San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-07-07
Ten Minutes to Twelve.
BY M. G. MCLELLAND.
Copyright by American Press ~Asssociatinal

remolistra:ci. .TA-blunderfng fool, II
lsyou will. but no villain. Your tone i'm
plies that l have been both"
Mrs. Hunt turned toward him. AS
she did so she caught IN expression on
the young mans face which reminded
her curiously of her husband. Her eyes
| softened and a smile came to her lips.
| She had seen the look before during the
days hat they had been together, and
always with mute, wistful acknowledge
ment of the tie between them. After
all, he was Phil Royals son and of their
own people-which fact, in the lady's
mind, considerably ameliorated the sit
uation. What would have been her at
titude toward Royal if, instead of being
. member of the family with blood right
of interference, he had turned out sim
| ply a laundering stranger, whose tender
nature had ruled his reason to such dis
astrous effect, it is difficult to imagine.
Fortunately for Royal she was not put
| to the test. A kinsman, like the shape
| of a nose, can be accepted and endured
with the pleasing consciousness that, ex-
| ternally, the worst is known of him,
| while the introduction of a stranger into
| ones life may be attended with as grave
| risks as those incident to the French no.
tary's experiment.
Mrs. Hart loved romance with a
southern woman's love, and moreover
| she was gifted with a subtle sense of
humor. interviewer with the tragic and
| pathetic elements of the affair there was
comedy as well, for those sufficiently dis
engaged to appreciate it. And, for the
life of her, Mrs. Hart could not forbear
imaginative pictures of the self COM
| placent soul of her kinswoman, assert
lively COMFORTING itself in the infinite,
suddenly confronted with a view of the
| situation as it now stood. Even a dis
embodied spirit, in such case, could not
escape recognition Of limitations and
acknowledgment Of the futilfty Of all
arrangements for pulling stroke in the
lifeboat Of other people after this mortal
shall have put on immortality. The
pithy old Scotch proverb required again
and again to Mrs. Harris secretly divert
ed mind with a relishing sense of its ap-
plicability.
What did the lawyers say?' she ques-
| toned, coming toward him, and tacitly
ignoring her WI discourteous exclama-
ton and his impatient reception of it.
Royal pushed a 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 a 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 a lawyer
is nothing without precedent" he an
swered. I've seen a couple of fellows
here, and stated the case alphabetically,
and I've talked to a man or twoi in Wash
ington besides. OF course I've only got
ten horseback opinions as yet. Nobody
I've seen has ever gone into a thing like
| this. One fellow told me plainly that
he didn't believe such a case had ever
even been imagined before"
But the general impression was
what"
Royal paused beside her chair, and
| stood lC king thoughtfully down at her:
"As TAR as John Royal is concerned
the case has but n point of view. They
all agree on that. The proxy marriage
was no marriage. Under the circum-
stances it couldn't be. A man in articulo
mortis, as John Royal was at the time
of the ceremony, cannot enter into a
contract; the law wouldn't recognize
such an act as conscious and voluntary.
Even if he had lived it is doubtful
whether the proxy marriage would have
stood. 1t would have given US what we
wanted, though fighting chance for
the money. Marriages by proxy are so
unusual that the law don't provide for
| diferentiatiOns of them"
Then the marriage with John is null
and void?'
"It's nonresident"
"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 to
you"
With allowance made for inaccuracies
of understanding and statement due to
lack of legal knowledge and a, perforce.
prima facie reading of the case, the gist
of that which Royal had gathered was
this. Marriage was the special charge
of the law, and by it regarded as the
| nr;rnn niLnr of civilization thnrafnra