I never expected to see a niece of mine married to a
+man of war."
+
+"Not a man of war," he corrected, "only a man in the War Office--a very
+different thing, I assure you."
+
+"I am rejoiced to hear it," she replied. "Now run along to Mabel, and
+I'll write your mother and tell her that I guess you'll do." Which she
+straightway did, and that letter is still preserved as one of the
+literary curiosities of "The Towers," Sussex.
+
+The first meeting of Aunt Eliza and Lady Scarsdale took place the day
+before the wedding. It was pleasant, short, and to the point, and at
+its conclusion each parted from the other with mingled feelings of
+wonder and respect. Indeed, no one could fail to respect Miss Cogbill.
+Alone and unaided she had amassed and managed a great fortune. She was
+shrewd and keen beyond the nature of women, and seldom minced matters in
+her speech; but nevertheless she was possessed of much native refinement
+and prim, old-time courtesy that did not always seem in accordance with
+the business side of her nature.
+
+As time went on she became reconciled to Scarsdale, but his lack of
+appreciation of business was a thorn in her flesh, and, indeed, her
+inclinations had led her in quite another direction.
+
+"Now look at that young Carrington who comes to see you once in a while;
+if you had to marry an Englishman, why didn't you take him?" she said
+once to her niece.
+
+"Why, Aunt Eliza," replied that young lady, "what are you thinking of?
+According to your own standards, he is much less desirable than Harold,
+for he has not a cent."
+
+"He'd make money fast enough if his training didn't get in his way," she
+retorted, "which is more than can be said of your future husband."
+
+The wedding was very quiet, at Miss Vernon's suggestion and with her
+aunt's approval, for neither of them cared for that lavish display with
+which a certain class of Americans are, unfortunately, associated. There
+was to be a reception at the hotel, to which a large number of people
+had been asked; but at the ceremony scarcely a dozen were present.
+Scarsdale's mother and immediate family, a brother official, who served
+as best man, and Aunt Eliza made up the party.
+
+At the bride's request, the service had been as much abbreviated as the
+Church would allow, and the whole matter was finished in a surprisingly
+short space of time. The reception followed, and an hour later the happy
+pair were ready to leave; but their destination was still a mystery to
+the groom.
+
+"I think you might just give me a hint," he suggested to Aunt Eliza,
+whom he shrewdly suspected knew all about it.
+
+"Do you?" she replied. "Well, I think that Mabel is quite capable of
+taking care of herself and you too, and that the sooner you realise it
+the better. As for your being consulted or informed about your wedding
+trip, why, my niece has been four times round the world already, and is
+better able to plan an ordinary honeymoon excursion than a man who
+spends his time turning out bombs, and nitro-glycerine, and monitors,
+and things."
+
+Aunt Eliza's notions of the duties of the War Office were still somewhat
+vague.
+
+After the bridal couple had left, Miss Cogbill and Lady Scarsdale
+received the remaining guests, and, when the function was over, her
+ladyship gave her American relative a cordial invitation to stay at "The
+Towers" till after the honeymoon; but Aunt Eliza refused.
+
+"I'll come some day and be glad to," she said; "but I'm off to-morrow
+for two weeks in Paris. I always go there when I'm blue; it cheers one
+up so, and you meet more Americans there nowadays than you do at home."
+
+"Perhaps you will see the happy pair before you return," suggested Lady
+Scarsdale.
+
+"Now, your ladyship," said Aunt Eliza, "that isn't fair; but to tell you
+the truth of the matter, I've no more idea where they are going, beyond
+their first stop, than you have."
+
+"And that is----?"
+
+"They will write you from there to-morrow," replied Miss Cogbill, "and
+then you will know as much as I do."
+
+Scarsdale was quite too happy to be seriously worried over his ignorance
+of their destination; in fact, he was rather amused at his wife's little
+mystery, and, beyond indulging in some banter on the subject, was well
+content to let the matter drop. He entertained her, however, by making
+wild guesses as to where they were to pass the night from what he had
+learned of their point of departure, Waterloo Station; but soon turned
+to more engrossing topics, and before he realised it an hour had passed
+away, and the train began to slow up for their first stop out of London.
+
+"Is this the end of our journey?" he queried.
+
+"What, Basingstoke?" she cried. "How could you think I'd be so
+unromantic? Why, it is only a miserable, dirty railway junction!"
+
+"Perhaps we change carriages here?"
+
+"Wrong again; but the train stops for a few minutes, and if you'll be
+good you may run out and have a breath of fresh air and something to
+drink."
+
+"How do you know," he asked, "that I sha'n't go forward and see how the
+luggage is labelled?"
+
+"That would not be playing fair," she replied, pouting, "and I should be
+dreadfully cross with you."
+
+"I'll promise to be good," he hastened to assure her, and, as the train
+drew up, stepped out upon the platform.
+
+His first intention had been to make straight for the refreshment-room;
+but he had only taken a few steps in that direction, when he saw
+advancing from the opposite end of the train none other than Robert
+Allingford, who, like himself, was a bridegroom of that day.
+
+"Why, Benedick!" he cried, "who would have thought of meeting you!"
+
+"Just what I was going to say," replied the Consul, heartily shaking his
+outstretched hand. "I never imagined that we would select the same
+train. Come, let's have a drink to celebrate our auspicious meeting.
+There is time enough."
+
+"Are you sure?" asked the careful Englishman.
+
+"Quite," replied his American friend. "I asked a porter, and he said we
+had ten minutes."
+
+They accordingly repaired to the luncheon-bar, and were soon discussing
+whiskies and sodas.
+
+"Tell me," said the Consul, as he put down his glass, "have you
+discovered your destination yet?"
+
+"Haven't the remotest idea," returned the other. "Mrs. Scarsdale
+insisted on buying the tickets, and watches over them jealously. If it
+had not been for the look of the thing, I would have bribed the guard to
+tell me where I was going. By the way, won't you shake hands with my
+wife? She is just forward."
+
+"With pleasure," replied Allingford, "if you will return the compliment;
+my carriage is the first of its class at the rear of the train. We have
+still six minutes." With which the two husbands separated, each to seek
+the other's wife.
+
+Scarsdale met with a cordial welcome from Mrs. Allingford, and was soon
+seated by her side chatting merrily.
+
+"We should sympathise with each other," she said, laughing, "for I
+understand that we are both in ignorance of our destination."
+
+"Indeed we should," he replied. "I dare say that at this moment your
+husband and my wife are gloating over their superior knowledge."
+
+"Oh, well," she continued, "our time will come; and now tell me how you
+have endured the vicissitudes of the day."
+
+"I think you and I have no cause for complaint," rejoined Scarsdale.
+"You see we understand our conventions; but I fear that our respective
+partners have not had such an easy time."
+
+"I shouldn't think it would have worried Mrs. Scarsdale," returned the
+Englishwoman.
+
+"Of course it didn't," said that lady's husband; "nothing ever worries
+her. But I think signing the register puzzled her a bit; she said it
+made her feel as if she was at an hotel."
+
+"Robert enjoyed it thoroughly," said Mrs. Allingford.
+
+"Had he no criticisms to offer?"
+
+"None, except that one seemed to get a good deal more for one's money
+than in the States."
+
+"The almighty dollar!" said Scarsdale, laughing, and added, as he looked
+at his watch: "I must be off, or your husband will be turning me out;
+our ten minutes are almost up."
+
+Once on the platform, he paused aghast. The forward half of the train
+had disappeared, and an engine was backing up in its place to couple on
+to the second part. Allingford was nowhere in sight.
+
+"Where is the rest of the train?" cried Scarsdale, seizing an astonished
+guard.
+
+"The forward division, sir?"
+
+"Yes! yes! For Heaven's sake speak, man! Where is it?"
+
+"That was the Exeter division. Went five minutes ago."
+
+"But I thought we had ten minutes!"
+
+"This division, yes, sir," replied the guard, indicating that portion of
+the train still in the station, "the forward part only five."
+
+In this way, then, had Allingford unconsciously deceived him, and
+without doubt the American Consul had been carried off with his,
+Scarsdale's, wife. The awful discovery staggered him, but he controlled
+himself sufficiently to ask the destination of the section still in the
+station.
+
+"Bournemouth, sir, Southampton first stop. Are you going? we are just
+off."
+
+"No," replied Scarsdale. The guard waved his flag, the shrill whistle
+blew, and the train began to move. Then he thought of Mrs. Allingford;
+he could scarcely leave her. Besides, what was the use of remaining at
+Basingstoke, when he did not even know his own destination? He tore open
+the door of the carriage he had just left, and swung himself in as it
+swept past him.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+IN WHICH LADY MELTON FEELS THAT HER AVERSION IS JUSTIFIED
+
+
+From what has been said it may be imagined that Mrs. Scarsdale, _nee_
+Vernon, was an excellent hand at light and amusing conversation; and so
+pleasantly did she receive the Consul, and so amusingly rally him on the
+events of the day, that he scarcely seemed to have been with her a
+minute, when a slight jolt caused him to look up and out, only to
+perceive the Basingstoke Station sliding rapidly past the windows.
+Allingford's first impulse was to dash from the carriage, a dangerous
+experiment when one remembers the rapidity with which a light English
+train gets under way. In this, however, he was forestalled by Mrs.
+Scarsdale, who clung to his coat-tails, declaring that he should not
+desert her; so that by the time he was able to free himself the train
+had attained such speed as to preclude any longer the question of
+escape. The sensations which Mr. Allingford and Mrs. Scarsdale
+experienced when they realised that they were being borne swiftly away,
+the one from his wife and the other from her husband, may be better
+imagined than described. The deserted bride threw herself into the
+farthest corner of the carriage and began to laugh hysterically, while
+the Consul plunged his hands into his pockets and gave vent to a
+monosyllabic expletive, of which he meant every letter.
+
+After the first moments of astonishment and stupefaction both somewhat
+recovered their senses, and mutual explanations and recriminations began
+forthwith.
+
+"How has this dreadful thing happened?" demanded Mrs. Scarsdale, in a
+voice quavering with suppressed emotion.
+
+"I'm afraid it's my fault," said Allingford ruefully. "The guard told me
+we had ten minutes."
+
+"That was for your division of the train, stupid!" exclaimed the lady
+wrathfully.
+
+"I didn't know that," explained the Consul, "and so I told your husband
+we had ten minutes, which probably accounts for his being left."
+
+"Then I'll never, never forgive you," she cried, and burst into tears,
+murmuring between her sobs: "Poor, dear Harold! what will he do?"
+
+"Do!" exclaimed the Consul, "I should think he had done enough, in all
+conscience. Why, confound him, he's gone off with my wife!"
+
+"Don't you call my husband names!" sobbed Mrs. Scarsdale.
+
+"Well, he certainly has enough of his own, that's a fact."
+
+"If you were a man," retorted the disconsolate bride, "you would do
+something, instead of making stupid jokes about my poor Stanley. I'm a
+distressed American citizen----"
+
+"No, you're not; you became a British subject when you married
+Scarsdale," corrected Allingford.
+
+"Well, I won't be, so there! I tell you I'm an American woman in
+distress, and you are my Consul and you've got to help me."
+
+"I'll help you with the greatest pleasure in the world. I'm quite as
+anxious to recover my wife as you can be to find your husband."
+
+"Then what do you advise?" she asked.
+
+"We are going somewhere at a rapid rate," he replied. "When we arrive,
+we will leave the train and return to Basingstoke as soon as possible.
+Now do you happen to know our next stop?"
+
+"Yes: Salisbury."
+
+"How long before we get there?"
+
+"About three quarters of an hour."
+
+"That will at least give us time," he said, "to consider what is best to
+be done. Have you a railway guide?"
+
+"I think there is a South Western time-table in the pocket of dear
+Malcolm's coat," she said, indicating a garment on the seat beside her.
+
+"Why don't you call him St. Hubart and be done with it?" queried
+Allingford, as he searched for and found the desired paper. "You've
+given him all his other names."
+
+"I reserve that for important occasions," she replied; "it sounds so
+impressive."
+
+Mabel Scarsdale, it will be noticed, was fast regaining her composure,
+now that a definite course of action had been determined upon. But she
+could not help feeling depressed, for it must be admitted that it is
+disheartening to lose your husband before you have been married a day.
+What would he do, she wondered, when he found that the train had gone?
+Had he discovered its departure soon enough to warn Mrs. Allingford to
+leave her carriage? and if not, where had she gone, and had he
+accompanied her? The event certainly afforded ample grounds for
+speculation; but her reverie was interrupted by the Consul, who had been
+deeply immersed in the time-table.
+
+"There is no train back to Basingstoke before ten to-night," he said,
+"so we must spend the evening in Salisbury and telegraph them to await
+our return."
+
+"Possibly my husband may have chased the train and caught the rear
+carriage. I have seen people do that," she ventured.
+
+"The guard's van, you mean," he explained. "In that case he is
+travelling down with us and will put in an appearance directly we reach
+Salisbury, though I don't think it's likely. However, there's nothing to
+worry about, and I must beg you not to do so, unless you wish to make me
+more miserable than I already am for my share in this deplorable
+blunder."
+
+"You don't think they would follow us to Salisbury?"
+
+"No; that is"--and he plunged into the intricacies of the time-table
+once more--"they couldn't; besides, they would receive our telegram
+before they could leave Basingstoke."
+
+"Could they have gone off on the other train?"
+
+"Impossible," he replied. "By Jove, they neither of them know where
+they are bound for!"
+
+"Quite true," she said, "they do not. We had tickets for Exeter; but as
+a joke I never let my husband see them."
+
+"We were going to Bournemouth, and here are my tickets," he returned,
+holding them up, "but my wife doesn't know it."
+
+"You think there is no question that they are waiting for us at
+Basingstoke?" she asked.
+
+"Not a doubt of it; and so we have nothing to do but kill time till we
+can rejoin them, which won't be hard in your society," he replied.
+
+"I'm sorry I can't be so polite," she returned, "but I want my husband,
+and if you talk to me much more I shall probably cry."
+
+The Consul at this made a dive for an adjacent newspaper, in which he
+remained buried till the train slowed down for Salisbury.
+
+"I suppose," he said apologetically, as they drew up at their
+destination, "that you won't object to my appropriating Scarsdale's
+coat and hat? I dare say he is sporting mine."
+
+A tearful sniff was the only reply as he gathered up the various
+impedimenta with which the carriage was littered, and assisted his fair
+though doleful companion to alight. Returning a few moments later from
+the arduous duty of rescuing her luggage, which was, of course, labelled
+for Exeter, he found her still alone, there being no sign of Scarsdale
+in or out of the train, and no telegram for them from Basingstoke--a
+chance on which Allingford had counted considerably, though he had not
+thought it wise to mention it. Indeed, the fact that no inquiry had been
+made for them puzzled and worried him greatly, for it seemed almost
+certain that were their deserted partners still at Basingstoke, their
+first action would have been to telegraph to the fugitives. However, he
+put the best face he could on the matter, assured Mrs. Scarsdale that
+everything must be all right, and despatched his telegram back to their
+point of separation. Under the most favourable circumstances they could
+not receive an answer under half an hour, and with this information the
+Consul was forced to return to the disconsolate bride.
+
+"There is no use in loafing around here," he said. "Suppose we go and
+see the cathedral? It will be something to do, and may distract our
+thoughts."
+
+"I don't think mine could well be more distracted than they are now,"
+replied she; "besides, we might miss the telegram."
+
+"Oh, I'll fix that," he returned; "I'll have it sent up after us. Come,
+you had better go. You can't sit and look at that pea-green engine for
+thirty minutes; it is enough to give you a fit of the blues."
+
+"Well, just as you please," she said, and they started up into the town,
+and made their way to the cathedral.
+
+It is not to the point of this narrative to discourse on the beauties of
+that structure; the finest shaft of Purbec marble it contains would
+prove cold consolation to either a bride or a bridegroom deserted on the
+wedding day. But the cool quiet of the great building seemed
+unconsciously to soothe their troubled spirits, though when they each
+revisited the spot in after years they discovered that it was entirely
+new to them, and that they possessed not the faintest recollection of
+its appearance, within or without.
+
+At last, after having consulted their watches for the hundredth time,
+they began to stroll down the great central aisle, towards the main
+entrance. Suddenly Mrs. Scarsdale clutched the Consul's arm, and pointed
+before her to where a messenger-boy, with a look of expectancy on his
+face and an envelope in his hand, stood framed in a Gothic doorway. Then
+they made a wild, scrambling rush down the church, the bride reaching
+the goal first, and snatching the telegram from its astonished bearer.
+
+"For Mr. Allingford," he began, but she had already torn open the
+envelope and was devouring its contents.
+
+For a moment the words seemed to swim before her eyes, then, as their
+meaning became clear to her, she gave a frightened gasp, dropped the
+message on the floor, sat down hard on the tomb of a crusader, and burst
+into tears.
+
+Allingford gazed at her silently for a moment, and meditatively
+scratched his head; then he paid and dismissed the amazed boy, and
+finally picked up the crumpled bit of paper. It was from the
+station-master at Basingstoke, and read as follows:
+
+     "_Parties mentioned left in second division for Southampton and
+     South Coast Resorts. Destination not known._"
+
+It was incomprehensible, but he had expected it. If Mr. Scarsdale had
+remained at Basingstoke he would certainly have telegraphed them from
+there at their first stop, Salisbury. Evidently he, too, had been
+carried away on the train; but where? It was some relief to know that
+his wife was not wholly alone, but he did not at all like the idea of
+her going off into space with another man, and the fact that he had
+done the same thing himself was no consolation. Then his mind reverted
+to Mrs. Scarsdale, who still wept on the tomb of the crusader. What in
+thunder was he going to do with her? To get her back to her aunt in
+London at that time of night was out of the question; but where else
+could he take her?
+
+This point, however, was settled at once, and in an unexpected manner,
+by the lady herself. Drying her eyes, she remarked suddenly: "I'm a
+little fool!"
+
+"Not at all," he replied; "your emotion is quite natural under the
+circumstances."
+
+"But crying won't get us out of this awful predicament."
+
+"Unfortunately no, or we should have arrived at a solution long ago."
+
+"That," remarked the lady, "is merely another way of making a statement
+which you just now disputed. I _am_ a little fool, and I mean to dry my
+eyes and attend strictly to business. Tell me exactly what this message
+implies."
+
+"It means," said the Consul, "that it is impossible for you to rejoin
+your husband to-night."
+
+Her lip quivered dangerously; but she controlled herself sufficiently to
+exclaim: "But what are we to do?"
+
+"Well," he replied, "I should advise remaining here. There is a good
+hotel."
+
+"But we can't. Don't you see I must not remain--with you?" She spoke the
+last words with an effort.
+
+"Yes," he rejoined. "It is awkward; but you can't spend the night in the
+streets; you must have somewhere to sleep."
+
+"Let us go back to Basingstoke, then."
+
+"I can't see that that would help matters," he said gloomily; "we would
+have to spend the night there just the same. Besides, I think it is
+going to rain." They were standing outside the church by this time.
+"No," he continued, "our best course, our only course, in fact, is to
+stay here to-night, return to Basingstoke to-morrow morning, and wait
+for them there. You may be sure they are having quite as bad a time as
+we are. If I only knew some one here----"
+
+"Bravo!" she interrupted, clapping her hands, "I believe you have solved
+the problem. Look: do you see that carriage over there? What coat of
+arms has it? Quick! your eyes are better than mine."
+
+In the gathering twilight he saw driving leisurely by, with coachman and
+footman on the box, a handsome barouche, on the panels of which a coat
+of arms was emblazoned.
+
+"Well," he said, gazing hard at it, "there is a helmet with a plume,
+balanced on a stick of peppermint candy----"
+
+"Yes, yes!" she cried, "the crest. Go on!"
+
+"Down on the ground-storey," he continued, "there is a pink shield
+divided in quarters, with the same helmet in the north-east division,
+and a lot of silver ticket-punchers in the one below it."
+
+"Spurs," she interjected.
+
+"Well, perhaps they are," he admitted. "Then there are a couple of
+two-tailed blue lions swimming in a crimson lake----"
+
+"The Melton arms!" she cried. "I looked them up in 'Burke's Peerage'
+when that old catawampus refused to come to our wedding. We will spend
+to-night with Lady Diana!"
+
+"But I thought----" began the Consul, when his companion interrupted
+him, exclaiming:
+
+"Chase that carriage as hard as you know how, and bring it here!"
+
+Allingford felt that this was a time for action and not for speech. The
+days of his collegiate triumphs, when he had put his best foot foremost
+on the cinder-track, rose to his mind, and he fled across the green and
+into the gathering gloom, which had now swallowed up her ladyship's
+chariot, with a swiftness that caused his companion to murmur: "Well, he
+can sprint!"
+
+Presently the equipage was seen returning with the heated and triumphant
+Consul inside. It drew up before her, and the footman alighted and
+approached questioningly.
+
+"Is this Lady Melton's carriage?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, madam."
+
+"Then you may drive this gentleman and me to Melton Court."
+
+"But, madam----"
+
+"I am Mrs. Scarsdale, Lady Diana's great-niece," she said quietly. The
+footman touched his hat.
+
+"Was her ladyship expecting you? We were sent to meet this next train,
+but----"
+
+"No, we are here unexpectedly ourselves; but I dare say there will be
+room for all, as the carriage holds four."
+
+"There will only be Lord Cowbray, madam, and his lordship may not arrive
+till the nine-thirty. If you would not mind driving to the station?"
+
+"It is just what we wish," she replied, and calmly stepped into the
+carriage and seated herself by the Consul's side, who was so amazed at
+the turn affairs had taken that he remained speechless.
+
+"Shall I see to your luggage, madam?" inquired the footman as they drew
+up opposite the waiting-room door.
+
+"No," she replied, stepping out on the platform. "We will attend to it
+ourselves; it will only be necessary to take up our hand-bags for
+to-night."
+
+Accompanied by the Consul she went in search of their belongings, and at
+her suggestion he took a Gladstone belonging to the absent Scarsdale,
+and a dressing-case which she designated as her own property.
+
+"I was anxious to have a word alone with you," she said as they emerged
+once more on the platform, "and we can't talk on personal matters during
+the drive to the Court. You see my position is a little peculiar."
+
+"Excuse me for asking the question," he replied, "but are your relations
+with your husband's great-aunt quite cordial?"
+
+"On the contrary, they are quite the reverse. She detests all Americans,
+and was very much put out at poor Harold for marrying me. Her refusal to
+be present at our wedding was almost an insult," she returned.
+
+"That doesn't seem to promise a pleasant reception at Melton Court," he
+said.
+
+"Far from it; but any port is acceptable in a storm, and she can hardly
+refuse us shelter. After all I've done nothing to be ashamed of in
+marrying my husband or being carried off with you."
+
+"Oh, I'll trust you to hold your own with any dowager in the United
+Kingdom; but where do I come in?"
+
+"You are my Consul, and under the circumstances my national protector; I
+can't do without you."
+
+"I am not at all sure that her ladyship will see it in that light; but,
+as you say, it is better than nothing, and our position can't be worse
+than it is at present."
+
+"Then it is agreed we stand by each other through thick and thin?"
+
+"Exactly," he replied, and shook her extended hand. At this moment the
+train came in, and they returned to the carriage.
+
+Lord Cowbray did not put in an appearance, and they were soon under way
+for Melton Court, which was some miles distant from the town. By the
+time they entered the grounds it was quite dark, and they could only see
+that the park was extensive, and that the Court seemed large and gloomy
+and might have dated from the Elizabethan period.
+
+On entering the central hall they at once saw evidences of a large
+house-party, whose presence did not tend to put them more at their ease,
+and Mrs. Scarsdale lost no time in sending a message to Lady Melton, to
+the effect that her great-niece had arrived unexpectedly and would much
+appreciate a few words with her in private.
+
+They were shown into a little reception-room, and the footman returned
+shortly to say that her ladyship would be with them soon. After what
+seemed an endless time, but was in reality barely fifteen minutes, their
+hostess entered. She was a fine-looking woman of sixty or over, with a
+stern, hard face, and a set expression about her thin lips, that boded
+little good to offenders, whatever their age or sex. She looked her
+guests over through her gold eye-glasses, and, after waiting a moment
+for them to speak, said coldly:
+
+"I think there is some mistake. I was told that my niece wished to see
+me."
+
+"I said your great-niece," returned Mrs. Scarsdale.
+
+"Oh, my great-niece. Well? I do not recognise you."
+
+"It would be strange if you did, Lady Melton," returned the bride, "as
+you've never seen me. I am the wife of your great-nephew, Harold Stanley
+Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale."
+
+"I do not see your husband present," said her ladyship, directing an icy
+glare at the unfortunate Consul.
+
+"No," replied her niece, "I've lost him."
+
+"Lost him!"
+
+"Yes, at Basingstoke. He went to speak to a lady in another part of the
+train. I could make it clearer to you, I think, by saying that she was
+Sir Peter Steele's youngest daughter."
+
+"I never thought of knowing the Steeles when I was in London," commented
+her hostess, "but St. Hubart was always liberal in his tastes." A remark
+which caused the Consul to flush with pent-up wrath.
+
+"Oh, he didn't know her," interjected Mabel, hastening to correct the
+unfortunate turn which the conversation had taken. "She was this
+gentleman's wife."
+
+Her ladyship bowed very, very slightly in the Consul's direction, to
+indicate that his affairs, matrimonial or otherwise, could have for her
+no possible interest.
+
+"And that is the last we have heard of them," continued the bride,
+"except for a telegram from the station-master at Basingstoke, which
+says they went to Southampton----"
+
+"Do I understand you to say," broke in their hostess, betraying the
+first sign of interest she had so far evinced, "that my nephew has
+eloped with----?"
+
+"No, no!" cried Mrs. Scarsdale, "you do not in the least comprehend the
+true state of affairs," and she poured forth a voluble if disconnected
+account of their adventures.
+
+"Pardon me," exclaimed the old lady when she had finished, "but what is
+all this rigmarole? A most surprising affair, I must say, and quite
+worthy of your nationality. I was averse to my nephew's marrying you
+from the first; but I hardly expected to be justified on his wedding
+day."
+
+"In that case," said Mrs. Scarsdale, "the sooner we leave your house the
+better."
+
+"You will do nothing of the sort," replied her great-aunt. "Your coming
+to me is the only wise thing you have done. Of course you will remain
+here till your husband can be found. As for this person----" indicating
+Allingford.
+
+"This _gentleman_," said his partner in misfortune, coming to his
+rescue, "is Mr. Robert Allingford, United States Consul at Christchurch.
+As my husband had gone off with his wife, I thought the least I could do
+was to take him with me."
+
+"I can hardly see the necessity of that course," commented her hostess.
+
+"Now that I have seen Mrs. Scarsdale in safe hands, I could not think of
+trespassing longer upon your hospitality," put in the Consul; but his
+companion intervened.
+
+"I am not going to be deserted twice in a day!" she cried. "If you go, I
+go with you!"
+
+"About that," said her ladyship frigidly, "there can be no question,"
+and she rang the bell.
+
+"You will conduct this lady and this gentleman," she continued to the
+footman who answered her summons, "to the green room and the tower room
+respectively." Then, turning to her unwilling guests, she added: "As my
+dinner-table is fully arranged for this evening, and my guests are now
+awaiting me, you will pardon it if I have your dinner served in my
+private sitting-room. We will discuss your affairs at length to-morrow
+morning; but now I must bid you good-night," and with an inclination of
+her head she dismissed them from her presence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+IN WHICH A TRUNK IS SENT TO MELTON COURT
+
+Scarcely had the sun risen the next morning when the Consul, after a
+sleepless night, stole downstairs and found his way out upon the
+terrace, for a quiet stroll and a breath of fresh, cool air. Moreover,
+he was in need of an uninterrupted hour in which to arrange his plans in
+such a manner as would most surely tend to effect the double reunion he
+so earnestly desired.
+
+It seemed well-nigh impossible, in the small space of country which had
+probably been traversed by all parties, that they could lose each other
+for more than a few hours. To make the situation more clear to those who
+have never had the misfortune to suffer from the intricacies of English
+railway travel, the following diagram is appended. The triangle is
+isosceles, the sides being thirty-five miles long, the base twenty.
+
+[Illustration]
+
+He reviewed his own adventures of yesterday afternoon. He had acted on
+what seemed to be the only sensible and reasonable plan to pursue;
+namely, to leave the train at its first stop, and return as soon as
+possible to the point of divergence. It seemed fair to assume that Mr.
+Scarsdale and Mrs. Allingford had done the same thing, and, such being
+the case, it was easy to imagine what their course of action had been. A
+glance at the time-table told him that the first point at which they
+could leave their division of the train had been Southampton; from which
+place they could, almost immediately, catch an express back to the
+junction they had left, arriving there shortly after seven on the past
+evening.
+
+His own course and that of Mrs. Scarsdale seemed clear; it was simply a
+return to Basingstoke immediately after breakfast, and rejoin their
+friends, who had been spending the night at that place.
+
+It was possible that they had lost the returning express and remained in
+Southampton; but if they acted in a rational manner, they must
+eventually return to the junction. But supposing Mrs. Allingford and Mr.
+Scarsdale had not done the obvious thing; supposing that chance had
+intervened and upset their plans, as in his own case? He suddenly found
+himself face to face with the startling fact that not only were he and
+Mrs. Scarsdale not at Salisbury or Basingstoke, but that they were at
+present at the one place where his wife and Mrs. Scarsdale's husband
+would never think of looking for them--Melton Court.
+
+Allingford jammed his hat hard on the back of his head, and set off at a
+brisk pace to Salisbury and the nearest telegraph station; arriving at
+his destination shortly before seven, to find that he had a good
+half-hour to wait before the operators arrived. The office was opened at
+last, however, and he lost no time in telegraphing to Basingstoke for
+information, and in a little while received an answer from the
+station-master at that point which cheered him up considerably, though
+it was not quite as explicit as he could have wished. It read as
+follows:
+
+     "_Scarsdale telegraphed last evening from Southampton, saying he
+     had left train there with Mrs. Allingford and was returning at once
+     to Basingstoke._"
+
+The Consul was pleased to find that his conjectures had been correct.
+He felt that a great weight had been lifted from his mind. Their missing
+partners had undoubtedly spent the night at Basingstoke and would soon
+consult the station-master at that point, who would doubtless show them
+the messages he had received. Allingford looked out a good train,
+telegraphed the hour of their arrival, and then, as his reception of the
+night before had not inclined him to trespass on Lady Melton's grudging
+hospitality more than was absolutely necessary, he had a leisurely
+breakfast at the hotel, and, engaging a fly, drove back to the Court,
+reaching there about half-past nine.
+
+Mrs. Scarsdale had also passed a disturbed night, but, unlike her
+companion in misfortune, she did not venture out at unearthly hours in
+the morning. She was up, however, and saw him depart, which was in some
+ways a comfort, since it assured her that he was losing no time in
+continuing their quest.
+
+At eight a maid arrived with warm water and a message from her ladyship
+that she wished Mrs. Scarsdale to breakfast with her in private at nine
+o'clock, and that she would be obliged if her great-niece would keep her
+room till that time. The bride was considerably piqued by this message
+and the distrust it implied, but felt it would be wise to accede to the
+request, and sent word accordingly.
+
+As she entered Lady Melton's boudoir an hour later, her hostess rose to
+receive her, kissing her coldly on the forehead, and saying:
+
+"You will pardon my requesting you to keep your room; but your presence
+is not as yet known to my guests, and your appearance among them
+immediately after your marriage, without your husband, might cause
+unpleasant speculation and comment. Do you agree with me?"
+
+"Quite," replied Mrs. Scarsdale. She had misjudged Lady Melton, she
+thought; but she disliked her nevertheless, and wished to be very
+guarded.
+
+"Now," said that personage, "I want to hear the whole affair. No, I do
+not want you to tell it," as her guest opened her mouth to speak; "not
+in your own way, I mean. You would probably wander from the point, and
+my time is of importance. I will ask you questions, and you will be kind
+enough to answer them, as plainly and shortly as possible."
+
+Mrs. Scarsdale bowed; she was so angry at the cool insolence that this
+statement implied that she did not feel she could trust herself to
+speak.
+
+"Now we will begin," said her ladyship, as she proceeded to demolish a
+boiled egg. "What is your Christian name?"
+
+"Mabel."
+
+"Very well. Then I shall call you Mabel in future; it is ridiculous to
+address you as Mrs. Scarsdale."
+
+"I really don't see----" began that lady.
+
+"Excuse me," interrupted her questioner, "I will make the comments when
+necessary. When were you married?"
+
+"Yesterday afternoon at two-thirty o'clock."
+
+"Where did you and your husband intend to pass last night?"
+
+"At Exeter."
+
+"Are you sure?"
+
+"I ought to be. I bought the tickets."
+
+"You bought the tickets! Is that customary in your country?"
+
+"I am not here to discuss the customs of my country, Lady Melton. I
+bought the tickets because I chose to do so, and considered myself
+better fitted to arrange the trip than my husband."
+
+"Really! I suppose that is the reason you selected the most roundabout
+way to reach Exeter. Your husband could have told you that you should
+have taken another railway, the Great Western."
+
+"My husband," said Mrs. Scarsdale stiffly, "did not know our
+destination."
+
+"What!"
+
+"I say that my husband did not know our destination."
+
+Her ladyship surveyed her for a moment in shocked and silent
+disapproval, and then remarked:
+
+"I think I understood you to say that you travelled together as far as
+Basingstoke?"
+
+"Yes, and there St. Hubart met a friend."
+
+"This consular person?"
+
+"Mr. Allingford? Yes. He was also married yesterday, and came to our
+carriage to congratulate me."
+
+"And my nephew went to speak to Mrs. Allingford."
+
+"Exactly. And the first thing we knew the train was moving."
+
+"Go on."
+
+"That is just what we did, though Mr. Allingford tried to leave the
+carriage and return to his wife."
+
+"It would have been better had he never left her."
+
+"But I restrained him."
+
+"How did you restrain him?"
+
+"By his coat-tails."
+
+"Excuse me. Do I understand you to say that you forcibly detained him?"
+
+"I'm sorry if you are shocked; it was all I could catch hold of."
+
+"I shall reserve my criticism of these very astonishing performances,
+Mabel; but permit me to say that you have much to learn concerning the
+manners and customs of English society."
+
+"Then," said Mrs. Scarsdale, ignoring this last remark, "we came to
+Salisbury."
+
+"And telegraphed to Basingstoke for information."
+
+"Exactly. But they could tell us nothing; so when I saw your
+carriage----"
+
+"How did you know it was mine?"
+
+"I looked out your coat of arms in 'Burke.'"
+
+Her ladyship smiled grimly. Perhaps something might be made of this fair
+barbarian--in time, a great deal of time; but still this knowledge of
+the peerage sounded hopeful, and it was with a little less severity in
+her voice that she demanded:
+
+"And what do you mean to do now?"
+
+"Go back to Basingstoke this morning."
+
+"Alone?"
+
+"No, with Mr. Allingford."
+
+"Do you expect to find your husband there?"
+
+"I should think he would naturally return as soon as possible to where
+he lost me."
+
+"I don't know," said her ladyship. "Was Mrs. Allingford pretty?"
+
+"If you are going to adopt that tack, Lady Melton, the sooner we part
+the better," said her visitor angrily.
+
+"We do not 'adopt tacks' in England," returned her ladyship calmly; "and
+as I consider myself responsible for your actions while you are under my
+roof, I shall not allow you to go to Basingstoke, or anywhere else, with
+a person who, whatever his official position, is totally unknown to me."
+
+"You don't mean to keep me here against my will!"
+
+"I mean to send you to your relations, wherever they are, under the
+charge of my butler--a most respectable married man--provided the
+journey can be accomplished between now and nightfall."
+
+"Well, it can't," replied her grand-niece triumphantly. "Aunt Eliza
+left for Paris this morning, and all my other relations are in Chicago."
+
+Lady Melton was, however, a woman of decision, and not to be easily
+baffled.
+
+"Then I will send you to your mother-in-law, Lady Scarsdale; I suppose
+she has returned to 'The Towers'?"
+
+"I believe so. But I do not intend to go there without my husband; it
+would be ignominious."
+
+"Perhaps you can suggest a better plan," said her ladyship coldly.
+
+"Well, if you refuse to let me go to Basingstoke----" began the bride.
+
+"I do. Proceed."
+
+"Then Mr. Allingford might go for me, and tell St. Hubart where I am. I
+know he is waiting for me there, but he would never think of my being
+here----Excuse me, I mean----" she stammered, blushing, for she saw she
+had made a slip.
+
+"We will not discuss your meaning," said her hostess, "but your plan
+seems feasible and proper. You may receive the consular person in my
+private sitting-room and arrange matters at once."
+
+Her niece turned to go, but she stopped her, saying:
+
+"One word more. I do not think it necessary for your friend Mr.
+Allingford to return with my nephew. Pray make this clear to him."
+
+After having been dismissed from her hostess' presence, Mrs. Scarsdale
+lost no time in sending for the Consul, who had just returned, and
+proceeded to work off on that unfortunate gentleman the rage engendered
+by her recent interview.
+
+"I'm inclined to think," he said when she had finished, "that in this
+instance the catawampus is right. There is no use of your gallivanting
+over the country after your husband; he ought to come to you. I'll run
+down to Basingstoke at once, send him back, and with Mrs. Allingford go
+on my way rejoicing. There is no need of my returning, and I guess her
+ladyship won't cry her eyes out if I don't."
+
+"You haven't yet told me the result of your excursion this morning," she
+said, hoping to divert the conversation from so obvious a truth.
+
+"This," he replied, holding up the telegram he had just received from
+the station-master at Basingstoke.
+
+After reading the message, Mrs. Scarsdale was most anxious that he
+should lose no time in starting, and with mutual expressions of
+friendship, and boundless thanks from the deserted bride, they parted:
+he for the junction, she for a further interview with her great-aunt.
+
+When her ladyship learned that Scarsdale had left Southampton for
+Basingstoke, and was doubtless now in that place, she advised his wife
+to remain in seclusion till the members of the house-party, which
+luckily was breaking up that day, had departed; and retired herself to
+prepare a few remarks with which to welcome her errant great-nephew.
+Later in the day, however, she so far relented towards his wife as to
+suggest that she take a stroll on the terrace while the few remaining
+guests were indulging in a post-prandial siesta.
+
+It was from this coign of vantage that she saw approaching the worn and
+drooping figure of Mr. Allingford. She rushed to meet him, and demanded,
+without even giving him time to get his breath:
+
+"Where is my husband?"
+
+"I don't know," he gasped.
+
+"Or your wife?"
+
+"Or my wife."
+
+"Aren't they in Basingstoke?"
+
+"No, and haven't been there. I've turned that confounded town inside
+out, and catechised every one about the station, from the divisional
+superintendent to the charwoman. They did not come last night, nor
+arrive this morning. Since leaving Southampton, if they did leave it,
+they have entirely disappeared."
+
+"Why do you say, 'if they did leave' Southampton?"
+
+"Because no one saw them go. I have learned by endless telegraphing that
+they alighted at that point, told a porter they had been carried past
+their destination, and wished to return at once to Basingstoke. He
+indicated their train, they disappeared in the crowd--and that's all."
+
+"Haven't they telegraphed again to Basingstoke?"
+
+"Not since last night."
+
+"Or to Salisbury?"
+
+"No. I inquired on the chance, but no message had come."
+
+"It is horrible!" she exclaimed. "I'm the most miserable woman on
+earth!"
+
+"Don't cry," he begged despairingly.
+
+"No," she said, "I won't. Do you think it would be any good to telegraph
+to Aunt Eliza and Lady Scarsdale?"
+
+"I have already done so. Your Aunt Eliza has left for Paris. She
+wouldn't have done that if she had heard about this; and it gave Lady
+Scarsdale a fit--the telegram I mean--but she didn't know anything."
+
+"Is that all?"
+
+"Not quite. I have telegraphed to my Vice-Consul at Christchurch,
+asking for news of Scarsdale, and telling him to forward anything that
+had come for me. They might have _written_ there, you know, to save talk
+in the office; but I haven't as yet had a reply."
+
+"I must consult Lady Melton; the situation is too dreadful for words.
+Suppose they have had an accident; suppose----" she faltered.
+
+"Nonsense!" he rejoined, "bad news always travels quickly; don't make
+yourself uneasy on that score. They've got side-tracked in some
+out-of-the-way place, just as we have. I'll go to Southampton to-morrow
+and work up the trail. Now you run off and consult the catawampus."
+
+When her ladyship had heard the whole story, she summed up as follows:
+
+"As your friend has seen fit to return, you may tell him his chamber
+will be again made ready for to-night, and you will both dine in my
+sitting-room as before. To-morrow I shall send you home to Lady
+Scarsdale."
+
+"But----"
+
+"There is nothing more to be said on the subject. I have made up my
+mind." And having pronounced sentence, she left her distracted
+great-niece to her own reflections.
+
+It was a very doleful couple who sat down to dinner that evening in Lady
+Melton's private room.
+
+"It is ridiculous!" said Mrs. Scarsdale. "We are being treated like
+naughty children. I feel as if I were about to be whipped and put to
+bed. Sent home with the butler, indeed! I'd just like to see her
+ladyship try to do it!"
+
+"How are you going to prevent her?" asked the Consul.
+
+"I'm not a child, and I won't be treated as one! If I am to be sent home
+in disgrace, you will have to come with me."
+
+"Well, I like that! You seem to forget I've lost my wife. My first duty
+is to find her."
+
+"Your first duty is to me. If you go to Southampton, I go with you."
+
+"I'm afraid there'll be an awful row with her ladyship."
+
+"Let there be, then; I don't care!"
+
+"I really think," he expostulated, "that you had better stay here one
+day more. I'll get you a reprieve from the custody of the butler, and
+have a try at Southampton myself. There is a cross-line from here, and
+it won't take any time to run over. I've tracked horse-thieves in
+Kentucky when I was sheriff, and I guess I can find a bridegroom where
+it's all open country as it is round here."
+
+At this moment a servant knocked and entered, saying:
+
+"Please, madam, her ladyship's orders is that you are to be ready at
+seven to-morrow morning, to start with Mr. Bright, the butler, for 'The
+Towers.'"
+
+"I----!" began Mrs. Scarsdale, rising in wrath and indignation; but
+before she could further complicate matters by a direct refusal, the
+footman had turned to Allingford, and, handing him a telegram, had left
+the room. Forgetful of all else, she rushed to the Consul's side as
+with nervous fingers he tore it open. What joyful news might it not
+contain! One look at his face, however, blasted all her hopes. Horror,
+consternation, and surprise were depicted thereon as he read the
+despatch. Something dreadful must have happened.
+
+"Tell me the worst!" she cried. "Is it Harold?"
+
+"It is the last straw," he replied.
+
+"Is he dead?"
+
+"I wish he was."
+
+"You wish my husband dead?"
+
+"Oh, confound your husband!"
+
+"Mr. Allingford----!"
+
+"No, no, I don't mean that. I'm not responsible for what I'm saying," he
+replied, and groaned aloud. But his companion was not to be put off.
+
+"Is that telegram from my husband?"
+
+"No."
+
+"From my mother-in-law?"
+
+"No."
+
+"From Aunt Eliza?"
+
+"No."
+
+"From the station-master at Basingstoke?"
+
+"Guess again."
+
+"From your Vice-Consul?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has he heard anything of our lost ones?"
+
+"It has nothing to do with that."
+
+"Then what is the matter? What does it all mean?"
+
+"It means," replied the Consul, "that I've got to leave here by the
+first train."
+
+"Explain yourself," she demanded.
+
+"I'll try," he replied, mopping his brow. "You see, an American applied
+to me to lend him some money, a few days ago, and put up as collateral
+an elephant."
+
+"Harold told me the story. I thought it very amusing."
+
+"You won't when I've finished. The elephant arrived day before yesterday
+at Southampton, and, as I had informed the steamship company that I was
+the temporary owner of the beast, they forwarded it to my consulate at
+Christchurch."
+
+"How does that affect us?"
+
+"Affect us!" he cried. "Do you remember what I telegraphed my
+Vice-Consul?"
+
+"Yes, almost word for word," she answered. "You asked for news of the
+fugitives, and, on the chance of their writing to Christchurch, told him
+to forward here anything that might have come for you."
+
+"Exactly," shrieked the Consul; "and the blamed fool has forwarded the
+elephant!"
+
+"What! Here? To Melton Court?" she exclaimed, aghast.
+
+"That is what I said. The beast is on the way now, and ought to be here
+bright and early to-morrow morning."
+
+"How awful! What will you do?"
+
+"Get out," he replied laconically.
+
+"And leave me?"
+
+"I don't know about you, but I mean to leave the elephant. I don't wish
+to start a bigger circus than I have on hand already."
+
+"But would it be quite right to our hostess?" expostulated her niece.
+
+"If you've any conscientious scruples on the subject, you can stay and
+tend the beast. I'm leaving by the first train."
+
+"But it's your elephant."
+
+"Of course it is, and I've a right to do what I choose with it. I mean
+to leave it to Lady Melton, in payment for my board and lodging. After
+the way she's treated me I don't want to owe her anything."
+
+"Really, Mr. Allingford----" began his companion.
+
+"Now look here," he retorted; "would you want an elephant tagging you
+round on your honeymoon?"
+
+"Well, no, I don't think I should," she replied, laughing.
+
+"Besides," he continued, "how am I to prosecute a search for our missing
+halves with a Noah's ark in tow?"
+
+"That does put the matter in a different light," she admitted.
+
+"You bet it does!" he replied. "As for her ladyship, she can do what she
+pleases with my slight token of regard. Give it to the poor of the
+parish, if she likes; I don't ask her to keep it."
+
+"But what is to become of me?"
+
+"Oh, you are to be sent home with the butler early to-morrow morning."
+
+"I won't go!"
+
+"Then join me."
+
+"But supposing we don't find my husband to-morrow----"
+
+"Then I'll take you down to my consulate at Christchurch for the night.
+I have plenty of friends there with whom you can stay."
+
+"That settles it," she replied.
+
+So it was that they stole away from the Court in the grey dawn of the
+next morning, footed it to Salisbury, recovered their baggage, and
+boarded the early train for Southampton. As it moved out of the station
+they passed a long line of box cars on a siding, from one of which the
+angry scream of an elephant resounded.
+
+"Just in time," said the Consul with a sigh of relief. "I wish her
+ladyship joy of my little remembrance."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+IN WHICH MR. SCARSDALE CHANGES HIS NAME
+
+Mr. Scarsdale entered Mrs. Allingford's compartment with so great an
+impetus, when he swung himself into her carriage at Basingstoke, that he
+completely lost his balance, and shot past her on all fours, to land in
+a heap on the floor. A second later the guard banged the door, and the
+train was off.
+
+"What does this mean?" exclaimed the Consul's wife, "and where is my
+husband?"
+
+"Excuse me," gasped Scarsdale, picking himself up from the floor, "but I
+couldn't leave you."
+
+"So it appears," she replied coldly. "But you have not answered my
+question, and----" as the train began to move rapidly, "it is not
+possible that we are getting under way!"
+
+"Yes," he said gloomily, "we are off to Southampton."
+
+"Answer me instantly: where is my husband?" she demanded.
+
+"Gone to Exeter, I suppose, with my wife."
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"That he was carried off in the first division of the train, which left
+five minutes ago."
+
+"But I thought we stopped ten minutes."
+
+"So _you_ did; _we_ stopped only five. When I left you just now, I saw
+that the forward half of this train had disappeared, and the guard told
+me it had gone to Exeter, and that this portion was just leaving for
+Southampton. I thought it better to stay with you than to let you go by
+yourself; so as the carriage was moving, and it was impossible to get
+you out, I jumped in."
+
+"Thank you," she said simply; and for a moment there was silence between
+them while the train rattled over the points, and, reaching the
+outskirts of the town, began to increase its speed. The little
+Englishwoman did not, however, emulate her fair American partner in
+distress, who was at this moment indulging in hysterics in the other
+train; she had been too well trained to betray her feelings before a man
+whom she knew but slightly, even over the loss of a husband; so, after
+remaining quiet for a little, she controlled herself sufficiently to
+say, very calmly:
+
+"I do not see that we can either of us blame ourselves for what has
+happened; we must try and make the best of it, and rejoin your wife and
+my husband as soon as possible."
+
+Plucky little woman! thought Scarsdale to himself; to Mrs. Allingford he
+said:
+
+"I am glad you see things in so sensible a light. You must let me help
+you in every way that is in my power."
+
+"You say our first stop is Southampton?" she asked.
+
+"Yes, we reach there in less than an hour. They slip some carriages at
+Winchester, but the train doesn't stop," he replied.
+
+"Then I think we should alight at Southampton," she said, "and return
+at once to Basingstoke."
+
+"That would certainly be our best course. When you lose a man in a
+crowd, it is much better to wait at the point where you lost him till he
+finds you than to hunt for him yourself, as you will both miss each
+other."
+
+"Then you propose to let them find us."
+
+"That is my idea. Of course I'll telegraph to the station-master at
+Basingstoke that we will return there, so that if they wire for
+information concerning us he can give it them."
+
+"Where do you think they have gone?"
+
+"If we either of us knew our destination it would be far easier," he
+said, laughing. "I hope this will be a lesson to my wife."
+
+"But surely the train must stop before it reaches Exeter."
+
+"Undoubtedly; but as I have no time-table, I can't say where. Perhaps
+your husband has one in his overcoat. If you will permit me," and he
+proceeded to examine the garment in question.
+
+No time-table was forthcoming, however, and they were forced to resign
+themselves to waiting till they reached Southampton.
+
+Mrs. Allingford bore up bravely, and even tried to make conversation;
+but it proved to be a dreary ride, and when they drew up at their
+destination they were both exceedingly thankful.
+
+"Is there a train back to Basingstoke soon?" asked Scarsdale of the
+first railway porter he saw.
+
+"Yes, sir, over there on the left. Express leaves in three or four
+minutes," replied that individual, as he hurried away with somebody
+else's baggage.
+
+"I'll take you over," said Scarsdale.
+
+"No," replied his companion, "I can find it. You attend to the telegram
+and my luggage."
+
+He dashed off accordingly, and when he returned they both entered the
+train on the left.
+
+"I've sent the telegram," he said, "and I have also discovered your
+destination."
+
+"How?" she inquired.
+
+"By the labels on the luggage. It was marked for Bournemouth, and a
+jolly hard time I had to induce them to take it out of the van and send
+it back with us."
+
+"It seems to me," she said after a little, "that we've been waiting here
+more than four minutes. I trust we are not in the wrong train. One has
+just gone out."
+
+"Hi! guard!" called Scarsdale from the window. "Is this the express for
+Basingstoke?"
+
+"No, sir," replied the official. "It was the train beyond you, which has
+just left. Sorry if you've made a mistake, sir."
+
+"Confound it, yes!" cried Scarsdale. "Where does this train go?"
+
+"Stopping train for Winchester."
+
+"Can we go on to Basingstoke?"
+
+"Not by this train, sir."
+
+"But from Winchester?"
+
+"There is sure to be a train this evening, sir."
+
+"It has been a chapter of accidents," he said, explaining it to Mrs.
+Allingford, "but we had better go to Winchester, I think; it is on the
+way anyhow."
+
+"Yes," she assented, "and then get on to Basingstoke as fast as we can,
+and not be discouraged."
+
+"Quite right," he replied, and entered into a description of Southampton
+docks and the varied cargoes that were received there, in the hope of
+distracting her mind.
+
+"Oh, look!" she cried, as, once more started on their travels, they came
+in sight of the shipping, "see what they are loading on that truck! I do
+believe it is an elephant!"
+
+After what seemed an interminable journey, they at length arrived at
+Winchester, and as soon as Scarsdale had seen Mrs. Allingford
+established in the ladies' waiting-room, he hastened to ascertain their
+chances of getting to Basingstoke that night. On his return he wore a
+very long face, which his companion was not slow to interpret.
+
+"Are there no trains?" she exclaimed, in evident dismay.
+
+"There is one," he replied, "but we should not reach our destination
+till very late, almost midnight in fact, and we cannot tell that we
+should find your husband even then. I think our best course would be to
+remain here."
+
+"Oh, but that is impossible."
+
+"No, there is a very fair hotel."
+
+"I didn't mean that. But can't you see the position in which I am
+placed?"
+
+He did see, and he knew that what he proposed seemed to her almost an
+impossibility; but as they were now situated he considered that
+circumstances altered cases.
+
+"I am sure, Mrs. Allingford," he said, "that your good sense, which has
+carried you through so much this afternoon, will show you the necessity
+of acting as I have suggested. You must not forget that you are now a
+married woman, and can do things which before were not permissible."
+
+"Still," she contended, "to go to a public hotel with a gentleman who is
+a comparative stranger, and pass the night there, seems to me not the
+thing at all; and if we were recognised by anybody----" She paused,
+hardly knowing how to complete her sentence.
+
+"Then go alone. There are other hotels; I will put up somewhere else,"
+he replied.
+
+"No, no, I couldn't be left alone; I've never been alone before in my
+life. That would be worse than all else. You see, if you were only
+related to me it would be so different."
+
+"I am quite willing to pass myself off as any relation you please, for
+the sake of appearances."
+
+"But that would be deceitful."
+
+"I think the exigencies of the case will excuse that; besides, it is my
+own affair, not yours. Will you have me as a brother for one night
+only?" he asked, laughing.
+
+"But I have no brother," she replied.
+
+"Then as your husband's brother," he suggested; "that would be better
+still, as he is an American and not known here."
+
+"Do you really think it best?"
+
+"To save you annoyance, I think it is a pardonable deception. What is
+his name?"
+
+"Richard. But I don't know much about him."
+
+"Then we will consider that that is settled," he said cheerfully, and,
+without giving her time to argue the matter, summoned a fly, which
+presently deposited them bag and baggage at the hotel door. To make
+assurance doubly sure, he hastened to sign their names in the visitors'
+book:
+
+"Mrs. Robert Allingford, Christchurch, England.
+
+"Mr. Richard Allingford, U.S.A."
+
+"Can you give my sister and me good rooms for to-night?" he asked the
+landlady.
+
+"Yes, sir, two nice rooms just opposite each other."
+
+He said that that would do very well, and they were soon installed.
+
+Once in her apartment, Mrs. Allingford indulged in a good cry, while
+Scarsdale strolled out before dinner to have a smoke and think it over.
+He did not see much further use in telegraphing just at that moment.
+Later it would, perhaps, be well to send a message to Basingstoke,
+saying that they were detained at Winchester and would come on next
+morning; for he had quickly learned that Mrs. Scarsdale and Mr.
+Allingford would be able to leave the train at Salisbury, and justly
+surmised that they had done so.
+
+Presently, having finished his cigar, he returned to the hotel to find
+Mrs. Allingford ready for dinner, and much refreshed by her tears and
+subsequent ablutions. They neither of them ate much, and after the fish
+they gave up any attempt to make conversation as worse than useless, and
+finished the repast in silence.
+
+"I'm afraid," she said, as she folded her napkin, "that you've found me
+very poor company."
+
+"I'm nothing to boast of myself," he replied.
+
+"I hope they are not as miserable as we are," she added, as they rose to
+leave the table. "I haven't been able to eat a thing."
+
+Scarsdale did not reply; he had a gloomy suspicion that his wife was
+making a very good meal somewhere. Not that he doubted her love; but he
+did not believe her devotion included loss of appetite.
+
+"Don't you think they are miserable?" she queried, uneasy at his
+silence.
+
+"Not so miserable as we are," he said. "They are both Americans, you
+see, and Americans don't take things seriously as a rule."
+
+"What do you suppose they are doing?" was her next question.
+
+"Seated swinging their feet over the edge of Salisbury platform,
+finishing my five-pound box of American candy," he said.
+
+She tried to be amused, and even forced a little laugh; but it was a
+dismal failure, and, realising it, she at once excused herself and
+retired to her room for the night, leaving Scarsdale to pass the evening
+as best he could. He approved of her circumspection, but it was beastly
+dull, and, as he sat smoking in the winter garden which the hotel
+boasted, he felt that he should soon become insufferably bored.
+
+He presently, therefore, overcame his natural reserve sufficiently to
+respond to the advances of the only person in the room who seemed
+inclined to be sociable. The stranger was a florid, shaggy-bearded man
+of a distinctively American type, a person Scarsdale would naturally
+have avoided under ordinary circumstances; but to-night he felt the need
+of human society, no matter whose, and in a few moments they had drifted
+into conversation. At first the subjects under discussion were harmless
+enough, relating mainly to Winchester and neighbouring points of
+interest, concerning which Scarsdale was forced to confess himself
+ignorant, as it was his first visit to the place. Before long, however,
+they began to touch on more dangerous ground, and he saw that, even with
+a casual acquaintance of this sort, he must be guarded if he was to
+remain consistent in his role of brother to the deserted bride.
+
+"Were you ever in America?" was the first question which startled him.
+
+He replied in the affirmative, as he could honestly do, having been
+taken by his father to Canada when but a lad. But the stranger was not
+satisfied, and began, after the manner of his nation, a series of
+leading questions, which kept Scarsdale busy in trying to assimilate
+with some regard to truth the character he had chosen. It was at this
+moment that a waiter came to him and asked in a perfectly audible voice
+if he was Mr. Richard Allingford. Scarsdale was forced to admit the
+fact, and to reply to a message sent, as the waiter took unnecessary
+pains to explain, "By your sister, sir."
+
+"Excuse me," interjected his companion, "but may I ask if your sister's
+name is Mrs. Robert Allingford?"
+
+The Englishman would have given worlds to deny the fact, but in the
+presence of the waiter, who still lingered, and in the face of the
+evidence in the visitors' book, only one course was open to him, and he
+replied reluctantly in the affirmative.
+
+"Wife of the United States Consul at Christchurch?"
+
+"Yes," said Scarsdale.
+
+Now he could once more tell the truth, he felt happier; but he had a
+premonition that all was not well, and heartily wished he had never
+encouraged this American, who might know more than was convenient.
+
+"Why, Dick!" said that personage, leaning across the little table that
+separated them, and grasping both his hands--"Why, Dick! Don't you know
+me?"
+
+If a thunderbolt had shattered the floor at the Englishman's feet he
+could not have been more dumfounded. The one seemingly impossible thing
+had come to pass. In all this great world, with every chance against it,
+fate had ordained that the little provincial city in which he had
+planned to play, for one night only, another man's part, should also
+contain one of that man's friends, and they two had met. He was so
+staggered, as the possibilities contingent on this mischance crowded
+through his brain, that he could only stammer out:
+
+"You have the advantage of me."
+
+"Well, I don't much wonder," continued his new-found friend. "If I have
+changed as much in fifteen years as you have, it isn't strange you
+didn't recognise me. Lord! I'd never have known you if you hadn't told
+me who you were."
+
+"You must do me as great a favour," said Scarsdale, regaining a little
+of his self-composure. If so long a time had elapsed since their last
+meeting, he felt that things were not so bad after all, and that he
+could reasonably hope to bluff it out.
+
+"Well," said the other, "the boys used to call me Faro Charlie; now you
+remember."
+
+The Englishman tried to look as if he did, and the American proceeded to
+further elucidate matters by saying:
+
+"Why, surely you ain't forgotten me as was your pal out to Red Dog, the
+time you was prospecting for copper and struck gold?"
+
+"No, no," said Scarsdale. "Of course I remember you now." He couldn't be
+supposed to have forgotten such an event, he felt; but the whole affair
+was most unfortunate.
+
+"I guess you've settled down and become pious, from the looks of you,"
+continued Faro Charlie; "but you'll have a drink for old times' sake
+just the same."
+
+"No, thanks, you must excuse me," he replied, feeling that he must drop
+this unwelcome friend as soon as possible. But the friend had no
+intention of being dropped, and contented himself by saying:
+
+"Rats!" and ordering two whiskies.
+
+"Why, I've known the day," he continued, "when Slippery Dick--we used to
+call you Slippery Dick, you remember, 'cause you could cheat worse at
+poker than any man in the camp." Scarsdale writhed. "Well, as I was
+saying, you'd have shot a man then who refused to drink with you."
+
+The Englishman sat aghast. Little had he thought he was impersonating a
+card-sharper and a wholesale murderer. The whisky came and he drank it,
+feeling that he needed a bracer.
+
+"Now," said Faro Charlie, "I want to hear all about what you've been
+doing, first and last. Tending copper-mines, I heered, out to Michigan."
+
+This, the Englishman felt, was going too far. It was bad enough to have
+to impersonate such a fellow as "Slippery Dick," but to endow him with a
+fictitious history that was at all comparable with Faro Charlie's
+account of his earlier years required too great an effort of
+imagination. And the fact that a quiet little man, who was sitting near
+by, edged up his chair and seemed deeply interested in the conversation,
+did not tend to put him more at his ease. No wonder, he thought, the
+Consul did not talk much about his brother. He therefore hastened to
+change the subject.
+
+"Have you seen much of the Indians lately?" he ventured; it seemed such
+a safe topic.
+
+"Thinking of that little squaw you was so chummy with down to Injun
+Reservation?" queried his friend, punching him jovially in the ribs.
+"You knew, didn't you, that they'd had her up for horse-stealing to
+Fort Smith? Reckon as they'd a hung her if she hadn't been a woman. She
+was a limb! Guess you had your hands full when you tackled her."
+
+Scarsdale decided his choice of a subject had not been fortunate, and
+begged Faro Charlie to have some more whisky.
+
+"Sure," replied that individual. "Drink with you all night."
+
+"I'm afraid you can't do that," replied Scarsdale, hastening to rid
+himself of his unwelcome friend. "I have some important business to
+attend to this evening."
+
+"I wish you weren't in such a rush. Come back and we'll paint the town,
+eh?"
+
+Scarsdale thought it extremely unlikely, and shaking hands fled to the
+street with a sigh of relief; for he had had a very bad quarter of an
+hour. What cursed luck that he should have run across this American
+horror! He must avoid him at all costs to-morrow morning.
+
+In his hurry he had not noticed that the quiet little man had left the
+winter garden with him. His one thought was to get away. He determined
+to send that telegram to Basingstoke at once, and go to bed before any
+one else recognised him: one of Slippery Dick's friends was enough.
+
+But unkind fate had not yet done with him, and a new and more terrible
+surprise was in store for the unfortunate bridegroom. He had scarcely
+gone a dozen yards from the hotel entrance, when a voice said just
+beside him:
+
+"Excuse me, Mr. Richard Allingford, but may I have a few words with
+you?"
+
+Scarsdale turned, and finding himself face to face with the quiet little
+man, who had seemed so interested in his conversation of a few moments
+ago, said:
+
+"I seem to be in great demand to-night. Why do you wish to see me? I
+don't know you."
+
+"No," said the man who stood beside him. "No, you do not know me, Mr.
+Richard Allingford; but you will."
+
+He was a quiet, unpretending little man; but there was something about
+his dress and bearing, and the snap with which he shut his jaw at the
+end of a sentence, an air of decision, in short, which caused the
+Englishman to feel that he would do well to conciliate this stranger,
+whoever he might be, so he said shortly:
+
+"What do you want with me? Speak quickly; I'm in a hurry."
+
+"I couldn't help overhearing some of your conversation just now at the
+hotel, and so I took the liberty of following you to ask you a
+question."
+
+"Yes?" said Scarsdale interrogatively.
+
+"If I mistake not you are the brother of the United States Consul at
+Christchurch, and came over to his wedding."
+
+"Yes," he admitted; for he did not see how he could well deny to one man
+what he had just confessed to another.
+
+"You have been in England about ten days, I think?"
+
+"As long as that, certainly."
+
+"May I ask what ship you came on?"
+
+"By what right do you ask me these questions?"
+
+"You will see presently."
+
+"But suppose I refuse to answer them?"
+
+The unknown shrugged his shoulders, and said quietly:
+
+"Now wasn't it the _Paris_?"
+
+"Yes," said Scarsdale, who remembered with joy having seen that fact
+chronicled in a London paper.
+
+"I suppose you have never been in Winchester before?"
+
+"Never in my life."
+
+"Not last week?"
+
+"Look here!" said Scarsdale angrily, "what the devil are you driving
+at?"
+
+"It is a pity you should have such a good memory for past and not for
+recent events," said the quiet little man, "a great pity."
+
+"I tell you I have never been here!"
+
+"Didn't dine at the Lion's Head last Wednesday, for instance?"
+
+"No, I did not, and I've had enough of this insolence!"
+
+"So have I," said the little man, blowing a little whistle. "So have I,
+and therefore I arrest you, Richard Allingford, in the Queen's name."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+IN WHICH MR. SCARSDALE REAPS ANOTHER'S WHIRLWIND
+
+Scarsdale was absolutely staggered by the word "arrest." Arrest! What
+nonsense! Who was this man who talked of arresting _him_, Harold
+Scarsdale, peaceably engaged in trying to find his wife and proceed on
+his honeymoon? The first sensations of surprise and incredulity were
+quickly followed, however, by a realisation of the horrible situation in
+which his own stupidity had placed him. In the eyes of the law he was
+not Harold Scarsdale, but Richard Allingford, and he shuddered to think
+with what crime he might be charged; for, from what he had learned in
+the last half-hour, he could not doubt that he was posing as one of the
+most abandoned characters that had ever visited the town of Winchester.
+
+A person who consorted with horse-thieves, cheated at cards, and thought
+nothing of shooting friends who were not thirsty, would surely be
+satisfied with no ordinary crime. Of what was he accused? He hardly
+dared to ask. And how was he to get out of this dreadful dilemma? His
+reflections, however, were cut short by the arrival of a burly
+policeman, in answer to his captor's whistle. The little man at once
+addressed the newcomer, quite ignoring Scarsdale.
+
+"Here's your man Allingford; not a doubt of it," he said.
+
+"Got your warrant?" inquired the policeman, laying a detaining hand on
+the prisoner's shoulder.
+
+"Here it is," replied the first speaker, producing a paper, which the
+officer glanced at and returned, saying at the same time to Scarsdale:
+
+"Now, then, come along o' me, and don't make no resistance if you knows
+what's good for you."
+
+"I do not intend to offer any resistance," replied that gentleman, and
+turning to the little man he asked: "By what right do you arrest me, and
+on what charge?"
+
+"I'm Private Detective Smithers," replied his captor, "and this," again
+producing the paper he had already shown to the policeman, "is my
+warrant. You know the charge well enough."
+
+"I'm entirely ignorant of it!" cried Scarsdale hotly.
+
+"Of course," said the detective. "They always are," and he winked at the
+officer.
+
+"I tell you I don't know anything about it!" reiterated the unfortunate
+bridegroom.
+
+"I must caution you," remarked the policeman, "that anything you says
+may be used against you as evidence."
+
+"I demand to know why I am arrested. I have a right to do so."
+
+"Tell him, Bill," said the detective, "and stop his row."
+
+The officer, thus admonished, nodded his head, and replied shortly:
+
+"Two charges: 'sault and battery on the landlord of the Lion's Head, and
+disturbing the peace on last Wednesday night."
+
+"I deny the charge!" cried Scarsdale.
+
+"Of course you do," replied the policeman; "I suppose you would. Now
+you've had your say, are you coming along peaceable, or are you not?"
+
+"Certainly I am," replied the prisoner, and they started up the street,
+followed by a small crowd, which had already collected.
+
+"I must warn you," continued Scarsdale, when they were fairly under way,
+"that you are making a mistake. I am not the man you take me for."
+
+"I suppose you'll deny your name is Richard Allingford next," said the
+detective, laughing.
+
+"I do deny it."
+
+"Well I'm blessed!" remarked his captor.
+
+The policeman simply said: "Come on, that's too thin!" and jerked him
+roughly by the arm.
+
+Scarsdale quickened his pace, saying angrily:
+
+"If you'd only give a man a chance to explain!"
+
+"You'll have chance enough, when you come up to-morrow, to explain to
+the court," replied the officer, "and a pretty bill of damages into the
+bargain."
+
+"Oh, if it's only a fine," remarked the prisoner, feeling much relieved,
+"I'll pay it and welcome, rather than have a row."
+
+"Maybe you won't have the option," replied one of his captors; while the
+other added cheerfully: "What you needs is thirty days, and I 'opes
+you'll get it."
+
+At the police court Scarsdale did not help his case by insisting on
+giving his right name, and denying all knowledge of the charge. His
+statements were entered against him, he was relieved of his watch,
+purse, and jewellery, and introduced to the cold comforts of the
+lock-up.
+
+On being asked if he wished to communicate with any one, he replied that
+the next morning would be quite time enough; for he knew that Mrs.
+Allingford could give him little help in his present predicament, and
+he did not wish to disturb her night's rest to no purpose.
+
+It can be well imagined that the accommodations of an English provincial
+prison are not luxurious; but the room was clean, and fortune favoured
+him in that he had only two companions, both of whom were stupid drunk,
+and went to sleep very peaceably on the floor.
+
+Scarsdale improvised a bed on a settee, and, using his coat as a pillow,
+passed a fairly comfortable night. Luckily he was of a somewhat
+phlegmatic temperament, and withal very tired after the day's exertions;
+so, in spite of the misfortunes which were crowding about him, he was
+able to resign himself to the inevitable, and eventually to drop off to
+sleep.
+
+Early next morning, however, he arranged to have a note delivered to
+Mrs. Allingford at the hotel, in which he informed that lady of his
+unfortunate predicament, begging her not to distress herself on his
+account; and assuring her that in all probability it was merely a
+matter of a trifling fine, and that he should be at liberty to rejoin
+her within a few hours.
+
+He felt very little of what he wrote; but as long as there was a chance
+of things coming out right, he wished to spare her all possible worry.
+
+His ready money procured him a better breakfast than he could have hoped
+for, and by nine o'clock, when the court opened, he was refreshed and
+ready for whatever might befall. His two companions in misfortune
+preceded him for trial, but their cases were soon disposed of, and
+Harold Scarsdale, _alias_ Richard Allingford, was put into the dock.
+
+The court-room consisted of a plainly furnished apartment, containing a
+raised platform at one end, on which were placed the desk and armchair
+of the police magistrate, while in front were several rows of benches
+for the accommodation of the public: but as the cases were of no general
+interest, Scarsdale was relieved to see that the attendance was meagre.
+Mrs. Allingford was present, however, looking very white and distressed,
+but managing to muster up a smile to greet him as he entered.
+
+The proceedings were short and to the point. The police constable, on
+being called and given the oath, kissed the book and deposed that at
+about a quarter to nine on the previous evening, while on his accustomed
+beat, he had been summoned by Private Detective Smithers to aid in
+arresting the prisoner, who had professed ignorance of the charge, the
+truth of which he afterwards denied, and who persisted in asserting that
+he was not Richard Allingford.
+
+Private Detective Smithers now took the stand and stated the case from
+his point of view; which was, in short, that the conversation he had
+overheard at the hotel between the prisoner and another person here
+present, and the statement which the prisoner made to him personally,
+proved that he was without doubt the Richard Allingford mentioned in the
+indictment. In conclusion he begged that the person styling himself Faro
+Charlie should be summoned to corroborate his testimony. Faro Charlie
+was accordingly called and placed in the dock, and after the usual
+preliminaries the magistrate examined him as follows:
+
+"What is your name?"
+
+"Faro Charlie."
+
+"Any other name?"
+
+"Smith."
+
+"Very well, Charles Smith; are you a citizen of the United States?"
+
+"I be."
+
+"Of what occupation?"
+
+"Miner."
+
+"Do you recognise the prisoner as the person whom you met at the George
+last evening?"
+
+"I do."
+
+"Can you swear that he is Richard Allingford?"
+
+"No."
+
+Scarsdale's heart leaped at that "no"; salvation was at hand after all.
+
+The magistrate continued:
+
+"Do you believe this person to be Richard Allingford?"
+
+"Yes, on the whole I think I do." The prisoner's heart sank. "But,"
+continued the witness, "I can't be sure. Fifteen years is a long time. I
+wouldn't have known him if he hadn't owned up to his name. He might be
+playing me for a sucker."
+
+"In other words, you think the prisoner to be Richard Allingford, but
+are unwilling to swear to his identity?"
+
+"That's the stuff," replied Faro Charlie. "I swored as a man was my
+uncle, three years ago at 'Frisco, and he put a bullet into me next day,
+'cause I lost him the case. After which I ain't swearing against a pal,"
+and he left the stand.
+
+The case now proceeded, and the detective related how on Wednesday, the
+16th of October, the prisoner, Richard Allingford, in company with other
+lawless characters, had dined at the Lion's Head, and, during a dispute
+with the landlord concerning the quality of the wine, had thrown that
+personage out of his own second-storey window; telling his wife, who
+protested against such actions, to put her husband in the bill, which
+they left without settling. Then they proceeded to paint the town of
+Winchester a lurid crimson, breaking windows, beating a policeman who
+interfered, and raiding a night coffee-stall in the process.
+
+This recital of wrong and outrage being finished, the magistrate
+addressed the prisoner as follows:
+
+"What is your name?"
+
+"Harold Stanley Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale."
+
+Some one in the audience murmured, "O Lor'!"
+
+"You refuse to admit that your name is Richard Allingford?" continued
+the justice.
+
+"I have just given you my name."
+
+"Are you an American?"
+
+"No, I am an Englishman."
+
+"Where do you live?"
+
+"'The Towers,' Sussex."
+
+The audience again voiced its sentiments; this time to the effect that
+the prisoner was "a 'owling swell"; but order was restored and the case
+once more proceeded.
+
+"What is your profession?"
+
+"I am a clerk in the War Office."
+
+"Does not that interfere with the management of your estate?" asked his
+interlocutor, to whom the last two statements savoured of contradiction.
+
+"I have just succeeded to the estate, through the death of an elder
+brother."
+
+"Ah, I see. Now in regard to last evening. Do you admit meeting at the
+George the person who calls himself Charles Smith?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Did not you represent yourself to him as being Richard Allingford?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+This reply caused a sensation in the court.
+
+"I suppose," said the magistrate, "that you realise that this is a
+serious admission."
+
+"It is the truth."
+
+"Perhaps you can explain it to the satisfaction of the court."
+
+"I assumed the name," said Scarsdale with an effort, "to screen from
+possible annoyance a lady who was under my protection. With the
+permission of the court, however, I should prefer not to go into this
+matter further, as it has no direct bearing on the charge. My action was
+foolish, and I have been punished for it."
+
+"You certainly chose an unfortunate alias," commented the magistrate
+drily, and, much to the prisoner's relief, turned to another phase of
+the case.
+
+"What are you doing in Winchester?"
+
+"I am on my honeymoon. I was married yesterday."
+
+A titter of laughter ran round the court-room; but the magistrate
+frowned, and continued:
+
+"I suppose that is the reason why you registered under an assumed name,
+and are travelling with somebody else's wife?"
+
+There was more laughter, for the justice had a local reputation as a
+wit. Scarsdale boiled inwardly, but held his peace; while his judge, who
+seemed to feel that he had strayed a little from the subject in hand,
+after a moment's silence asked shortly:
+
+"Do you plead guilty or not guilty to these charges?"
+
+"Not guilty!"
+
+"Do you wish this matter settled here or in a superior court?"
+
+"I desire that it be settled here, provided I am given an opportunity to
+prove my identity."
+
+"You will be given every reasonable opportunity. What do you wish?"
+
+"I wish to ask first by whom these charges are preferred."
+
+"The charge of assault and battery has been brought by the landlord of
+the Lion's Head."
+
+"I infer that the landlord served Richard Allingford in person on the
+night in question, and would be likely to know him if he saw him."
+
+The magistrate conferred with the detective, and replied that such was
+the case.
+
+"If the question is not out of order," resumed the prisoner, "may I ask
+if the landlord of the Lion's Head is a reputable witness, and one whose
+testimony might be relied on?"
+
+"I think you may trust yourself in his hands," replied the justice, who
+had seen all along whither the case was tending.
+
+"Then," said Scarsdale, "I shall be satisfied to rest my case on his
+identification."
+
+"That is quite a proper request," replied the magistrate. "Is the
+landlord of the Lion's Head present?"
+
+At this a dapper little man jumped up in the audience, and explained
+that he was the landlord's physician, and that his patient, though
+convalescent, was still disabled by his injuries and unable to attend
+court.
+
+On inquiry being made as to when he could put in an appearance, the
+physician replied that he thought the landlord could come the next day.
+
+The magistrate therefore consulted for a moment with the detective, and
+then said to the prisoner:
+
+"Your case is remanded for trial until to-morrow."
+
+Scarsdale held up his hand in token that he wished to speak.
+
+"Well," said the magistrate, "what else?"
+
+"If I can, by the time this court meets to-morrow, produce reputable
+witnesses from London to prove my identity," asked the prisoner, "will
+their evidence be admitted?"
+
+"If they can identify themselves as such to the satisfaction of the
+court, yes."
+
+The magistrate thereupon dismissed the case, and Scarsdale was removed
+from the court-room.
+
+He felt he had come off singularly well, and, except for the annoyance
+and delay would have little further trouble. What he most desired was an
+interview with Mrs. Allingford; but what with a change in his quarters,
+owing to the deferment of the trial, and the difficulty of getting word
+to her, it was the middle of the afternoon before this was accomplished.
+
+The unfortunate little woman seemed completely broken down by this fresh
+disaster, and it was some time before she could control herself
+sufficiently to talk calmly with him.
+
+"I shall never, never forgive myself," she sobbed. "It is all my fault
+that you have incurred this disgrace. I can never look your wife in the
+face again."
+
+"Nonsense!" he said, trying to cheer her up. "There is no disgrace in
+being arrested for what somebody else has done; and as for its being
+your fault, why, it was I who proposed to pass myself off as your
+husband's brother."
+
+"But I allowed it, only I did not know anything about my brother-in-law,
+except that he existed; his being in England is a complete surprise to
+me." A remark which caused Scarsdale to be thankful that he had said
+nothing to her about that scene at the club when the Consul heard of
+Dick's arrival. "He must be very wicked. I'm so sorry. But we won't talk
+about him now; we will talk about you. What can I do to retrieve
+myself?" she continued.
+
+"Let us consider your own affairs first," he replied. "I wasn't able to
+send a telegram to Basingstoke last night; I was arrested on my way to
+the office."
+
+"I sent one, though, this morning, right after the trial."
+
+"I didn't know that you knew where to go," he said.
+
+"I didn't," she returned; "but that queer American person, who wouldn't
+swear to your identity, sent it for me. He is very odd, but I'm sure he
+has a good heart. He was so distressed over the whole affair, and
+offered to be of any assistance he could."
+
+"Oh!" said Scarsdale. He was not pre-possessed in Faro Charlie's favour.
+
+"So I think," she went on, "that if they are at Basingstoke, they will
+be here in a few hours. I told them all about your arrest and where I
+was staying."
+
+"So far so good. Allingford can identify me even to the satisfaction of
+this magistrate, I think. But it is just as well to have two strings to
+one's bow, so I have another plan to suggest; but first let me hear if
+you have done anything else."
+
+"No; but I think I shall telegraph to my mother. I can't spend another
+night here alone."
+
+"Why don't you wait and see if your husband does not turn up? I hate to
+give our affairs more publicity than is necessary," he suggested.
+
+"Would you prefer me to do so?"
+
+"Yes, very much; if you don't mind."
+
+"Then I will. I think, after my share in this unfortunate business, you
+ought to have the first consideration. Now tell me your plan."
+
+"I propose that we telegraph to your husband's best man, Jack
+Carrington, asking him to come to Winchester this evening. He can
+identify me, and identify himself also, for he has a brother who is an
+officer in one of the regiments stationed here."
+
+"Just the thing!" she cried. "I'll send it at once."
+
+"No," replied Scarsdale. "You write it and I'll send it." He did not
+wish any more of his plans to be revealed to Faro Charlie.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+IN WHICH A SERIOUS CHARGE IS LAID AT THE CONSUL'S DOOR
+
+Jack Carrington, Esquire, Gentleman, sat in his snug little
+sitting-room, in one of the side streets of Mayfair, shortly before
+seven in the evening, feeling uncommonly blue. He was, without doubt, in
+a most unfortunate position. Born and bred a gentleman; educated to do
+nothing, yet debarred by lack of family influence from the two
+professions he might properly have entered, the army and the diplomatic
+corps; with not quite enough money to support his position as a
+bachelor, and no hopes of ever having any more, the outlook,
+matrimonially at least, was anything but encouraging, and there was a
+lady--with whose existence this narrative has no concern--who, had
+fortune smiled, might now be Mrs. Carrington: a possibility which had
+brought our quondam best man almost to the point of determining,
+according to those false standards which are happily fast passing away
+from English society, to be no longer a _gentleman_, but to go into
+trade.
+
+Such, then, was his condition when the door-bell rang, and a moment
+later a card was brought to him bearing the name of Lady Scarsdale. He
+looked at it, scarcely believing his eyes. How came it that she should
+call on him at an hour so strikingly unconventional? It was therefore
+with no little bewilderment that he gave orders to have her shown in.
+
+When her ladyship, whom he had never seen before, entered his parlour,
+he found himself face to face with a strikingly handsome woman of middle
+age, dressed in semi-mourning. She accepted his outstretched hand, held
+it a second, and, taking the seat he offered, said, with just a glance
+in the direction of a demure little woman who followed her into the
+room:
+
+"Miss Wilkins."
+
+Carrington bowed, and Miss Wilkins, maid or attendant, whichever she
+might be, retired to the remote end of the room, and promptly immersed
+herself in the only volume within reach, a French novel which Jack felt
+sure she had never seen before, and would not be likely to peruse to any
+great extent.
+
+"You will naturally be surprised at my presence here this evening," said
+Lady Scarsdale.
+
+Her host bowed and smiled, to show that pleasure and gratification were
+mingled; indeed, until she further declared her position he hardly knew
+how he ought to feel.
+
+Her ladyship continued:
+
+"My object in coming is unusual; it is, in short, to request your aid
+and assistance in a very extraordinary and delicate matter."
+
+Jack bowed again, and his visitor proceeded:
+
+"You will excuse me if I seem agitated"--she certainly did seem very
+much so, if red eyes and a quivering lip meant anything--"but I have
+scarcely recovered from the shock occasioned by the arrival of a
+telegram received this morning from a Mr. Allingford, at whose marriage,
+I think, you assisted."
+
+"I was his best man."
+
+"So I understand."
+
+"Nothing wrong, I hope?"
+
+"That you shall hear. Do you know my son, Mr. Scarsdale?"
+
+"Only slightly."
+
+"You may be aware that he was married yesterday." Jack nodded, and she
+continued: "To a Miss Vernon, an American. You know her, I believe?"
+
+"Quite well," replied her host. "She is a most charming woman."
+
+"Now this Mr. Allingford telegraphs me," resumed his visitor, "from my
+aunt Lady Melton's country seat, Melton Court, that he is staying there
+with my son's wife, who was Miss Vernon."
+
+"Staying there with Allingford! At Melton Court!" gasped Jack, to whom
+this seemed the most improbable combination of circumstances. "But
+where is her husband?"
+
+"I regret to say," replied her ladyship, "that, as a result of the two
+couples meeting each other at Basingstoke, they in some way became
+separated and carried off in different trains; so that my
+daughter-in-law and Mr. Allingford are now at my aunt's country place,
+near Salisbury, while my son and Mrs. Allingford have gone off together
+somewhere on the South Coast, and no trace can be found of them."
+
+"But how did it happen?"
+
+"The whole affair seems to have been the result of some deplorable
+blunder or accident; but in any event it is most distressing, and I came
+up at once to London, thinking you might be able to help me. But I see
+from your surprise that you have heard nothing from either party."
+
+"Not a word. But I am quite at your service."
+
+"Thanks. You may not know that, actuated by a spirit which I cannot
+admire, my son's wife and your friend each insisted on arranging the
+details of their wedding trips, and keeping the matter a profound
+secret, so that neither Mrs. Allingford nor my son knew their
+destination."
+
+"Yes, I have heard something of it; but I infer that you have not
+honoured me by this visit without the hope that I may be able to aid
+you. Pray tell me how I can be of service."
+
+My chief desire in calling on you, Mr. Carrington, was to learn if you
+had had any news of my son or his wife; but, of course, on my journey to
+town I have been thinking of various expedients, and though I hesitate
+to ask so great a favour from one I hardly know, you could, I think, be
+of great assistance to me.
+
+"With pleasure. Do you wish me to telegraph to Allingford, or go in
+search of your son?"
+
+"Neither. But I should be very grateful to you if you would go for me to
+Melton Court; I have not myself sufficient strength for the journey
+to-night; it is already late and I have no one to send. But I feel that
+my daughter-in-law is in an anomalous and probably unpleasant position;
+so, as I knew you to be a friend of both parties, I thought that perhaps
+you would be good enough to represent me, and see what could be done
+towards the solution of this unfortunate problem. My son's best man left
+for the Continent immediately after the ceremony, or I would have gone
+to him instead."
+
+"There is nothing I should like better than to serve you," replied Jack,
+"but, to speak frankly, I have not the honour of knowing Lady Melton."
+
+"If you will permit me to use your desk, I will give you a line of
+introduction."
+
+Carrington bowed his consent.
+
+"Now," she said, giving him the note, "when can you leave?"
+
+"At once," he replied, "by the first train."
+
+"You will, of course, act as you think best," she continued. "I am
+staying at the Berkeley for to-night, and if Mabel's husband has not
+rejoined her before you arrive, you had better bring her to me there
+to-morrow. As you are going on my behalf you must, of course, let me
+bear all expenses of the trip."
+
+On this ground her ladyship was firm in spite of Carrington's
+protestations, and they finally parted, with many expressions of
+gratitude, on a mutual and highly satisfactory understanding.
+
+As Jack employed a valet only on state occasions, he was, after a
+hurried dinner, deep in his preparations for immediate departure, when,
+about half-past eight, Mrs. Allingford's telegram from Winchester
+arrived, which it is hardly necessary to say startled him considerably.
+The news that Scarsdale was under arrest for the crime of another
+person, and the fact that it lay in his power to free him, seemed to
+prove without doubt that his first duty was to go to Winchester; but he
+had promised Lady Scarsdale to go to Melton Court, and it was impossible
+to do both that night. He was uncertain how to act, and what his
+ultimate decision would have been it is difficult to say, had not an
+outside influence decided matters for him. Another caller was announced.
+
+"I'm not at home. Can't see anybody," said Carrington.
+
+"That's not true, young man, and you've got to see me," replied a voice,
+and, as the door opened, to his astonishment Aunt Eliza advanced into
+the middle of the room, which was littered with his toilet articles.
+
+"Why, Miss Cogbill!" he exclaimed, rising to greet her, "I thought you
+were in Paris."
+
+"So I should be if I hadn't been stopped at Calais by a telegram from
+that good-for-nothing Consul of yours."
+
+"Allingford. Then you know where they are?"
+
+"Yes, and of all the fools----!"
+
+"I've also heard from Scarsdale and Mrs. Allingford."
+
+"You have! Where are they?"
+
+"Winchester."
+
+"Winchester! What are they doing there?"
+
+"He's been arrested."
+
+"Arrested!"
+
+"Yes. Sit down and I'll tell you about it." Which he proceeded to do,
+and also about Lady Scarsdale's visit.
+
+"Just so," commented Aunt Eliza when he had finished. "Now what do you
+propose doing next?"
+
+"I suppose the proper thing would be to put the two couples in
+communication with each other," suggested Jack.
+
+"Well, I'm not so sure," she said. "You and I are the only ones who know
+all the facts, and we must not act in a hurry. Now there's Allingford
+and Mabel down at Melton Court. They'll keep till to-morrow, I guess. It
+would just spoil her night's rest to know that her husband was in jail
+at Winchester, and send her over to him by the first train to-morrow
+morning, like as not, to weep on his neck and complicate the course of
+justice. Anyway, I don't think the two couples had better meet till we
+are present to soothe their ruffled feelings; for, after the mess that
+the Consul's brother has got them into, I dare say that, left to
+themselves, the Scarsdales and Allingfords wouldn't be real cordial to
+each other. But I see you are packing up. Now where are you going?"
+
+"I was going down to Salisbury, at Lady Scarsdale's request."
+
+"You're needed elsewhere. You go right down to Winchester this evening,
+so as you can be there when the court opens first thing to-morrow
+morning, to identify my good-for-nothing nephew, liberate him, and send
+him and Mrs. Allingford over to Melton Court as soon as you can. I'll be
+there before you to break the news to Mabel."
+
+"Well, you see," he said, "I've promised her ladyship."
+
+"Never mind that; your business is to fish these young people out of
+their troubles. I'll drive at once to Lady Scarsdale's hotel, and tell
+her of your change of plans, and go down myself by the first train
+to-morrow morning to Salisbury."
+
+"Then," he said, closing his valise with a snap, "I shall leave at once
+for Winchester."
+
+"Good boy!" said Aunt Eliza. "It's too bad they spoiled you by making
+you a gentleman; you have a first-class head for business."
+
+"It is just what I've been thinking myself," he said ruefully.
+
+"Have you?" cried the old lady, her face lighting up with genuine
+interest. "I'm glad to hear it. You just put this matter through
+successfully, and maybe it will be worth more to you than your expenses.
+Now I must be off, and so must you."
+
+"Very well. I'll put up at the George," he said, as he helped her into a
+hansom.
+
+"Right you are!" she cried, and signalled her driver to go on.
+
+As Carrington found that he would not reach Winchester till late, he
+telegraphed Mrs. Allingford that he would see her the next morning, and
+that he had received news of the whereabouts of her husband and
+Scarsdale's wife, who were all right and would join them on the morrow.
+
+On his arrival he went straight to the hotel that Mrs. Allingford had
+designated in her telegram, to find that that lady had retired for the
+night, leaving, however, a note for him which contained full
+instructions, and stated in addition that she had received his telegram,
+for which she was profoundly grateful, and that he must not hesitate to
+wake her if, by so doing, he could cause her to rejoin her husband one
+instant sooner.
+
+As it was by this time close upon midnight, Carrington decided to let
+matters rest as they were till morning; especially as he had before he
+slept to hunt up his brother at the barracks, and so insure his
+attendance at court the next day. This was easily arranged; but the two
+men had much to talk over, and it was nearly daybreak when Jack set out
+to return to the hotel.
+
+The shortest way back was by a cross cut through the mysterious darkness
+of the cathedral close, within which he heard the voices of two men in
+heated dispute, the tone of the one shrill with rage, while those of the
+other proclaimed that he had been drinking.
+
+Carrington would have passed without noticing, so intent was he on his
+own affairs, had not a name which one of them pronounced arrested his
+attention and caused him to stop.
+
+"You call Robert Allingford a thief!" came the thick tones of the
+intoxicated man.
+
+"I say he stole it!" cried the shrill voice of the other.
+
+"Call my brother a thief!" reiterated the first speaker. "He's
+Consul--gentleman. Gentlemen don't steal elephants."
+
+"I say he stole it! Right away that day! Didn't wait for me to redeem
+it."
+
+"You dare to call my brother thief!" The voice grew menacing.
+
+"Twenty pounds he gave me--only one hundred dollars--for an elephant. I
+say he's a thief----!"
+
+Here the shrill voice died away in a gulp, and there was a sound of
+blows and scuffling.
+
+Carrington forced his way through the hedge, crying:
+
+"Hold on! What is this about?"
+
+At the sound of his voice the owner of elephants exclaimed: "The
+bobbies!" and, disengaging himself from the other, fled down the road;
+while his companion, who had started to follow him, was detained by
+Jack, who recognised his captive as none other than Richard Allingford.
+
+"What are you doing here?" he demanded.
+
+"Oh," said Allingford, "it's Mr. Carrington. Delighted to see you, I'm
+sure. Correcting that fellow. Says brother Robert stole elephant." His
+arrest had somewhat sobered him.
+
+"Of course," said Carrington, "he didn't steal the elephant."
+
+"Where is he?"
+
+"Your brother?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"At Melton Court, near Salisbury; but you must not go there."
+
+"Yes, I will," replied Slippery Dick, waxing pugnacious, "Take the
+elephant fellow along, too--make him eat his words. Call my brother a
+thief, will he?"
+
+"You'll do nothing of the kind," said his captor. "You're wanted here by
+the police."
+
+"What!"
+
+"Yes. For assault and battery, and disturbing the peace. They have
+arrested another man, a Mr. Scarsdale, by mistake in your place."
+
+"I don't know anything about it. Never been here before to-night,"
+protested the unregenerate one.
+
+"Well, you must come along with me and give yourself up, or----." But
+Carrington never finished the sentence; for at that moment he struck the
+ground very hard, and by the time he realised that Slippery Dick had
+tripped him, that personage had disappeared into the darkness, thus
+justifying his sobriquet.
+
+Jack picked himself up and struggled through the hedge; but no one was
+in sight, and the dull, distant sound of flying feet seemed to indicate
+that the Consul's brother was seeking fresh fields and pastures new with
+uncommon celerity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+IN WHICH THE CONSUL AND MRS. SCARSDALE EMULATE THE KING OF FRANCE AND
+TWENTY THOUSAND OF HIS COMPATRIOTS
+
+Another day was dawning, a day that was destined to be most arduous,
+eventful, and important in the lives of all those with whom this
+narrative has to deal. Yet, at this hour in the morning, Carrington,
+sitting shivering on his bedside; Lady Melton, listening in her chamber
+for the departing footsteps of the faithful Bright; Aunt Eliza, drinking
+an early cup of coffee in preparation for a long day's work; the Consul
+and Mrs. Scarsdale, journeying to Southampton; Slippery Dick, pouncing
+on the sometime owner of elephants at a way-side alehouse; Scarsdale,
+pacing his prison cell; Mrs. Allingford, waiting, 'twixt hope and fear,
+for news of her husband; and the elephant, shrieking in his
+box-stall--these, one and all, entered regretfully upon this day
+fraught with so many complications.
+
+Carrington had decided, as he wended his way home to the hotel after his
+somewhat startling encounter with the Consul's unregenerate brother,
+that he was in no wise bound to report the matter to the authorities.
+His mission was to extricate Mr. Scarsdale from unjust imprisonment, not
+to incriminate any one else; and he foresaw that any attempt on his part
+to interfere, as an avenger of justice, might entail subsequent
+attendance at the local police court whenever the true culprit fell into
+the hands of the law.
+
+When Jack had thus determined on his course of action, he resigned
+himself peacefully to slumber, of which he stood much in need; but no
+sooner, apparently, had his head touched the pillow than he was awakened
+by a knocking at his chamber door. In reply to his sleepy inquiries, he
+was informed that Mrs. Allingford was up and in the ladies'
+drawing-room, and would much appreciate it if she could see him as soon
+as possible.
+
+Carrington replied that he would be happy to wait on her in a few
+minutes, as soon as he was dressed, in fact, and cursed himself heartily
+for having been fool enough to be any one's best man. Half-past six! It
+was inhuman to call him up at such a time. He had not had three hours'
+sleep. He wished himself at Melton Court more than ever. There, at
+least, they rose at decent hours.
+
+As he entered the hotel drawing-room, a few minutes later, in a somewhat
+calmer frame of mind, due to a bath and a cup of coffee, Mrs. Allingford
+rose to meet him, took both his hands in hers, and, holding them
+tightly, stood for a moment with her upturned eyes looking fixedly into
+his. He would never have known her for the happy bride of two short days
+ago; she seemed more like a widow, years older, and with all the joy of
+her youth crushed out by trouble.
+
+"Words cannot express what your coming means to me. It is the kindest
+thing you've ever done," she said simply; but her tone and manner told
+him of her gratitude and relief.
+
+"It is very little to do," he replied, feeling, all at once, that he had
+been a brute not to have seen her the night before.
+
+"My husband! Oh, tell me about my husband!" she exclaimed, dropping all
+restraint.
+
+"What a child she was, in spite of her wedding-ring!" he thought; but he
+felt very sorry for her, and answered gently:
+
+"I blame myself for not telling you sooner. He is safe and well.'
+
+"Thank God!" she murmured.
+
+"And at present at Melton Court, the country place of Lady Melton, Mr.
+Scarsdale's great-aunt." And then he told her such of her husband's
+adventures as he knew.
+
+"When is the first train to Salisbury?" she cried, interrupting the
+recital.
+
+"I dare say there is an early morning train," he returned; "but I should
+suggest your waiting for the one at nine-thirty, as then Mr. Scarsdale
+can accompany you."
+
+"But he is in prison."
+
+"Yes, I know; but he won't be very long."
+
+"You are sure they will release him?"
+
+"There's not a doubt of it. I have arranged all that."
+
+"Now tell me more about my husband, everything you know. Poor Bob! if he
+has suffered as I have, he must indeed be wretched."
+
+Jack was morally sure that the Consul had done nothing of the kind, but
+he forbore to say so. Not that he doubted for a moment that Allingford
+loved his wife ardently; but he knew him to be a somewhat easy-going
+personage, who, when he could not have things as he wanted them,
+resigned himself to making the best of things as they were. From what he
+knew of Mrs. Scarsdale, moreover, he thought it safe to conclude that
+she had resigned herself to the exigencies of the case, and that both of
+them looked on the whole affair as a practical joke played upon them by
+Fate, of which they could clearly perceive the humorous side. He
+therefore turned the conversation by recounting all he knew, even to the
+minutest circumstance, of her husband's adventures; and she, in her
+turn, poured into his ear her tale of woe in Winchester.
+
+"I can't understand," he said, at the conclusion of her narrative, "why
+Allingford did not receive the telegram you sent to Basingstoke
+yesterday."
+
+"As I think I told you," she replied, "that strange person, Faro
+Charlie, offered to send it for me, and as I had no change I gave him a
+five-pound note."
+
+"Oh!" said Carrington, "perhaps that solves the mystery. Did your friend
+bring you back the change?"
+
+"N--o," admitted Mrs. Allingford; "that is, not yet."
+
+"I'm afraid you will never hear from your five-pound note, and that
+Allingford never received his telegram from Winchester," commented
+Carrington; "but it has disposed of Faro Charlie as a witness, and
+perhaps that was worth the money."
+
+"Do you really think he meant to take it?" she asked in a shocked tone.
+
+"I'm sure of it," he replied, "and time will prove the correctness of
+my theory." And time did.
+
+They breakfasted together, and, at Carrington's suggestion, all the
+baggage was sent to the station, in order that they might have every
+chance of making the train. Jack's brother joined them about half-past
+eight, and the three proceeded to the court, where a few words from that
+officer to the magistrate, with whom he was personally acquainted, were
+sufficient to bring Scarsdale's case first on the docket.
+
+The landlord of the Lion's Head appeared, a mass of bandages, and
+groaning dolefully to excite the sympathy of the court; but he testified
+without hesitation that the prisoner, though somewhat resembling Richard
+Allingford, was not he; and it did not need Carrington's identification
+to make Scarsdale a free man. Then there were mutual congratulations,
+and a hurried drive to the station, where they just succeeded in
+catching the train; and, almost before he knew it, Jack was standing
+alone upon the platform, while his two friends were speeding towards
+the goal of all their hopes, _via_ Southampton and Salisbury.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+"I suppose," said Mrs. Scarsdale to the Consul, as their train drew out
+of Salisbury in the first flush of the sunrise on the morning which saw
+Mr. Scarsdale's liberation from durance vile--"I suppose you realise
+that you have exiled me from the home of my ancestors."
+
+"How so?" asked the Consul.
+
+"Why, you don't imagine that I shall ever dare to show my face at Melton
+Court again. Just picture to yourself her ladyship and your elephant!
+She will never forgive us, and will cut poor Harold off with a
+shilling."
+
+"That won't hurt him much, from all I've heard of her ladyship's
+finances," he replied.
+
+"I think," she resumed, "that I ought to be very angry with you; but I
+can't help laughing, it is so absurd. A bull in a china-shop would be
+tame compared with an elephant at Melton Court. What do you think she
+will do with the beast?"
+
+"Pasture it on the front lawn to keep away objectionable relatives,"
+retorted the Consul. "But, seriously speaking, have you any definite
+plan of campaign?"
+
+"Certainly not. What do you suppose I carry you round for, if it is not
+to plan campaigns?"
+
+"Which you generally alter. You will please remember that the visit to
+Melton Court was entirely owing to you."
+
+"Quite, and I shall probably upset this one; but proceed."
+
+"Well, in the first place, as soon as we reach Southampton I think we
+had better have a good breakfast."
+
+"That is no news. You are a man; therefore you eat. Go on."
+
+"Do you object?"
+
+"Not at all. I expected it; I'll even eat with you."
+
+"Well said. After this necessary duty, I propose to go to the station
+and thoroughly investigate the matter of the arrival and departure of
+my wife and your husband."
+
+"If they were at Basingstoke we should have heard from them before
+this," she said; "and even if they were not, they should have
+telegraphed."
+
+"Very probably they did," he replied; "but, as you ought to know, there
+is nothing more obliging and more generally dense than an English minor
+official. I dare say that the key to the whole mystery is at this moment
+reposing, neatly done up in red tape, at the office of that disgusting
+little junction. But here we are at Southampton. Now for breakfast; and
+then the American Sherlock Holmes will sift this matter to the bottom."
+And the Consul, in excellent spirits, assisted her to alight.
+
+Indeed, now that the elephant had been left behind, he felt that,
+actually as well as metaphorically, a great weight had been lifted from
+his shoulders.
+
+"Evidently," remarked Allingford, as they were finishing a breakfast in
+one of the cosy principal hotels--"evidently the loss of your husband
+has not included the loss of your appetite."
+
+"Of course it hasn't," replied Mrs. Scarsdale. "Why shouldn't I eat a
+good breakfast? I have no use for conventions which make one do
+disagreeable things just because one happens to feel miserable."
+
+"Do you feel very miserable? I thought you seemed rather cheerful on the
+whole," he commented.
+
+"Well, you are not to think anything so unpleasant or personal. I'm
+utterly wretched; and if you don't believe it I won't eat a mouthful."
+
+"I'm sure," he returned, "that your husband would be much put out if he
+knew you contemplated doing anything so foolish."
+
+"Do you know," she said, "that I'm beginning to have serious doubts that
+I ever had a husband? Do you think he's a myth, and that you and I will
+have to go through life together in an endless pursuit of what doesn't
+exist?"
+
+"Good Lord, I hope not!" he exclaimed.
+
+"That is very uncomplimentary to me," she retorted.
+
+"In the face of that remark," he replied, pushing back his chair, "I am
+silent."
+
+"Do you know," said his companion after a moment, as she folded her
+napkin, "that the keen sense of humour with which we Americans are
+endowed saves a large percentage of us from going mad or committing
+suicide?"
+
+"Are you thinking of doing either?" he asked anxiously.
+
+"I am thinking," she replied, "that we have had two exceedingly amusing
+days, and I am almost sorry they are over."
+
+"Don't you want to find your husband?" he exclaimed.
+
+"Of course I do; but it has been a sort of breathing-space before
+settling down to the seriousness of married life, and that elephant
+episode was funny. I think it was worth two days of any husband; don't
+you?"
+
+"I don't know," returned the Consul, somewhat ruefully. "I'd just as
+lief that Scarsdale had had the beast."
+
+"Oh, I wouldn't!" she cried. "He would have spoiled all the fun. He'd
+have done some stupid, rational thing. Donated it to the 'Zoo' in
+London, I should think; wasted the elephant, in fact. It took the spirit
+of American humour to play your colossal, practical joke. I wonder if it
+has arrived at the Court yet. I can fancy it sticking its head, trunk
+and all, through the great window in Lady Melton's dining-room."
+
+"She called me a consular person," remarked that official stiffly.
+
+"Hence the elephant," laughed his fair companion. "Cause and effect.
+But, joking apart, there is a pitiful side to our adventure. When I
+think of those two matter-of-fact, serious British things, your better
+half and my--my husband, and of what a miserable time they have been
+having, unrelieved by any spark of humour, it almost makes me cry."
+
+"Hold on!" cried Allingford, "You are just as bad as your great-aunt.
+She calls me a consular person, and you call my wife a British thing! I
+wish I had another elephant."
+
+"I beg your pardon, I do really," she replied. "I classed my husband in
+the same category. But don't you agree with me that it's sad? I'm sure
+your poor wife has cried her eyes out; and as for my husband, I doubt if
+he's eaten anything, and I'm certain he's worn his most unbecoming
+clothes."
+
+"You are wrong there," interrupted Allingford; "he packed all the worst
+specimens, and I rescued them at Salisbury. I tried them on yesterday,
+and there wasn't a suit I'd have had the face to wear in public."
+
+"There, run along and turn the station upside down; you've talked
+enough," she said, laughing, and drove him playfully out of the room.
+
+It was about half-past nine that the Consul meditatively mopped his
+head, as he reached the top step of the hotel porch. He was heated by
+his exertions, but exceedingly complacent. He had interviewed sixteen
+porters, five guards, the station agent, three char-women, four
+policemen, and the barmaid--the latter twice, once on business and once
+on pleasure; and he had discovered from the thirtieth individual, and
+after twenty-nine failures and a drink, the simple fact that those he
+sought had gone to Winchester. He did not think he could have faced Mrs.
+Scarsdale if he had failed. As it was, he returned triumphant, and, as
+he approached their private parlour, he mentally pictured in advance the
+scene which would await him: her radiant smile, her voluble expression
+of thanks, their joyful journey to Winchester; in short, success. He
+pushed open the door, and this is what really happened: an angry woman
+with a flushed, tear-stained face rushed across the room, shoved a
+newspaper at him, and cried:
+
+"You brute!"
+
+The Consul dropped into the nearest chair. He looked at the infuriated
+Mrs. Scarsdale, he looked at the crumpled newspaper, he heard the last
+echo of that opprobrious monosyllable, and he said:
+
+"Well I'm jiggered!"
+
+Then, recollecting his news, he continued:
+
+"Oh, I forgot. I've found out where they have gone; it's Winchester."
+
+"Is that all you've got to tell me?" she cried. "All, in the face of
+this?" And she again shoved the newspaper towards him. He looked to
+where her finger pointed. He was hopelessly bewildered, and wondered if
+her native humour had inopportunely failed her and she had gone mad.
+
+"Read!" she commanded.
+
+His wandering eye followed the direction of her finger, and he read
+slowly, with open mouth, a short account of the arrest and partial trial
+at Winchester of one Richard Allingford, who claimed to be Harold
+Scarsdale.
+
+"Tell me," she thundered, "is that my husband?"
+
+"Well," he said, slowly, "I guess it is," and he re-read the last
+sentence of the paragraph in the newspaper:
+
+     "_The prisoner insisted that he was Harold Scarsdale, and could
+     prove his identity. He was accompanied by a woman who claimed to be
+     Mrs. Robert Allingford, wife of the well-known United States Consul
+     at Christchurch. The prisoner was remanded till this morning._"
+
+"Have you a brother?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Has he ever been arrested?"
+
+"Arrested! Why, I've spent most of my time for the past twenty years in
+bailing him out."
+
+"But why has my husband taken his name?" she demanded.
+
+"That is a matter you'll have to settle with Scarsdale; and if you look
+as you do now, I'm real sorry for him," he replied.
+
+"You don't care a bit!" she cried.
+
+"Oh, yes I do; but I want you to see it from its humorous side," he
+answered.
+
+At this remark Mrs. Scarsdale burst into a flood of tears, and
+Allingford gave a sigh of relief, and, strolling to the window, was soon
+lost in admiration of the view.
+
+Suddenly a voice said, in the sweetness of its accustomed tones:
+
+"Why were you so pleased when I began to cry?" And Mrs. Scarsdale, calm
+and composed, stood beside him.
+
+"Hard storm is a good thing to clear the atmosphere after a
+thunder-shower," replied the Consul laconically.
+
+"I was real mad with you," she admitted.
+
+"Great Scott! don't you suppose I knew that?" he cried.
+
+They both laughed, and peace was restored.
+
+"Do you really think it is poor Harold?"
+
+"I suppose he doesn't get called St. Hubart when he's in 'quod'?"
+
+"Be sensible and answer my question. Is it my husband or your brother
+who is on trial at Winchester?"
+
+"I don't know," he replied.
+
+"What are you going to do about it?" she asked.
+
+"Go and see."
+
+"When is the next train?"
+
+The Consul pulled out his watch.
+
+"In twelve and a half minutes," he said. "I've paid the hotel bill.
+Here, hold on! You turn to the left for the elevator!" But Mrs.
+Scarsdale was half-way downstairs on her way to the station.
+
+An hour later, as the Consul and his fair companion emerged at the
+station at Winchester, the first person they saw was Carrington.
+
+"We've been found at last!" cried the Consul, advancing towards Jack
+with outstretched hand, exclaiming: "Well, Columbus Carrington, if ever
+I get lost again, I'll telegraph you first thing."
+
+In a minute questions and answers were flying between them. Where had
+they been? Where had they come from? Why was Carrington here? Why had
+Scarsdale been arrested?
+
+Jack bore up manfully, answering as best he could.
+
+"Perhaps you can tell me the whereabouts of my wife and this lady's
+husband?" said the Consul.
+
+"They have been staying here," he replied, "but they have gone."
+
+"Gone!" cried Allingford in blank amazement. "Gone! Where? When?"
+
+"Why, to Salisbury," replied Jack. "I sent them over there early this
+morning."
+
+"You did, did you?" spluttered the Consul. "What right had you to send
+them anywhere?"
+
+"Why, to join you at Lady Diana's."
+
+"Join us!" screamed Allingford. "Why, we left Melton Court at half-past
+four this morning, and have been on the road ever since trying to join
+them."
+
+"It seems to be a typical example of cross-purposes," replied
+Carrington.
+
+"It's pure cussedness!" said the Consul.
+
+"But I thought my husband was--in prison," chimed in Mrs. Scarsdale;
+"the paper said so."
+
+"Merely a case of mistaken identity," Jack hastened to assure her. "I
+had him set free in no time. And that reminds me: I ran across your
+brother here last evening, Allingford. It is he who has caused all the
+trouble. Frankly, I am almost sorry I did not give him over to the
+police."
+
+"I wish you had," replied the Consul; "I wouldn't have bailed him out
+till my honeymoon was over. Where is he now?"
+
+"I'm inclined to believe," replied Carrington, "that he has gone to
+Melton Court in search of you, in company with a man who talked some
+nonsense about your having stolen an elephant from him."
+
+Allingford and Mrs. Scarsdale both began to laugh.
+
+"I don't see anything funny about that," said Jack.
+
+"Oh, don't you?" returned the Consul. "Well, you would if you knew the
+rest of the story." And in a few brief words he explained about the
+elephant's arrival and their subsequent flight.
+
+"Heavens, man!" cried Carrington, "you don't seem to realise what you
+have let Scarsdale and your wife in for!"
+
+"Great Scott!" exclaimed the Consul, "I never thought of that. Why, I
+reckon it's rampaging all over the place by this time, and the old lady
+must be in a perfect fury. When's the next train back? We can't get
+there too quickly."
+
+"One goes in five minutes," said Jack.
+
+"If I'd ever suspected," gasped Mrs. Scarsdale to Allingford as they
+rushed down the platform, "that you were laying such a trap for my poor
+husband----"
+
+"I'm sure I didn't do it on purpose," he replied; "but if they happen to
+meet the catawampus after she's met the elephant, they'll be in for a
+pretty hot time."
+
+"Your brother was bad enough," she groaned as the train pulled out; "but
+as for your elephant----! It's worse than being arrested!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+IN WHICH LADY MELTON RECEIVES A STRANGE VISITOR
+
+However harassing and disturbing the events of the past few days had
+been to the people particularly interested in them, to the mind of one
+the proceedings of all those with whom he had come in contact had been
+characterised by an ignorance, not only of the necessities of life, but
+even of the very etiquette that lends a becoming dignity to existence,
+which seemed almost pitiful. Not since the elephant left his native
+shore had he received what he considered to be proper, or even
+intelligent, attention. On the voyage, indeed, though his quarters were
+crowded, and denied by the proximity of low-caste beasts, his material
+wants had been considered; but since yesterday, when he had landed in
+the midst of a howling wilderness of iron monsters, who could neither
+see nor hear and were no respecters of persons, there had been a
+scarcity even of food and water. All night he had been dragged about the
+country at a speed unbecoming the dignity of a ruler of the jungle
+(without even the company of his mahout, who had lost the train at
+Southampton); and, now that the earth had ceased to move past him and
+was once more still, he expressed his opinion of the ignorant and
+degraded people of this wretched country in no uncertain voice. Then,
+finding that the pen in which he was confined was cramped and dirty, and
+wholly unfitted for one of his exalted position, he exerted himself to
+be free, and in a short time reduced his car to kindling-wood. Being now
+at liberty, he naturally desired his breakfast; but what was one to do
+when men disfigured the earth with bars of steel over which one tripped,
+and stored the fruits of the land in squat yellow bungalows, with fluted
+iron roofs which were difficult to tear off? Therefore the elephant
+lifted up his voice in rage, whereat many things happened, and a
+high-caste man, clad in the blue of the sky and the gold of the sun, ran
+up and down upon the earth, and declared that he should forthwith be
+taken to the "Court" and delivered to the "Damconsul."
+
+What a "Damconsul" was the elephant did not know; but concluded that it
+was the title these barbarous people bestowed on the Maharajah of that
+district. Since he lived at a Court, it seemed certain that he would
+know how to appreciate and fittingly entertain him. The elephant
+therefore consented to follow his attendant slaves, though they
+understood not the noble art of riding him, but were fain to lead him
+like a beast of burden. On the way he found a spring of sweet water, of
+which he drank his fill, despite the protestations of his leaders and
+the outcries of the inhabitants of the bungalow of the well, whose
+lamentations showed them to be of low caste and little sensible of the
+honour done them.
+
+The procession at length reached the gate of the Court; and while the
+attendants were in the lodge explaining matters to the astonished
+keeper, the elephant, realising that "drink was good but food better,"
+determined to do a little foraging on his own account, and so moved
+softly off, taking along the stake to which his keepers fondly imagined
+he was tethered.
+
+He judged that he was now in the park of the Court of the "Damconsul";
+and the fact that there were many clumps of familiar plants scattered
+over the grass increased his belief that this was the case. He tried a
+few coleus and ate a croton or two; but found them insipid and lacking
+the freshness of those which bloomed in his native land. Then turning to
+a grove of young palms, he tore a number up by the roots; which he found
+required no expenditure of strength, and so gave him little
+satisfaction. Moreover, they grew in green tubs, which rolled about
+between his feet and were pitfalls for the unwary. He lay down on a few
+of the beds; but the foliage was pitifully thin and afforded him no
+comfortable resting-place; moreover, there were curious rows of
+slanting things which glistened in the sunlight, and which he much
+wished to investigate. On examination he found them quite brittle, and
+easily smashed a number of them with his trunk. Nor was this all, for in
+the wreckage he discovered a large quantity of most excellent
+fruit--grapes and nectarines and some very passable plums. Evidently the
+"Damconsul" was an enlightened person, who knew how to live; and,
+indeed, it is not fitting for even an elephant to turn up his trunk at
+espalier peaches at a guinea apiece.
+
+Certainly, thought the elephant, things might be worse. And after a bath
+in a neighbouring fountain, which cost the lives of some two score of
+goldfish, he really felt refreshed, and approached the palace, which he
+considered rather dingy, in order to pay his respects to its owner.
+Coming round to the front of the building he discovered a marble
+terrace, gleaming white in the sunshine, and flanked by two groups of
+statuary--Hercules with his club, and Diana with her bow: though, being
+unacquainted with Greek mythology, he did not recognise them as such.
+On the terrace itself was set a breakfast-table resplendent with silver
+and chaste with fair linen; and by it sat a houri, holding a sunshade
+over her golden head. The elephant, wishing to conciliate this vision of
+beauty, advanced towards her, trumpeting gently; but his friendly
+overtures were evidently misinterpreted, for the houri, giving a wild
+scream, dropped her sunshade, and fled for safety to the shoulders of
+Hercules, from which vantage-point she called loudly for help.
+
+Feeling that such conduct was indecorous in the extreme, he ignored her
+with a lofty contempt; and, having tested the quality of the masonry,
+ventured upon the terrace and inspected the feast. There were more
+nectarines--but he had had enough of those--and something steaming in a
+silver vessel, the like of which he remembered to have encountered once
+before in the bungalow of a sahib. Moreover, he had not forgotten how it
+spouted a boiling liquid when one took it up in one's trunk. At this
+moment a shameless female slave appeared at a window, in response to
+the cries of the houri, and abused him. He could not, it is true,
+understand her barbarous language; but the tone implied abuse. Such an
+insult from the scum of the earth could not be allowed to pass
+unnoticed. He filled his trunk with water from a marble basin near at
+hand, and squirted it at her with all his force, and the scum of the
+earth departed quickly.
+
+"It would be well," thought the elephant, "to find the 'Damconsul'
+before further untoward incidents could occur"; and with this end in
+view, he turned himself about, preparatory to leaving the terrace. He
+forgot, however, that marble may be slippery; his hind legs suddenly
+slid from under him, and he sat hurriedly down on the breakfast-table.
+It was at this singularly inopportune moment that Lady Diana appeared
+upon the scene.
+
+Her ladyship awoke that morning to what was destined to be the most
+eventful and disturbing day of her peaceful and well-ordered life, with
+a feeling of irritation and regret that it had dawned, which, in the
+light of subsequent events, would seem to have been almost a
+premonition of coming evil. She was, though at this early hour she
+little knew it, destined to receive a series of shocks of volcanic force
+and suddenness, between sunrise and sunset, any one of which would have
+served to overthrow her preconceived notions of what life, and
+especially life at Melton Court, ought to be.
+
+As yet she knew nothing of all this; but she did know that, though it
+was long after the hour appointed, she had heard no sound of her
+great-niece's departing footsteps. She waited till she must have missed
+the train, and then rang her bedroom bell sharply to learn why her
+orders had been disobeyed.
+
+"If you please, my lady," replied her maid in answer to her mistress's
+questions, "Bright did not go because we could not find Mrs. Scarsdale."
+
+"Could not find my niece! And why not, pray?" demanded her ladyship
+angrily.
+
+"She was not in her room, my lady, or anywhere about the Court; only
+this note, directed to your ladyship, on her dressing-table."
+
+"Why didn't you say so to begin with, then?" cried her mistress testily.
+"Open the window, that I may see what this means."
+
+The note was short and painstakingly polite; but its perusal did not
+seem to please Lady Diana, for she frowned and set her thin lips as she
+re-read it. The missive ran as follows:
+
+     "DEAR LADY MELTON,
+
+     "I write to apologise for the somewhat unconventional manner in
+     which I am leaving your house; but as your plans for my disposal
+     to-day did not accord with my own ideas of what is fitting, I have
+     thought it best to leave thus early, and so avoid any awkwardness
+     which might arise from conflicting arrangements. I wish you to know
+     that I shall be with friends by this evening, so that you need feel
+     no anxiety about my position. Pray accept my thanks for your
+     hospitality, which I am sure my husband will much appreciate, and
+     believe me,
+
+  "Yours respectfully,
+  "MABEL SCARSDALE."
+
+This communication her ladyship tore up into small fragments, and then
+snapped out:
+
+"Is there anything more?"
+
+"Yes, if you please, my lady," replied the maid; "a note for you from
+Mr. Allingford, left in his room."
+
+Lady Melton took it as gingerly as if it were fresh from some infected
+district, and, spreading it out on the bed before her, read it with a
+contemptuous smile.
+
+     "YOUR LADYSHIP," wrote the Consul, "I have the honour to inform you
+     that I am leaving at the earliest possible moment, not wishing to
+     impose my company longer than is absolutely necessary where it is
+     so evidently undesired. That there may be no burden of obligation
+     between us, I beg you to accept a trunk belonging to me, which will
+     arrive this morning, as compensation for my board and lodging.
+
+  "I remain
+  "Your Ladyship's Obedient Servant,
+  "ROBERT ALLINGFORD,
+  "_U.S. Consul, Christchurch, England_.
+
+     "P.S.--I mail you to-day a deed of gift of the property in
+     question, legally attested, so that there may be no question of
+     ownership.
+
+  "R. A."
+
+"Insolence!" gasped Lady Melton, when she comprehended the contents of
+this astonishing communication. Then turning to her maid, she commanded:
+
+"If this person's trunk arrives here, have it sent back to him
+instantly." And she fumed with rage at the thought.
+
+"How dare he suppose that I would for a moment accept a gratuity!"
+
+Indeed, so wrought up was she that it was with difficulty that she
+controlled herself sufficiently to breakfast on the terrace. Moreover,
+her interview with Bright, the butler, whom she encountered on her way
+downstairs and who announced the arrival of her great-nephew and a
+strange lady, was hardly soothing; for it forced her to believe that
+that faithful servant, after years of probity, had at last strayed from
+the temperate paths of virtue. Seeing him dishevelled and bewildered,
+she had sternly rebuked him for his appearance, and from his disjointed
+replies had only gathered that his astounding state was in some way due
+to the Consul.
+
+"Has that insolent person's trunk arrived?" she inquired; when, to her
+astonishment, her old retainer, who had always observed in her presence
+a respectful and highly deferential demeanour, actually tittered.
+
+"Bright!" she said sternly.
+
+"Beg pardon, my lady," giggled Bright, his face still wreathed in
+smiles; "but the way you put it."
+
+"What have you done with this person's belongings? Have my orders been
+carried out?"
+
+"You mean in regard to the--the----"
+
+"Trunk. Yes, let it be put off the place immediately."
+
+"Please, your ladyship," he replied, with difficulty restraining his
+laughter, "it won't go."
+
+"Will not go?"
+
+"No, my lady; it's been rampaging through the greenhouses, and is now on
+the terrace, where it douched Anne most awful."
+
+"Leave me at once, Bright, and do not let me see you again till you are
+in a more decent state," she commanded, and swept by him, ignoring his
+protestations of innocence and respect.
+
+She found Scarsdale awaiting her in the reception-room, and accorded him
+a very frigid greeting, suggesting that they should have their interview
+on the terrace, where he had left Mrs. Allingford safely ensconced in an
+armchair, while he went to meet his great-aunt.
+
+Her ladyship had been considerably ruffled both by her interview with
+Bright and by the arrival of Scarsdale, towards whom, in the light of
+recent events, she felt a strong resentment; and a vision of the
+Consul's wife perched most indecorously on the shoulders of Hercules,
+which she beheld as she emerged on the terrace, did not tend to calm her
+already excited nerves. But before she could speak her eyes followed the
+direction of the unknown lady's gaze, and she saw, for the first time,
+her unwelcome visitor.
+
+When you come suddenly face to face with an elephant seated amidst the
+wreck of cherished Chippendale and ancestral Sevres, it is not
+calculated to increase your composure or equalise your temper; and Lady
+Diana may be pardoned, as the vastness of the Consul's impudence dawned
+upon her, for giving vent to expressions both of anger and amazement,
+albeit her appearance produced no less of a disturbance in the breast of
+him who sat amidst the ruins of the breakfast-table. The elephant felt
+that in the presence of the Maharanee, for such he believed her to be,
+his position was undignified. She was, without doubt, the wife of the
+"Damconsul," and, as such, should be paid all proper respect and
+deference. He, therefore, bowed his head in submission, completing in
+the process his work of destruction. Whereat Mrs. Allingford shrieked
+and clung more closely to the protecting shoulders of Hercules.
+
+Serious as the situation was, it was not without its humorous side, and
+it took all Scarsdale's command of himself to control his face
+sufficiently to address his relative with becoming respect.
+
+"Why, aunt," he said, "I didn't know that you had gone in for pets!"
+
+"Harold Stanley Malcolm St. Hubart Scarsdale," replied her ladyship--she
+prided herself on never forgetting a name--"you are one of the most
+impudent and worthless young men that I have the honour to count among
+my relatives; but you have been in India, and you ought to know how to
+manage this monster."
+
+"I've seen enough of them," he answered. "What do you want him to do?"
+
+"Do!" she cried wrathfully. "I should think anybody would know that I
+wished it to get up and go away."
+
+"Oh," said he, and made a remark in Hindustani to the elephant, whereat
+the beast gradually and deliberately proceeded to rise from the wreck of
+the breakfast, till he seemed to the spectators to be forty feet high.
+Then, in response to Scarsdale's cries of "Mail! mail!" (Go on) he
+turned himself about, and, after sending the teapot through the nearest
+window with a disdainful kick of one hind leg, he lurched down the steps
+of the terrace and on to the lawn, where he remained contentedly
+standing, gently rocking to and fro, while he meditatively removed from
+his person, by means of his trunk, the fragments of the feast, with
+which he was liberally bespattered.
+
+Scarsdale, seeing that his lordship was in an amicable frame of mind,
+hastened to assist Mrs. Allingford to descend from her somewhat uneasy
+perch.
+
+"St. Hubart," said Lady Melton, who, throughout this trying ordeal, had
+lost none of her natural dignity, "you have done me a service. I shall
+not forget it."
+
+Scarsdale thought it would be difficult to forget the elephant.
+
+"I will even forgive you," she continued, "for marrying that American."
+
+"It was so good of you to receive my wife," he said. "I trust you are
+pleased with her."
+
+"I am not pleased at all," she said sharply. "I consider her forward and
+disrespectful, and I am glad she is gone."
+
+"Gone!" he exclaimed.
+
+"You may well be surprised," said his great-aunt, "but such is the
+case."
+
+"But where has she gone?"
+
+"That I do not know; she left without consulting me, and against my
+advice and wishes."
+
+"Did she go alone?"
+
+"She went," replied her ladyship, "with one of the most insolent persons
+it has ever been my misfortune to meet. He is owner of that!" And she
+pointed to the elephant.
+
+"But who is he?" demanded Scarsdale, not recognising, from her
+description, his friend the Consul.
+
+"He disgraces," she continued, "a public office given him by a foreign
+Government."
+
+"You are surely not talking about Allingford!" he exclaimed.
+
+"That, I believe, is his name," replied Lady Melton.
+
+"What, my husband!" cried the Consul's wife, who up to this point had
+kept silence. "You dare to call my husband a disgrace----!" Here Mrs.
+Allingford became dumb with indignation.
+
+"If he is your husband," returned her ladyship, "I am exceedingly sorry
+for you. As for 'daring' to apply to him any epithet I please, I
+consider myself fully justified in so doing after the indignity to which
+he has condemned me. I am glad, however, to have met you, as I am thus
+enabled to return you your husband's property, with the request that you
+take your elephant and leave my grounds as quickly as possible."
+
+"Do you mean to say that my husband owns that monster?" gasped Mrs.
+Allingford.
+
+"Such is the case," replied Lady Melton, "and I leave it in your hands.
+St. Hubart, I trust _you_ will join me at breakfast as soon as another
+can be prepared."
+
+"Excuse me," he said apologetically, "but really, you know, I can't
+leave Mrs. Allingford in the lurch. Besides, I must follow my wife."
+
+His great-aunt faced round in a fury.
+
+"That is sufficient!" she cried. "Leave my presence at once! I never
+desire to see either of you again."
+
+"Don't let us part as enemies, aunt," he said, offering her his hand;
+but she swept past him into the house.
+
+Scarsdale gloomily watched her depart, and then became conscious of a
+hand laid on his arm.
+
+"I am so sorry!" murmured Mrs. Allingford. "I only seem to bring you
+trouble."
+
+"Oh, you mustn't feel badly about this," he said. "We have quarrelled
+ever since I was born. I'm much more worried about you."
+
+"What am I going to do with it?" she exclaimed, looking hopelessly at
+her husband's property as it stood rocking before her.
+
+"The first thing is to get it off the place," replied Scarsdale,
+assuming a cheerfulness which he did not feel. "We may find its keepers
+at the lodge, and we can make our plans as we walk along."
+
+"Come on, Jehoshaphat, or whatever you may happen to be called!" he
+cried, addressing the elephant, and at the same time grasping the rope
+bridle which still dangled from its neck; and the beast, recognising a
+kindred spirit speaking to him in his native tongue, followed docilely
+where he led.
+
+"I think," continued Scarsdale, as they trudged slowly across the park,
+"that our best course will be to take the elephant to Christchurch.
+Indeed, we ought to have gone there in the first instance."
+
+"What do you expect to gain by that?" she asked quickly, ready in this
+strange dilemma to catch at any straw which gave opportunity of escape.
+
+"Why, your husband's consulate is situated there, and that is his local
+habitation in this country, where he is certain to turn up sooner or
+later, and where, if the laws of his consular service are anything like
+ours, he would be obliged to report every few days."
+
+"You propose to go there and await his return?"
+
+"Yes," he said. "I don't see that we can do better. Ten to one your
+husband and my wife will hear of our affair at Winchester, and may be on
+their way there now to hunt us up; while if we attempted to follow them,
+it is more than likely that they would return here. I, for one, am about
+tired of chasing myself around the country; as a steady occupation it is
+beginning to pall."
+
+"There is a group of men at the lodge," she said, as they drew near the
+gates with the elephant in tow.
+
+"Then let us hope that there are some station people among them, and
+that we can arrange for Jehoshaphat's transportation without loss of
+time," replied Scarsdale.
+
+His hope was, in the first instance, justified; for the station-master
+at Salisbury, learning of the Consul's early departure that morning, and
+beginning to doubt the wisdom of inflicting the elephant on so important
+a personage as Lady Melton, had come up to the Court himself to see how
+things were going, and had been horrified beyond measure at the
+exaggerated reports of the lodgekeeper as to the havoc the beast had
+created. He was therefore unfeignedly relieved at Scarsdale's arrival; a
+relief, however, which instantly gave way to stubborn opposition at the
+first hint of putting the animal again in his charge.
+
+Elephants were not in his line, he pointed out, and he had no desire to
+transport them about the country. Couldn't think of acting without
+receiving advices from the main offices of the railway company in
+London, an affair of several days; wouldn't assume charge of the
+creature during the interval on any account; and shouldn't stir a step
+in the matter till the wrecked van had been paid for.
+
+This ended the affair, as far as Scarsdale was concerned. He had no
+intention of paying damages for the Consul's elephant, but he wished to
+deliver it and the Consul's wife at Christchurch as soon as possible. If
+this could not be accomplished one way, it must be another. There were
+plenty of horses and carriages to be had; indeed, the landau and pair
+which had brought them from Salisbury was still at the gates. The roads
+were good, the distance to Christchurch was not excessive--say thirty
+miles--and the elephant could walk. It merely remained to find a leader
+or driver, and they could start at once on their journey across country.
+
+All this he explained to his fair companion, and she readily acquiesced.
+
+"The only problem to be solved, then, is where to find a mahout," he
+said in conclusion.
+
+She threw him an inquiring glance; but he felt it was asking too much,
+and said so.
+
+"If it were any other country, I'd ride the beast myself to oblige you;
+but in England, and as a representative of one of the first families of
+the county, I couldn't. The prejudices of the locality would never
+recover from the shock, and I should not be able to show my face in the
+streets of Salisbury. But perhaps we can find a substitute. Is there any
+one here," he went on, addressing the little group of men, "who
+understands an elephant?"
+
+"Tom, 'e knows the bloomin' beasts," said a member of the company; and
+Tom, groom to her ladyship, and cockney every inch of him, was pushed
+forward for inspection.
+
+One glance at the trim form, concealed though it was by stable costume,
+was sufficient to assure Scarsdale that he had found his man.
+
+"You have been a soldier," he said, "and in India?"
+
+"Yes, sir," replied the man, touching the peak of his cap in a military
+salute.
+
+"Do you think you could manage him?" continued Scarsdale, indicating
+the elephant, which, wearied with the morning's exertions, had knelt
+down, and seemed on the point of taking a nap.
+
+"Do I think as 'ow I could manage 'im? I should 'ope so, if I ain't
+fergot is 'eathen language, sir."
+
+"I'll give you eighteen pence a mile," said Scarsdale, quick to act on
+the man's decision.
+
+"Make it two bob, sir, an' I'll ride 'im ter Inja."
+
+"That's too far," he replied, laughing; "my pocket wouldn't stand the
+strain; but I'll give you the price to Christchurch."
+
+"Right you are," replied the hostler, closing the bargain at once. "Me
+name's Tom Ropes. What d'yer call 'im, sir?" pointing to his recumbent
+charge.
+
+"I don't know what he was christened. I call him Jehoshaphat."
+
+"A Christian name fer a 'eathen brute," commented Tom. "Give me a leg
+up, one er yer."
+
+Once astride the beast's neck, with Scarsdale's cane as an improvised
+ankus, he poured out a flood of cockney-Indian jargon which no Hindoo
+could ever have recognised as his native tongue, but which evidently had
+a familiar sound to the elephant, who proceeded to rise, first with his
+fore feet and then with his hind feet; after which his novel mahout, who
+throughout these manoeuvres had retained a precarious hold by one ear,
+hastened to seat himself more firmly upon him.
+
+"All right?" queried Scarsdale, looking up; and on receiving an answer
+in the affirmative, added: "Keep your feet well under his ears, and hit
+him on the head with your stick if he gets fractious. All you need do is
+to follow our carriage. Trust to his judgment about bridges; he knows
+what will hold him."
+
+Arrangements, on a liberal scale, having been made for the use of the
+conveyance which had brought them from the station, they were ready to
+start in a very short space of time; Scarsdale stipulating that they
+head towards Southampton, taking the least travelled roads, and in any
+event giving Salisbury a wide berth. This was agreed to; and thereupon
+commenced one of the most extraordinary progresses that had ever stirred
+up a staid and conventional countryside: Scarsdale and Mrs. Allingford
+leading off in the landau, since it was necessary to keep the horse well
+in front of the elephant, and Tom and his charge plodding on in their
+wake.
+
+As they left the lodge behind them and came out into the open country,
+the Consul's wife, turning to her companion in misfortune, said, between
+tears and smiles:
+
+"What do you think is going to happen next?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+IN WHICH THERE ARE TWO CLAIMANTS FOR ONE DINNER
+
+The village clock was on the stroke of one when the little procession
+drew up before the door of the principal inn in the main square of a
+small town on the road between Salisbury and Southampton.
+
+Scarsdale had been surprised to find how little excitement they had
+created in their progress through the countryside; but then he had
+chosen the most unfrequented roads, avoiding villages as he would a
+pestilence. Man and beast must be fed somewhere, however, and, according
+to Tom, the elephant was giving no uncertain signs that he wanted his
+dinner. So, against his better judgment, Scarsdale had turned aside into
+a neighbouring town, whence, after an hour's rest and refreshment, he
+determined to push on that afternoon to a quiet inn he knew of, near
+Fording Bridge, and thence to Christchurch the following morning.
+
+Both he and Mrs. Allingford had been as quiet as mice during the last
+hour; indeed, the novel position in which they found themselves inclined
+them rather to thought than conversation.
+
+Their entrance into the town was effected more easily than could have
+been hoped for; though, in some unknown manner, a rumour of their coming
+seemed to have preceded them: for a crowd had collected along the main
+street, which cheered them vociferously, under the mistaken impression
+that they were the proprietors of a circus. No travelling show that
+wound its course through those country lanes had ever possessed such an
+attraction, and the people moved away after they had passed, full of
+wonder at the appearance of this strange monster among them, and regret
+that with such a beginning there was nothing more to follow.
+
+Once they had come to a halt, they were surrounded by a curious crowd,
+and Scarsdale lost no time in entering into explanations with the
+landlord of the inn, who came hurrying out to receive his novel guests.
+
+It was at this point that their troubles first began; for mine host,
+while he professed to furnish entertainment for man and beast, was
+dubious concerning the monster which it was proposed to quarter on him
+so unexpectedly. The lady and gentleman, their coachman, horses, and
+even the cockney mahout were more than welcome; but elephants were not
+in his line of business. He didn't know if he could give satisfaction;
+feared his accommodations were not sufficiently ample; would like to
+oblige, but had the reputation of his house to maintain, &c., &c.
+
+When Scarsdale happened, however, casually to mention that it was Lady
+Melton's elephant a change came over the face of affairs, of which he
+was not slow to take advantage.
+
+Her ladyship was well known throughout the county, while her reputation
+for severity had a still wider circulation, and the landlord was in
+abject fear of her, though, nevertheless, obstinately determined to have
+none of the beast.
+
+The subject of all this altercation had meantime appropriated the public
+horse-trough to his exclusive use for drinking and bathing purposes, and
+was enjoying himself in consequence, which was more than could be said
+of his rider, who shared unwillingly in his ablutions.
+
+"Give 'im the word to sit down, sir. S'welp me, I'll be drownded with
+'is tricks!" cried Tom.
+
+"I don't speak his infernal language," returned Scarsdale testily;
+"that's your business."
+
+"I've told 'im all I know, sir, an' it's no use."
+
+"Then I'm afraid you'll have to stay up and get wet."
+
+"Couldn't yer 'elp me down, sir? Quit that, yer 'eathen!" as he dodged a
+shower of water.
+
+"Certainly not," replied Scarsdale. "You can't leave him riderless in a
+public place."
+
+Then, turning to the landlord, who stood by in sore perplexity,
+aimlessly rubbing his hands, he continued:
+
+"It's a beastly shame that a gentleman can't take a lady's elephant out
+for--exercise without running up against all this nonsense in the first
+little hamlet he comes across! One would almost think you had never seen
+an elephant before."
+
+The landlord, whose eyes had up to this time been fairly bulging with
+curiosity, now declared himself desolated at such an uncalled-for
+suspicion.
+
+"Perhaps it would be better if the gentleman were to send for a
+constable."
+
+Mine host neglected to add that he had done so on his own responsibility
+in his first burst of agitation.
+
+But Scarsdale, noting the excellent effect which his rating had produced
+on the landlord, determined that he should have some more of it.
+
+"If you are afraid," he said, "of damaging your ramshackle old inn,
+perhaps you'll consent to give my elephant his dinner in the square?"
+
+Mine host rolled up his eyes at this new phase of the question.
+
+"I suppose," continued Scarsdale, "that the dignity of this 'tuppenny
+ha'penny' town won't be seriously impaired by his presence for an hour
+in your elegant plaza!"
+
+The last portion of this speech was lost on the landlord, because he did
+not know what a "plaza" was; but it sounded imposing, and he hastened to
+assure his guest that the town would feel honoured by the elephant's
+presence, though he would have to procure a permit from the mayor.
+Should he show him the way to that functionary's house?
+
+This, however, proved to be unnecessary, as the mayor himself was
+present in the crowd, a pompous, fussy little man, full of the
+importance of his office. Lady Melton's name, which he had heard
+mentioned in connection with the affair, acted as a charm, and brought
+him bustling forward to shake Scarsdale's hand, assure him that no
+permit was required, and snub the innkeeper.
+
+"Anything I can do for a relation of her ladyship's--I think you said a
+relation?" he inquired.
+
+Scarsdale had not said anything of the kind, but unwillingly admitted
+that he was her nephew. Upon receiving this intelligence the mayor
+positively beamed, called Scarsdale "your lordship," and became most
+solicitous after Lady Melton's health. Her nephew gravely assured him
+that he might make his mind easy on that score, as his aunt was in the
+best of health, and that as soon as he returned to Melton Court (a most
+uncertain date, he thought grimly) he would be sure to convey to her his
+kind inquiries.
+
+His worship on this was positively effusive, declared himself devoted to
+Scarsdale's interests, and insisted that he and "her ladyship,"
+indicating Mrs. Allingford--another slip which his companion did not
+trouble to correct--must do him the honour of dining with Mrs. Mayor
+and himself.
+
+Scarsdale was now beginning to fear that he was doing it rather too
+well, and hastened to excuse "her ladyship" and himself, declaring that
+they could not think of trespassing on his worship's hospitality, and
+that they would be quite comfortable at the inn, if only the elephant
+might be permitted to have his dinner in the square.
+
+The mayor declared that it was just what he most desired; but would his
+lordship kindly indicate of what that meal must consist?
+
+This was a poser; but Scarsdale plunged recklessly on, for, having once
+entered the broad road of deception, there was no turning back, and he
+was surprised himself at the facility with which he could romance.
+
+"That is just the trouble of taking charge of other people's pets," he
+said, with shameless indifference to the demands of truth. "I'm sure I
+don't know much more about the brute than you do; and as his mahout was
+away when we started out, I had to take one of the grooms. What _does_
+Jehoshaphat eat, Tom?"
+
+"Hay, sir--me lud, I mean," answered Tom, falling in with the humour of
+the situation.
+
+"Oh! hay, of course," said Scarsdale.
+
+"How much, your lordship?" queried the mayor.
+
+"How much? Confound it! how should I know? Do you take me for an
+elephant trainer?" A remark which nearly reduced his worship to chaos;
+but Scarsdale, relenting, added:
+
+"Say five or six tons--I don't know."
+
+"But it is not easy, my lord, to procure such an amount at short
+notice," expostulated the official.
+
+"Oh, then, get him a waggon-load or two as a first course, and we'll
+find something else a little later."
+
+"It shall be procured at once. I--er--trust your lordship will not take
+it amiss, since you will not dine with me, if I offer you a glass
+of--shall we say champagne?"
+
+"With pleasure," said Scarsdale.
+
+"And her ladyship?" looking towards the carriage.
+
+Mrs. Allingford bowed, and the mayor whispered a few words in mine
+host's ear.
+
+Just at that moment, as Scarsdale was drawing his first easy breath,
+feeling at last that things were going smoothly, the very worst
+_contretemps_ that could possibly happen occurred. Two dusty figures
+shambled around the corner of a neighbouring street into the square, and
+one of them in a high-pitched voice, that was distinctly heard by every
+member of the crowd, exclaimed:
+
+"Hi, there! What are you doing with my elephant?"
+
+Scarsdale swung round to face the newcomers, a premonition of coming
+evil strong upon him, though a careful inspection assured him that he
+knew them not; yet conviction hang in every note of that challenge.
+
+They were, in a word, the owner of elephants and the unregenerate Dick.
+
+From early dawn they had made their way across country, in as straight
+a line as possible from Winchester to Salisbury, sometimes on foot and
+sometimes in such conveyances as they could hire from place to place;
+but ever buoyed up by hope--hope of finding that which was lost; hope of
+restoring elephants to their rightful owners; hope of clearing a
+brother's name. And here, unexpectedly, they had come upon the object of
+their search in the hands of total strangers.
+
+"Who the devil are you?" cried Scarsdale hotly, scenting danger, and
+determined to face the worst at once. "I don't know you."
+
+"I'm Richard Allingford," said the larger of the two men, pushing
+forward till he faced the bewildered Englishman.
+
+At this point Scarsdale, whose coolness alone could have saved the
+situation, lost his head. His temper, which had been severely tried by
+the vicissitudes of the day, gave way in the presence of the man whose
+escapades had caused him such needless suffering and indignity, and,
+regardless of results, he spoke his mind.
+
+"So you're Richard Allingford, are you? Then allow me to tell you that
+you are the prettiest scoundrel that I've run across in a long time!
+Curse you! Do you know I've spent two days, this week, in Winchester
+jail on your account?"
+
+A broad grin broke over Richard's face.
+
+"I guess you must be Scarsdale," he said. "But what in thunder are you
+doing with my brother's elephant?"
+
+"It's mine!" arose the shrill voice of his companion. "I tell you he
+stole it from me!"
+
+This was too much for Mrs. Allingford, and, to make a bad matter worse,
+she cried from the carriage:
+
+"The Consul did not steal the elephant! It is his property, and I'm his
+wife!"
+
+A voice from the crowd chimed in:
+
+"But 'e said it was 'er ladyship's helephant!"
+
+The mayor's face was a study in its various shades of suspicion--anger
+at being, as he very naturally supposed, duped; and certainty of the
+duplicity of all concerned, as the contradictory conversation
+continued. And there is no knowing how quickly he might have
+precipitated the final catastrophe, if the elephant had not chosen this
+opportunity for creating a diversion on his own account, which, for the
+time being, distracted every one's thoughts. He had had, it will be
+remembered, a very light breakfast, which only served to whet the edge
+of his appetite. It therefore took him but a short time to locate the
+whereabouts of a lad who, emerging from the inn with an appetising
+dinner of bacon and greens arranged in a basket balanced on his head,
+stood gaping on the outskirts of the crowd, unmindful of the cooling
+viands. Some playful breeze must have wafted the savoury odour of
+cabbage to the elephant's nostrils; for suddenly, and without previous
+warning, flinging his trunk in the air with a joyous trumpet, he pounded
+down the road, nearly unseating his rider, and scattering the crowd to
+right and left.
+
+"Wait for me when you get to Christchurch!" Scarsdale called to Tom as
+the latter shot past him, and then joined in the rush which followed
+close on the elephant's heels, the mayor and the landlord well to the
+fore; while Mrs. Allingford's driver, who was only human, increased the
+confusion by whipping up his horses and joining in the chase.
+
+Ahead of the excited beast and the noisy throng which followed it,
+holding on like grim death to his dinner-basket, fled the worse-scared
+boy that had ever been seen in that town. Fortunately the chase was of
+short duration, for the cubicle of the telegraph-clerk at the railway
+station was just ahead, and offered a ready refuge. Into it flew the
+lad, dinner and all, and slammed the door, just in time to escape from
+the elephant's curling trunk.
+
+The beast, despoiled of his meal, circled the building trumpeting with
+rage, and finally took up a position across the rails, where he stood
+guard, prepared to fall upon any one who should venture out.
+
+All the station attendants and officials were now added to the crowd
+which swarmed about the elephant, and the business of the town
+practically came to a standstill.
+
+The station-master only added to the excitement by declaring that a
+train for Salisbury was due, and that the line must be cleared; while
+the telegraph-clerk announced from an upper storey that wild horses, let
+alone elephants, would not drag him forth from the shelter of his
+office, and the blubbering of the unfortunate boy made a monotonous
+accompaniment to his speech. The mayor blustered, the navvies swore, Tom
+addressed floods of unintelligible jargon to the obstinate beast, and,
+as a last resort, Scarsdale coaxed and wheedled him in very defective
+Hindustani. But it was all useless; not an inch would the elephant
+budge, and no one in all that assemblage was clever enough to think of
+giving him the telegraph-clerk's dinner.
+
+In the midst of this confusion, a shrill whistle was heard in the
+distance, and some one with a clearer head than the rest cried out to
+"set the signals against the train"--a suggestion which was at once
+acted upon, and in a moment more the engine drew up, panting, within a
+dozen feet of the elephant, who was so intent on the contents of the
+cubicle that he never noticed its arrival.
+
+As a general thing, it is the American tourist who alights from a train
+on no provocation, while his English cousin is content to sit quiet, and
+leave the affairs of the line in the hands of the company. In this case,
+however, some subtle sense of the unusual obstacle seemed to have
+communicated itself to the passengers; for no sooner had the engine
+halted than heads were thrust out of every window, and the greatest
+excitement prevailed.
+
+"I don't know if Scarsdale and my wife are here," said Allingford, who,
+in company with Carrington and Mrs. Scarsdale, occupied one of the
+forward carriages, "but there is her ladyship's elephant!"
+
+"You're right," cried his fair companion, taking his place at the
+window. Then, as she caught sight of Scarsdale, she exclaimed "St.
+Hubart!" and pushing open the door, jumped out, and fled down the line.
+
+"By Jove! that's my wife!" exclaimed the Consul, fleeing after her, and
+upsetting a porter in his haste.
+
+From a distance Carrington saw a confused mingling of four persons, and
+sighed as he caught himself wondering if he would ever be fool enough to
+do that sort of thing in public.
+
+As he slowly approached them he heard scraps of their conversation.
+
+"By the way, Allingford," Scarsdale was saying, "I brought you back your
+elephant, which it seems you were careless enough, in the hurry of
+departure, to leave behind you at Melton Court. I hope you are properly
+grateful."
+
+"Oh, it isn't mine," replied the Consul; "it belongs to her Ladyship."
+
+"Well, she said it was yours," returned her nephew.
+
+"Ah, that was merely her excessive amiability," said Allingford.
+
+"It had not struck me in that light before," replied Scarsdale. "Anyway,
+I've brought it back to you, and a nice time I've had of it."
+
+"Did you pilot it all the way from Melton Court?" queried the Consul.
+
+"I did," replied the Englishman, "through the main streets of this town;
+that is where my Indian training stood me in good stead; but it has
+ruined my character--most of the inhabitants look on me with suspicion."
+
+"Was your holding up of our train intentional?"
+
+"No," said Scarsdale regretfully, "it wasn't. There are lots of damages
+to pay, I assure you."
+
+"You must settle them with Lady Melton."
+
+"But what am I to do with the beast?"
+
+"My dear fellow," returned the Consul, "I've been your wife's devoted
+slave for the last two days, and I have restored her safe and sound to
+your arms, but I really can't undertake to manage your aunt's elephants
+into the bargain."
+
+"But at least you might advise me."
+
+"Turn him over to Cassim."
+
+"To whom?"
+
+"Why, to his own mahout, the little brown man who is dancing round him
+now. I discovered him tearing his hair at Southampton station, where he
+was left by mistake yesterday, and brought him along."
+
+"Then for heaven's sake make him get his beast off the line!" cried
+Scarsdale, dragging Allingford up to the native keeper.
+
+"My lord desireth his mid-day meal, and the sahib of the watch-tower
+hath it within," explained that functionary.
+
+"Tell his lordship that he'll have a great deal better dinner if he will
+go back to the square," said Allingford.
+
+Just what the mahout said to the elephant will never be known, but it
+proved convincing: for, with a grunt of dissatisfaction, the beast
+consented to retrace his steps.
+
+"And now that we have settled this little matter," said the Consul,
+"there is nothing left for us but to express our unbounded gratitude
+to--well, to the elephant for reuniting us all, and start once more on
+our honeymoons; for which this train is mighty convenient."
+
+"I have a word to say about that," cried the mayor. "I'm by no means
+satisfied about the ownership of this elephant. I've been given to
+understand that it belongs to Lady Melton. Is this so?"
+
+"Yes," said the Consul and Mr. and Mrs. Scarsdale.
+
+"No," said Mrs. Allingford, Carrington, Tom, and the original owner, in
+one and the same breath.
+
+"I say, Bob, did you steal it after all?" queried the graceless Richard.
+
+"I took it in payment of a debt," replied his brother hotly.
+
+"Only twenty pounds!" groaned the elephant man. "It's as good as a
+steal!"
+
+"And I gave it to Lady Melton," continued the Consul, "in payment for my
+board and lodging."
+
+"And she gave it to me," said Mrs. Allingford.
+
+"I lost my lord at the place of docks," wailed the mahout.
+
+"'E 'ired me to ride hit," cried Tom, indicating Scarsdale.
+
+"And what right have you to it, sir?" blustered the mayor, turning to
+that gentleman.
+
+"I don't know," replied Scarsdale.
+
+"I consider this most unsatisfactory," continued his worship. "I think I
+may define the actions of those who have had a hand in this affair
+as--ahem!--contradictory and open to question. I shall telegraph Lady
+Melton, and pending her reply I must detain you all as suspicious
+characters."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+So it came to pass that the nine, gathered together in the chief parlour
+of the inn, with a constable on duty, awaited for some hours a response
+to the mayor's telegram. It arrived finally, embodied in the person of
+Aunt Eliza, who had gone to Melton Court that morning, and was now fresh
+from an interview with the mayor, which had resulted in the freedom of
+all concerned.
+
+The old lady looked the couples over through her eye-glasses, and gave
+vent to an expressive "Humph!"
+
+To her niece alone did she deign to express herself more fully, nor did
+she scruple to mince her words.
+
+"Well, Mabel," she remarked, "you ought to be ashamed of yourself. I
+gave you a first-class recommendation only two days ago, as being well
+fitted to plan and carry out a honeymoon, and look what a mess you've
+made of it! Where did you come from last?"
+
+"From Winchester," replied her niece, "where I was looking for my
+husband, who had been arrested for impersonating Mr. Allingford's
+brother," and she pointed to Dick, who joined the group on hearing his
+name mentioned.
+
+"What business have you to be holding a public office, with a brother
+like that?" Miss Cogbill demanded sternly of the Consul; but noting his
+evident discomfiture, she had the grace to add:
+
+"You're by no means a fool, however, barring your habit of losing
+things. That deed of gift you presented to Lady Melton was a clever
+stroke of business, and has helped you all out of a bad hole."
+
+"Have you seen her ladyship? What did she say?" cried the Consul.
+
+"She said a good deal," replied Aunt Eliza. "Naturally she was pretty
+mad, for the beast had done a heap of damage, but she was bound to admit
+you weren't to blame for its getting loose, and, as I pointed out to
+her, you had a right to pay for your board and lodging if you chose,
+though, from the looks of her ramshackle old place, I thought you'd
+given more than the accommodation was worth. Besides which there were
+grievances and plenty on your side of the question. By her own showing
+she hadn't been decently civil to you, and had turned over that monster
+to your deserted and defenceless wife, and cast my nephew adrift, and
+tried to send my niece home with the butler. Her ladyship saw the
+justice of my remarks. She means well, but her training's against her.
+When I came to the elephant, though, I struck a snag, for she gave me
+to understand that she'd turned it off the place and never wanted to
+hear of it again. 'Now, your ladyship,' says I, 'turning an elephant
+adrift in the world isn't like casting your bread upon the waters;
+you're bound to find it before many days.' And I hadn't more than got
+the words out of my mouth when in came that telegram from the mayor,
+saying that traffic was blocked on the railway in both directions, and
+nine people arrested, all along of that beast. Her ladyship's lawyer,"
+continued Aunt Eliza, indicating a gentleman of unmistakably legal
+appearance who had followed her into the room, "backed me up by pointing
+out that the deed of gift was good, and the elephant her property, and
+that she'd be obliged to pay for any damage it might do; after which she
+climbed down from her ancestral tree quick enough, and was willing to
+listen to reason. So here I am, and here is the lawyer; and now, if you
+please, we will attend to business."
+
+This she proceeded to do, and in an amazingly short space of time, with
+the authority of the lawyer, had settled the scruples of the mayor;
+received a release of indebtedness from the Consul, who willingly
+surrendered his papers, declaring that he had had "more than twenty
+pounds' worth of fun out of the elephant"; and transferred the documents
+to the lawyer, with instructions to sell the beast to the original
+consignees at Southampton, and to remit the purchase-money to the
+elephant man, less the twenty pounds for damages, which, she added,
+"Just cancels his debt to the Consul, making him square on the
+transaction."
+
+The lawyer patted his hands, saying:
+
+"Very well argued, Miss Cogbill."
+
+"Lady Melton," said Aunt Eliza, turning to Mr. and Mrs. Scarsdale and
+Mr. and Mrs. Allingford, "has authorised me to say, on her behalf, that
+she overlooks and regrets the events of the last few days, and wishes
+them to be forgotten. In token of which she requests you four to dine
+with her, and spend the night at Melton Court; and I may add that
+you'll be fools if you don't accept." After which dissent was
+impossible.
+
+"And I want to tell you," said Miss Cogbill, turning to Carrington,
+"that you've managed this affair very well; and as I'm in want of a
+likely young man as my business agent, if you call on me to-morrow in
+town, we'll see if we can't find something more profitable for you to do
+than hunting up stray honeymooners."
+
+"Say!" interjected the graceless Richard, who was far from pleased at
+the turn affairs had taken--"Say, where do I come in?"
+
+"Young man," said Aunt Eliza, turning on him like a flash, "did you buy
+a return ticket to America?"
+
+"Yes, but----"
+
+"Well, then," she interrupted, "you use it, the first chance you get.
+And as for you," addressing the two married couples, "the sooner you
+start for Melton Court the better; and don't let me hear of your being
+lost again."
+
+"Aren't you coming with us, Miss Cogbill?" asked Scarsdale.
+
+"The lawyer and I," replied that lady, "are the only two responsible
+persons in this crowd, and we'll stay right here and look after--Her
+Ladyship's Elephant."
+
+
+
+
+HEINEMANN'S
+
+CHEAPER NOVELS
+
+
+A LITTLE LIST OF DELIGHTFUL BOOKS TO READ BY
+
+  Sir G. Parker, M.P.
+  H. G. Wells
+  Jack London
+  E. F. Benson
+  John Galsworthy
+  H. de Vere Stacpoole
+  Philip Gibbs
+  Joseph Conrad
+  Stephen Crane
+  Duncan Schwann
+  Robert Hichens
+  Lloyd Osbourne
+  R. L. Stevenson
+  Richard Harding Davis
+  D. D. Wells
+  Baroness von Hutten
+  Frank Danby
+  Elizabeth Robins
+  Florence C. Price
+  Sybil Spottiswoode
+  Mrs. Henry Dudeney
+  Justin Huntly McCarthy
+  Eleanor Abbott
+  Charles Turley
+  Flora Annie Steel
+  Eleanor Mordaunt
+  Mrs. Hodgson Burnett
+  E. L. Voynich
+  Maxwell Gray
+
+_On all Bookstalls and of all Booksellers_
+
+LONDON
+WILLIAM HEINEMANN
+MCMXII
+
+
+
+
+_HEINEMANN'S 1s NET NOVELS_
+
+
+MOLLY MAKE-BELIEVE
+
+By ELEANOR HALLOWEL ABBOTT
+
+A New Novel
+
+Was that boy a fool? Or did he behave a trifle imprudently in trying
+circumstances? It is difficult to say till you know Molly, who is
+described by the press as "one of the most lovable, fascinating and
+wholly adorable little heroines whose acquaintance any man has made for
+years." One thing is certain, no sooner do you make Molly's acquaintance
+than you introduce her to all your friends.
+
+
+THE WEAVERS
+
+By Sir GILBERT PARKER
+
+Author of "The Ladder of Swords," etc.
+
+Sir Gilbert Parker is one of our finest romance writers of the present
+day. This is a story of Egypt--full of rich colour, brilliant flowing
+descriptions. It has the flavour of the Desert, the Nile and the
+indefinable sense of immortality that belongs to the land of the
+Pharaohs.
+
+
+TOTO
+
+By H. DE VERE STACPOOLE
+
+Author of "The Blue Lagoon," etc.
+
+Written with that _verve_ and wonderfully infectious humour which is
+characteristic of this author. THE OUTLOOK says: "That rare and
+delightful thing, a French novel written in English."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THREE BOOKS
+
+By BARONESS VON HUTTEN
+
+
+PAM
+
+Pam is a "classic" before her time so to speak. People are compared to
+"Pam"; so to their disadvantage are most girl heroines of the novels.
+She is inimitable, by herself, and oh! so wholly charming!
+
+
+WHAT BECAME OF PAM
+
+"Whether we have or have not read 'Pam,' we shall certainly find 'What
+became of Pam' interesting."--DAILY TELEGRAPH.
+
+
+OUR LADY OF THE BEECHES
+
+Balzac says "The dramas of life do not lie in the circumstances
+surrounding--they lie in the heart.' This is a drama of the heart.
+
+"This tender idyll ... we can only recommend our readers to buy and read
+it for themselves."--DAILY MAIL.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE ADVENTURER
+
+By LLOYD OSBOURNE
+
+"Crowded with thrilling incident the narrative races along. The book can
+be recommended to all who enjoy a tale of pure adventure."--TIMES.
+
+
+BACCARAT
+
+By FRANK DANBY
+
+Author of "Pigs in Clover," etc.
+
+This brilliant caustic writer here gives one of her vividest pictures of
+a certain clique in society. She wields no timid pen and does not
+hesitate to catch them _in flagrante delicto_. Yet the book is no
+"preachment" from a self-assumed pulpit, it is a novel simply.
+
+
+THE COUNTRY HOUSE
+
+By JOHN GALSWORTHY
+
+Author of "A Man of Property," etc.
+
+This problem of the country family, the county family, is such that it
+concerns every one of us vitally. What they had to solve we have to
+solve. And it is Mr. Galsworthy's strong point that he never fails to
+give us a new vision, nor to hold our interest intent throughout. It is
+an inspiring work.
+
+
+LORD KENTWELL'S LOVE AFFAIR
+
+By FLORENCE C. PRICE
+
+A good story of London society and of political society. Lord Kentwell
+and his sisters provide a most spirited picture, and there is besides a
+background of big happenings very cleverly drawn.
+
+
+THE SEA WOLF
+
+By JACK LONDON
+
+Author of "The Call of the Wild."
+
+A gruesome, thrilling story of the sea. Mr. London brings always the
+breath of big spaces, the tenseness of great actions and the flesh and
+blood of real life, of adventures really lived, into his books. As a
+story, apart from anything else, it is probably as good a book as Mr.
+London has ever written.
+
+
+THE NIGGER OF THE "NARCISSUS"
+
+By JOSEPH CONRAD
+
+Author of "Typhoon," etc.
+
+Mr. Conrad is a writer to whom the public instinctively turn nowadays
+for an exciting, closely analysed study of men. The DAILY CHRONICLE
+says: "It is written by a man who knows every phase of the sea ... and
+it is written by a man who can write."
+
+
+THE MAGNETIC NORTH
+
+By ELIZABETH ROBINS
+
+Author of "Come and Find Me," etc.
+
+A story of the ever-calling North.
+
+"It is all so excellently written, so vividly realised, so picturesquely
+put before the reader that it would be impossible not to be attracted."
+--WESTMINSTER GAZETTE.
+
+
+TWO NOVELS by E. F. BENSON
+
+Author of "Sheaves," etc. etc.
+
+
+THE BLOTTING BOOK
+
+A murder story, most ingeniously worked out. Mr. Benson carries the
+reader along full speed to a truly dramatic ending.
+
+
+THE BABE B.A.
+
+A very differed story from the "Blotting Book." It is a light, highly
+entertaining account of Cambridge undergraduate life which already ranks
+with "Verdant Green" among University classics.
+
+
+TWO NOVELS
+
+By Mrs. HENRY DUDENEY
+
+
+THE MATERNITY OF HARRIET WICKEN
+
+A picture in low tones, but of whole-hearted conviction and quiet
+sympathetic appeal. Mrs. Dudeney has realised to perfection the
+work-a-day world and its stories.
+
+
+THE ORCHARD THIEF
+
+A charming country tale with, in particular, one great scene of striking
+dramatic force. The contrast of this author's power to charm and to
+impress as she wills, is markedly shown in this capital book.
+
+
+THE TIME MACHINE
+
+By H. G. WELLS
+
+Author of "The War of the Worlds," "Kips," etc.
+
+You pull certain levers, having seated yourself in the saddle, and you
+are conveyed either backwards or forwards. When Mr. Wells is in the
+saddle it is easy to see how highly pleasurable the adventures will be.
+This clever idea has given Mr. Wells opportunity for full play of his
+philosophic views.
+
+
+IF I WERE KING
+
+By JUSTIN HUNTLY MCCARTHY
+
+A mediaeval romance of love and chivalry in which the poet Francois
+Villon plays the leading part. It has drama, this story, and it seizes
+the imagination.
+
+
+MARCIA IN GERMANY
+
+By SYBIL SPOTTISWOODE
+
+Author of "Hedwig in England," etc.
+
+Marcia is a bright, pleasant English girl, who goes to stay with her
+German relations. As others before she finds it difficult to grasp a
+different point of view, a different civilisation. The result is
+amusingly set forth by this author, whose dialogue is always good.
+
+
+GODFREY MARTIN: School Boy
+
+By CHARLES TURLEY
+
+One of the very best of boys' books. It is one of the rarest of all rare
+things--a thoroughly sensible school story. The boys are human, neither
+saints nor super-sinners, and the masters for once behave in a totally
+reasonable way. And that doesn't prevent it being a rattling good story.
+
+
+THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE
+
+By STEPHEN CRANE
+
+Author of "The Open Boat," etc.
+
+The thunders of war, the life of regiments, the soul of humanity in
+stress and dangers, its qualities and shortcomings are all written on
+the pages of this thrilling and absorbing book. From the first paragraph
+our enthusiasm is gained and is not let go till the last.
+
+"Simply unapproached in intimate knowledge and sustained imaginative
+strength."--SAT. REVIEW.
+
+
+The STREET of ADVENTURE
+
+By PHILIP GIBBS
+
+The "Street" is Fleet Street of course, for in what other are so many
+adventures to be found. The EVENING STANDARD says: "It has the quality
+of big work.... The book positively pants with life."
+
+
+
+
+_HEINEMANN'S 2s NET NOVELS_
+
+
+THE SHUTTLE
+
+By MRS. HODGSON BURNETT
+
+Author of "Little Lord Fauntleroy," "The Secret Garden," etc.
+
+"Takes its place at once and without dispute among the greater permanent
+works of fiction. Breadth and sanity of outlook, absolute mastery of
+human character and life, bigness of story interest, place Mrs. Hodgson
+Burnett's new book alongside the best work of George Eliot.... The
+dignity and strength of a great novel such as this put to the blush all
+but a very few living English storytellers."--PALL MALL GAZETTE.
+
+"A remarkable novel, for it is written with a sincerity and glow and
+power which bear the reader restlessly along the strange current of
+events that the writer sets herself to describe."--STANDARD.
+
+"Mrs. Burnett has the gift of a narrator to a high degree, and in spite
+of its faults, her latest novel makes a highly readable story."--DAILY
+MAIL.
+
+"A novel of the highest rank."--DAILY GRAPHIC.
+
+Mrs. Burnett is a past-master in drawing her own countrywomen, and Betty
+is a dazzling vision of youthful charm combined with business-like
+competence."--THE QUEEN.
+
+"The story is rich and spacious; it illustrates human nature, both
+British and American, in a simple and massive way, and paints both in
+the primary colours."--WESTMINSTER GAZETTE.
+
+
+BELLA DONNA
+
+By ROBERT HICHENS
+
+Author of "The Londoners," "Flames," "An Imaginative Man," etc.
+
+This is the excellent novel on which the excellent play of the same
+title is founded. It is a book full of weird, haunting scenes of passion
+in the desert, full of the strange sinister fatalism of Eastern minds.
+
+"This is one of the best novels that we have ever read, and quite the
+best that Mr. Robert Hichens has written. It combines the two elements
+of which every good novel ought to be composed, subtle analysis of
+character and an exciting plot.... We will not spoil the reading of this
+book by sketching the thrilling plot, which is enacted on the Nile and
+its banks. Needless to say, the Egyptian scenery and servants are
+described by Mr. Hichens with affectionate familiarity."--SATURDAY
+REVIEW.
+
+"It is admirable drama. It lives with a present life, and moves swiftly.
+Some of the situations are intensely thrilling; the dialogue is firm and
+easy; the whole treatment forcible without theatricalism.... Our
+attention is fixed at the start, and kept to the end, on a duel between
+Isaacson and Bella Donna. It is magnificent ... there can be no denying
+it is a very fine novel."--THE EVENING STANDARD AND ST. JAMES'S GAZETTE.
+
+"It is particularly interesting; its characters are drawn with
+particular care and splendid skill.... 'Bella Donna' is a fine study of
+a woman of passion; remorseless in its truth, fascinating in its
+unmasking of the hidden springs of selfish desire."--THE GLOBE.
+
+
+THE BOOK OF A BACHELOR
+
+By DUNCAN SCHWANN
+
+Author of "The Magic of the Hill"
+
+Mr. Duncan Schwann has recently been acclaimed as one of the four great
+humourists in England at the present time. This "Book of a Bachelor" is
+delightful reading of a light kind, but it carries weight also, for Mr.
+Schwann has picked out the little feeblenesses and frailty of this world
+as a background to his airy frivolity.
+
+"A picturesque romance of modern life is this story by Duncan
+Schwann.... There is, indeed, a good deal of cleverness in the
+book."--WESTMINSTER GAZETTE.
+
+"... Is decidedly entertaining. Mr. Schwann is an admirable journalist
+who has already given proof of his power, but he has done nothing so
+good as this ... which is intelligent, humorous, and on the side of the
+angels."--BRITISH WEEKLY.
+
+"There is knowledge of the world and some mild philosophy to be found in
+this pleasant romance of modern life."--GLOBE.
+
+
+A SHIP OF SOLACE
+
+By ELEANOR MORDAUNT
+
+Author of "The Garden of Contentment"
+
+"The Garden of Contentment," those charming letters to Mr. Nobody, has
+never ceased to sell from the moment it was published. The same may be
+said of "A Ship of Solace," which is filled with the breath of the sea,
+and the pleasing state of mind of complete idleness. It is a book for
+quiet hours, to which one can turn with pleasurable anticipation of
+repose and refreshment.
+
+"Readers who like the scent of real sea air will revel in this truly
+delightful book."--DAILY TELEGRAPH.
+
+
+THE GIFT OF THE GODS
+
+By FLORA ANNIE STEEL
+
+Author of "On the Face of the Waters," "The Potter's Thumb," "From the
+Five Rivers," etc. etc.
+
+"She has that gift, rare now among novelists, of being interested, first
+of all, in the story she has to tell. She is herself so strongly
+interested that her readers are carried along with her and share in her
+vitality and freshness."--STANDARD.
+
+"Mrs. Steel gives us one admirably dramatic scene,--the death of an old
+woman from shock at a sudden disillusion while on her way to the
+Communion Table.... The squalid and starveling lot of crofters living on
+barren soil in or towards the last decade of the 19th century is well
+depicted."--ATHENAEUM.
+
+
+
+
+THE NOVELS OF
+
+E. F. BENSON
+
+Uniform Edition. Crown 8vo. With coloured
+
+Frontispiece and Wrapper. Each vol. 2s net
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+DODO
+
+"The readers of Mr. Benson's book will delight in this story. It is full
+of interest and cleverness."--_Pall Mall Gazette._
+
+
+THE VINTAGE
+
+"We would recommend this to our readers. It has vivid characters staged
+cleverly and a subtle charm which make the work thoroughly
+enjoyable."--_British Weekly._
+
+
+MAMMON & CO.
+
+"Bright, witty dialogues and gay fascinating scenes. Full of humorous
+sayings and witty things."--_Daily Telegraph._
+
+
+THE LUCK OF THE VAILS
+
+"This is a really thrilling and exciting tale of crime and mystery. It
+is readable all through and full of entertainment."--_Times._
+
+
+SCARLET AND HYSSOP
+
+"Must be accounted a really brilliant piece of work, unsurpassed by
+anything Mr Benson has given us."--_Pall Mall Gazette._
+
+
+THE BOOK OF MONTHS & A REAPING
+
+"The Bock of Months' is full of charm--real, persuasive, penetrating
+charm--there rings the sincerity of real feeling and purpose."--_Daily
+Chronicle._
+
+
+THE CHALLONERS
+
+"'The Challoners' must be pronounced not only the best book he has given
+us but one of the best novels."--_Daily Mail._
+
+
+THE ANGEL OF PAIN
+
+"An admirably constructed story, brilliant character sketches, flashes
+of good talk--a remarkably clever book."--_Guardian._
+
+
+THE IMAGE OF THE SAND
+
+"Even the sceptic must admit the grim power of the book."--_Bookman._
+
+
+PAUL
+
+"Mr. Benson at his gayest and best. Nothing could be more natural or
+more amusing than most of the dialogue--full of admirable portraiture
+and an abundance both of humour and humanity."--_Outlook._
+
+
+SHEAVES
+
+"Brilliant, clever, full of wise observations and sage
+counsels."--_Standard._
+
+
+THE CLIMBER
+
+"His story is written with striking effect, and the author's wonderful
+power of observation is to be found in almost every page."--_World._
+
+
+JUGGERNAUT
+
+"Delightful in its literary brightness and charm, it is also full of
+exquisite and appealing humanity ... a fine achievement."--_Liverpool
+Mercury._
+
+
+ACCOUNT RENDERED
+
+"This is an admirably written study of English modern life. Lovers of
+Mr. Benson's work will be charmed with his latest novel."--_T.P.'s
+Weekly._
+
+
+THE OSBORNES
+
+"As human and sincere as anything in 'Sheaves' or the 'Challoners.' A
+charming story."--_Observer._
+
+
+
+
+_HEINEMANN'S 7d NET NOVELS_
+
+
+THE BONDMAN
+
+By HALL CAINE
+
+"Mr. Hall Caine has in this work placed himself beyond the front rank of
+the novelists of the day. He has produced a story which is distinctly
+ahead of all the fictional literature of our time, and fit to rank with
+the most powerful fictional writing of the past century."--THE SCOTSMAN.
+
+
+THE SCAPEGOAT
+
+By HALL CAINE
+
+"There are passages in 'The Scapegoat' which entitle Mr. Hall Caine to a
+high place amongst contemporary writers of fiction."--DAILY CHRONICLE.
+
+
+THE EBB-TIDE
+
+By R. L. STEVENSON (In conjunction with LLOYD-OSBOURNE)
+
+"The master storyteller is apparent to the reader of this book. It is
+full of freshness, incident and character. It is a splendid
+tale."--GUARDIAN.
+
+
+THE CALL OF THE WILD
+
+By JACK LONDON
+
+"It is impossible not to recognise the skill with which Mr. London
+follows out point by point the training of a sledge dog. 'The Call of
+the Wild' is a very remarkable book."--DAILY TELEGRAPH.
+
+
+THE WAR OF THE WORLDS
+
+By H. G. WELLS
+
+"Original and ingenious romance which attests strongly the variety and
+fertility of Mr. Wells' imagination."--DAILY CHRONICLE.
+
+
+FLAMES
+
+By ROBERT HICHENS
+
+"The picturesque charm of Mr. Hichens' style and his indisputable
+command of the weird and mysterious will hold attention fixed from the
+first chapter of this powerful story to the last."--GRAPHIC.
+
+
+THE GADFLY
+
+By E. L. VOYNICH
+
+"It is more interesting and rich in promise than ninety-nine out of
+every hundred novels that pass through the reviewer's hand."--ACADEMY.
+
+
+SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE
+
+By RICHARD HARDING DAVIS
+
+"Mr. Davis has the dramatic gift--he carries you along with him. One
+need not wish for a better story of action than this."--ACADEMY.
+
+
+THE LAST SENTENCE
+
+By MAXWELL GRAY
+
+"Any reader who wants an absorbing story, full of cleverness and
+excitement, should read this book."--DAILY NEWS.
+
+
+HER LADYSHIP'S ELEPHANT
+
+By D. D. WELLS
+
+"It is an admirable piece of humour with not a dull page in it from
+beginning to end."--ATHENAEUM.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+London: WILLIAM HEINEMANN, 21 Bedford St., W.C.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Her Ladyship's Elephant, by David Dwight Wells
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HER LADYSHIP'S ELEPHANT ***
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