Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1891-04-19
mon nOtary's eXperlment.

II 11 ": gs:zs4z'5z4
on it's tremendously funny / dare
SGF' he GroWtcd.
Mrs. Hart loved romance with a
southern woman's love. aud moreover
She was gifted with subtle sense OF
humor. interviewer with the tragic ana
pathetic elements Of the affair there was
comedy as well, for those sufficiently
disepgaged to appreciate it. And, for
the life of her. Mrs. Hart could not for
bear imaginative pictures Of the sell
soul of her kinswoman, as
sertiyelv COMFORTING itself in the in
finite, suddenly confronted with Il we"
of the situation as it now stood. Even
a disembodied spirit, in such case could
not escape recognition OF limitations and
acknowledgment of the futility OF all
arrangements for pulling stroke in the
lifeboat Of other people after this mortal
shall have put on immortality. The
pithily old Scotch proverb required
again and again to Mrs. Harris secretly
diverted mind with relishing sense OF
its applicability.
What did the lawyers say?" she queS-
toned. coming toward him, and tacltly
ignoring her own discourteous eXclama-
ton and his impatient reception OF II.
Royal pushed chair toward her, but
declined one for himself. In his nerv-
ously excited condition it pleased him
better TO tramp about the room. They
had been in Alexandria week, coming
directly home with Mrs. Hart after John
Royals funeral, and during that time
the dead mans substitute had devoted
himself TO discovering what might be
his legal status in the affair. OF his
case in equity he had no shadow OF
doubt.
"There hasn't been time enough for
ANYTHING like research yet, and lawyer
is nothing without precedent he an
swered. Eve seen couple Of fellows
here, and stated the case alphabetically,
and I've talked TO a man or two in Wash
ington besides. OF course I've only got
ten horseback opinions rs yet. Nobody
I've seen has ever gone into thing like
this. One fellow told me plainly that
he didn't believe such case had ever
even been imagined before.
But the general impression was
what?"
ROYAL paused beside her chair, and
stood looking thoughtfully down at her;
LAS far as John Royal is concerned
the case has but one point OF view.
They all agree on that. The proxy mar
rage was no marriage. Under the cir
cumstances it couldn't be. A man in
articulo mortiS, as John Royal was at
the time of the ceremony, cannot enter
into contract; the law wouldn't recog-
nize sucn an act as conscious and volun-
tarv. Even If he had lived it IS doubt
full whether the proxy marriage would
have stood. 1t would have given us
what we wanted, though lighting
chance for the money. Marriages by
proxy are so unusual that the law don't
provide for differentiatlons OF them.
Then the marriage with John is null
and void?'
ITS non-eXistent."
And with you?'
Mrs. Hart looked searchingly up AT
him; she put out her hand to prevent
him from resuming his restless pacing
backward and forward.
The marriage with me was genuine
Listen and I'll try to make it clear &c
you"
With allowances made for inaccu
racies of understanding and statement
due 10 lack of legal knowledge and a
perforce, prima facia reading of the case
the giSt Of that which Royal had gath
cred was this. Marriage was the specia
charge of the law, and by it regarded a:
the prime pillar of civilization, there
fore every possible facility had been al
forded people for entering the matri
monial state, the notion being, appar
entity. that the more marriages the more
props-ergo, the more civilization.
In the present case the names Of the
two men being identical and age and ap
pearance sufficiently similar to cause the
license to fit either indifferently, and the
woman having consented to marry the
man she was with, the marriage cere
mony. it was declared, had constituted
them man and wife, and nothing shor
of a divorce could change the relation
The woman had designed and intended
10 marry her cousin John Hart Royal
and she had married her cousin JOIN
Hart ROYAL, and the fact that the mar
she had eSpOused was not the man u
whom she had engaged herself could moi
initiate against the stronger fact thai
She had considered the man with whom
She had gone through the ceremony as
the contracting party. This no suisse
auent declarations would change.
That Hart Royal by suppression OF the
fact that he was acting as proxy should
have invested himself with entire re-
sponsibility as principal appeared to fol-
low as a logical sequence. And any ex
most facto effort to free himself from the
consequences of his laundering might
Justly be considered as treacherous eva
sion. and would certainly be accredited
10 a discovery on his part that his i'm
personation of the dead man would be
barren of financial results-would place
him. in short, in the position Of batlied
and malignant impoStor.
You see how it is" the poor fellow
fumed. "rm caught in trap by both
legs. If l hold TO my marriage, I'll be
foisting on woman husband she don't
love and don't want, and that, too, when
she thinks she's married to somebody
else. And if l get Il divorce III order to
free her, she may think, and the world
will say, that l do it because l can't get
hold of the money. Nobody had a hint
of the proxy business at the time, and
nobody is going to believe it now.
wouldn't myself if l were outside of II
all. People will swear the whole thing