Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-10-18
IFORBID THE BANNS.
Ike. You are my wife, you know!

aseass.sssssSsHssss s-esssEssessssssssssssssEr
the joke. you are my wife, you know!
l say"
'Wenf"
4 wish you would give me a kiss!"
But the glTl was scandalized. 81 don't
kiss people l meet Ill trains, even if l do
pretend to be their wife for joke!" she
said.
So Mr., Rodney Carlton had to be con
tent with squeezing the little hand again,
! and taking himself off with a wave of his
hat as the train departed
But his little companion did not have
the carriage to herself, even after he left
her. Two ladies got in just before the
train started, and sat down opposite the
| school gil. They were pleasant faced
elderly women, and one of them spoke
with a Scotch accent
This is a slow train. considering that
it is not a local. said one.
| Yes, but it does not stop at any of the
/ smaller places until it leaves Newcastle"
said the other.
1T makes up for it then" remarked
the first speakeT-she who had the Scotch
accent. ut even stops at Clantyre"
"Clantyre-where is tbat?''
Quite small place on the Border, but
rather celebrated for runaway matches, .
The little girl smiled to herself invol-
unfairly, with a memory of jeans face,
and the nlischieHoHs boys method of
quilting her"
"Oh, remember now But thought
Clantyre was really in England" said
the lady opposite.
NO. IL is really in Scotland-at least,
the station is. The lime crosses the Bor-
der about half q mile before the train
comes into Clantyre. That is why run
away couples go there so much"
Il don't quite see why. There is no
Gretna Green performance, with q black
smith to marry them there, surely?"
NO, it Is even more simple. You have
heard of Scotch marriages, suppose
The two parties have only to declare be-
| fore witnesses that they are man and
wife, and the thing is done! / believe
the static. master at tClantyTe Is quite
professional witness by this time, and
makes a small fortune out of the tips
given him by the grateful couples!"
How absurd! / can't imagine such a
law standing in these enlightened days
OF course ] had heard OF the ease with
which one can marry i'll Scotland, but
thought it had been altered long ago"
"No; curiously enough, it still stands
and has been the cause of as many acct
dental as intentional marriages. / should
think said the Scotch lady. MY dear
child, are you i'll" she broke off abrupt
", looking with concern at the white face
of the girl opposite.
ooh, not is nothing j am rather
hot1'- said the girl in confusion, hastcning
to let down the window with unsteady
little fingers, and leaning out teverishly
into the fresh air The lady looked al
her euriously, but said nothing more. and
went ON talking to her friend, while Thee
Deering recovered herself.
After all, no one would ever know, she
thought. to comfort herself. She had had
a silly Joke with "a stranger in a train
who was as innocent of intention as her
self He was never likely to cross hel
path again, and he did not even know her
name, though she did by chance know his
She would Just say nothing about it. and
SO avoid scolding for doing something
foolish. She had another pang of feal
| when she recollected Angus ominous
words, ~Ag, they would be now, even if il
had ma BIN so before!''-for he evidently
realized the knot they had tied about
their lives, though he thought that it Was
only q repetition of a former ceremony
But even that momentary fear was easily
disposed of, and Theo pushed the hall
consciousness of what she had done into
the background of her mind, where 1T lay
undisturbed for seven long years. BY The
time the train reached Edinburgh, and
she Jumped out onto the platform, and
was met and Rugged by her friend, Amy
Macandrew, her face was as bright and
cloudless as it had been before she over
heard the conversation between the ladies
in the train.
Theo Deering was only l6, and toe
young to realize the possible seriousness
OF the situation, both for her and Rodney
Carlton. She had indeed forgotten that
young gentleman as completely as he had
forgotten her, and would not think about
their foolish joke, or try and discover
whether they had by such innocent means
really contracted Scotch marriage
which was as binding as any ceremony in
an English church.