Evening star., 1909-05-07
LADY ATHLYNE
Bv BRAN STOKER
Copyright y
Entered at sahon AL rights

Bv BRAN STOKER.

vinely. looked at her husband adoringly.
! Athlyne seemed almost transffgured and
glorified; the realization Of all his hopes
in this sudden and unexpected way
showed Enthusiastically how earnest they
had been. Judy. alone of all the party.
was able to express herself In conven-
| tional fashion. This she did by clappfng
her hands and then by kissing the whole
party-except the sheriff, who half stood
| forward as though in hope that some
happy chance might include him In the
| benson. She began with Joy and went
on to her brother-in-law. who accepted
with q better grace than she feared would
have been accorded. When she came to
Athlyne she hesitated for moment. but
with "now-or-never' rush completed
the act. and fell back shyly with be-
lated timorousness.
! The sheriff having paused for the COM
pletion of this little domestic ceremony,
| went on calmly:
'Since I left you few minutes ago
have busted myself with making a few
necessary inquiries from my old servant
Jane Mclean, now Mcpherson. I made
them. assure you, Col. Ogilvie. very dis
creetly. Even Jane. who is in her way
a clever woman. had no suspicion that 1
was even making inquiry. The result
has been to confirm me in my original
conjecture, which was to the effect that
there has been executed between these
two people an irregular marriage!'' At
the mention of the. words the colonel ex-
ploded:
| Gods death. sir, the women of the
| Ogilvies don't make irregular marriages."
The sheriff went calmly on. only noticing
the protest for the sake of answering 1t.
BY this time Joy and Judith were close
together. holding hands. Insensibly the
girl drew her aunt over to where Atli-
/ lyme was standing and took him by the
arm. He raised his other hand and with
1t covered the hand that lay on his arm.
pressing it closer as he listened atten-
lively to the sheriff's expounding of the
/ law:
Il gather that did not express myself
clearly when short time ago / spoke
of the Scottish marriage laws. Let me
now be more precise. And as l am try
ing to put into words understandable by
| all somewhat complex subject / shall
| ask that no one present will make any
remark whatever till this part Of my task
has been completed. l shall then answer
to the best of my power any question or
questions which any of you may choose
to ask me.
| Let me begin by assuring you all that
what in Scottish law we call an 'irregu-
! lar marriage is equally binding in every
way with a regular marriage. the word
only refers to form or method, and in no
wise to the antecedents or to the result.
In our law mutual consent constitutes
marriage. You will observe that / speak
| of marriage-not the proof of it. Proof
is quite a different matter: and as it is
formally to be certified by court 1t is
naturally hedged in by fOrmalities. This
| consent, whether proved or not, whether
before witnesses or not. should. of course.
be followed by cohabitaton; but even this
| is not necessary. The dictum of Scots
| law is 'Concensus non concubitus facit
matrimoniun.' But i have a shreWd
| suspicion that the mind of the court is
| helped to a declaration of validity when
concensus has been followed by concub-
| titus.
Now let us take the present case and
| examine 1t as though testing it in court
of law; for such is the true means to be
exact. This man and woman-we don't
know gentleman and lady in the law
declared in the presence of witnesses that
they were man and wife. That is the
man declared to the police sergeant at
Dairy that the woman was his wife; and
the woman declared timeously to the
police officer who made the arrest that
the man was her husband. These two
statements, properly set out. would In
themselves be evidence not only of In
fered consent by declaration de PRESENT.,
but of the same thing by habit and re-
pute.' The law has been thus stated:
/ 1T may be held that man and a
woman. by living together and holding
themselves out as married persons. have
sufficiently declared their matrimonial
consent: and in such case they will be
declared to be married although no spe-
cific promise of marriage or of de present.
acknowled gment has been proved
| But there is still more cogent and di-
rect proof, should such be required. Each
of these consenting parties to the con-
tract of marriage by consent on coming
separately to this hotel last night, gave
to the servant of the house who admitted
them the name by which l hold they are
now bound in honorable wedlock!" He
spoke the last sentences graVely and i'm
pressively, after the manner of an advo-
cate pressing home on a jury the con-
clusion of an elaborate train of reason
ing. While speaking he had kept his
eyes fixed on Col. Ogilvie, who uncon-
sciously took 1t that an exhortation on
patience and toleration was being ad-
dressed to him. The effect was increased
by the action of Joy, who. seeing him all
alone and inferring his spiritual loneli-
ness. left judith. but still holding Ath-
lyne's arm, and drew the latter toward
him. Then she took her fathers arm
and stood between the two men whom
she loved. Judy quietly took Athlyne's
other arm, and so all stood in line, hold
ing each other as they faced the sheriff
No one said word: all were afraid to
break the silence.
1--WE now come to further proofs, If
such be required. The woman, who ar
} rived first, gave the name of Lady Ath-
} lyme" Here Joy got fearfully red: she
, was conscious OF her fathers eyes on her,
leven before she heard him say:
) THAT foolish joke again! Did not ]
! forbid you to use it. daughter?" She felt
] at all just at present. IE desperation she
raised her eyes to the face of her lover
and was struck with a sort of Mortified
amazement. For an instant it had oc-
! Cured to him that Joy must have known
his identity-for some time past at all
; events. The thought was, however, but
momentary. Her eyes fell again quickly
} and she stood in abashed silence. There
was nothing to do now but to wait The
| calm voice Of the sheriff went on, like
the voice of doom:
"The man arrived later. He himself
had wired in his own name for rooms;
but by the time he had arrived the pos
sibility OF his coming had. owing to the
had been given the bedroom, and he slept
on the sofa In the sitting room-this
room" AS he spoke he went over to the
door of communication between the rooms
and examined the door. There were no
fastenings except the ordinary latch;
| neither lock bolt. He did not say
word but walked back to his place. Judy
| could not contain her curiosity any
longer; she blurted out:
| What name did he give?'' The sheriff
looked at her admiringly as he answered: :
The name he gave, dear lady, was
| 'Athlyne'!''
lis that your name?" she queried-this
! time to Athlyne.
.'It is.' He pulled himself up to his
full height and stood on his dignity as
he said it, His name should not be dis
honored If he could help it.
| Col Ogilvie stood by with an air of
| conscious superiority. He already knew
| the name from Athlyne's letter. though
he had not up to that moment under
stood the full import of it. He was will