Evening star., 1909-05-11
CHAPTER XXIII-Continued

CHAPTER XXIII-Continued
Joy. dear said Mrs. Ogiivie. II hope
YOU are all right. After your father and
then Judy had gone I was so anxious
about you. that | got the north mail stop
ped and caught it al Penrith. Just as
was going to get ready for the Journey
Mrs. O'Bren came in. She had written
TO me in London that she would like to
pay her respects. and j had said we
We're going to Ambleside. but would be
glad if she would come and see us there
and spend a few days with us" Mrs.
OBrien. who was all ears here cut into
the conversation:
Aye, an Miss Joy. acuslla-my serv-
ice TO We. miss.-she sent me postal
ordhers 10 cover me railway fare an me
expinces. Oh. the kind heart " her.
She had by now released Athlyne and
stood back from him. pointing a; him as
she spoke:
An comm here through yer ladyship's s
goodness who do i find but me beautiful
hhoy. LUX at him. Lux at him, LUX
at him., Her voice rose in creScendo at
each repetition. The finest, dearest.
sweetest. bonniest child that ever a
woman TUX to her breast An now lux
at him well. The finest. up-standinest,
handsomest. dearest. lovinest man that
the whole wurrld haulds. That doesn't
forget his ould fosther mother. an him
an earrli. wild castles fv his own, an
medals on to him an Victory grasses. An
it's a gineral he ought TO be. LUX at
him. God bless him. She turned to one
after another of the party in turn. as
though inviting their admiration. Joy
came and, putting her arms round the
old woman's neck. hugged and kissed
her. When she got free Mrs. O'Brien
said to Athlyne:
IAN phwat are ye doin' here. me darln'
acushla. me lord-av I may make so
bould as t. ask We? How did We come
here and phwat brung We that yer ould
nurse might have her eyes made glad
wild sight iv ye?''
Il am here. my dear. because l am
married to Joy Ogilvie, and we are going
to be married again.!
Then the storm of comment broke. all
the women speaking at once and in hisl!
voices suitable TO momentous occasion ::
What what?' said Mrs. Ogilvie Mar
ried To my daughter. Col Ogilvie, how
is it that ] was not informed of this
coming EVENT.
Faith my dear. | don't know" he
answered. Il never knew it-and-and 1
believe they didn't know 1t themselves
= till the moment before it was done" !"
Ho added the last part of the sentence
In Difference to the sheriff's direction as
TO intention" Fortunately the sheriff
had not heard his remark.
DO explain yourself, Lucius. / am all
anxiety"
My dear yesterday Joy made al ir-
regular marriage with Lord Athlyne"'
Good God,' The exclamation gave an
indication of the social value of "irregu-
lar" marriage to persons unacquainted
with Scottish law. Her husband saw that
she was panied and tried to reassure her:
You need not distress yourself, M
dear. 1t is all right. Irregular is only
a name for a particular form of mar
riage in this country. 1t is equally legal
with any other marriage
But who is Lorth Athlyne and where
is he? That is the name of the man who
Mrs. o'Brien told JOY was the only man
good enough for her.
Lord Athiyne,' said Col. Ogilvie. lat
present our son-in-law. is none other
than Mr.. Richard Hardy with whom you
shook hands just now,
..Lucius, am all amazed. There seems
to be sort of network of mystery round
us. But one thing-if Joy was married
yesterday how on earth can she be going
TO be married today?
ITO avoid the possibility of legal COM
plications later on, 1t is all right. my
dear. You may take it from me that
there is no cause for concern. But there
were certain things usually attended to
beforehand, which this OCCASION
owing to ignorance and hurry and un-
premeditation-were not attended TO. In
order to prevent the possibility of any
thing going wrong by any bubble. they
are to be married again just now
Where? When?'
Here, in this room.
But where's the clergyman; where is
the license?"
There is neither. This is Scottish
marriage, Later on We can have regu-
lar church marriage. with bishop. II
you wish, an archbishop: in a church.
room. or cathedral-just you
prefer" Mrs. Ogilvie perceptibly stiff
fened as he spoke Then she said. with
what she thought was dignffied gravity,
which seemed to others like frigid acdity:
IN I nd npil& haf
you are consentng party to another
irregular she quivered as she said
the marriage? And that my
daughter is to be made laughing stock
among all our acquaintances by three
different marriages.
That is so, my dear 1t is for Joys
good"
Her good? Fiddlesticks.> But in that
case 1 have nothing more to say.' Some
of her wrath seemed to be turned on both
Athyne and JOY; for she did not say
single word to either OF them. She
simply relapsed into stony silence.
Mrs. OBrien's reception of the news
afforded what might be termed the
comic relief" of the strained situation.
She raised her hands as though in pro-
test to heaven for allowing such a thing.
and emitted a loud wah. such a
''keener' raises at an Irish wake. Then
she burst into voluble speech:
''Oh. wirrasthrue. me darlin' bhoy, is
il a haythen Turk Y are becomin. TO
ready only a day ould. An such a wan
more betoken-the beautifullest, darlinest
young creatur what iver | seen, Her
that / picked out long ago as the only
wan that We was good enough for. Shure,
couldn't We rist content wild Miss JOY. me
darlin? It's lookn' forward | was to
nursin' her chidher, as I nursed yersef.
lord. darlin', her childher yours.
An now it's another woman steppin in
betune ye: an maybe therell he no
childher at all. at all Wirrasthrue."
But look here. Nanny" said Athlyne.
with some impatience. Cant you see
that you're all wrong. 1t is Joy that
i am going to marry again. There's no
other woman coming in between us. 'Tis
only the dear girl herself.'
''Ah. that's all very well, me lord
dariin'; but which " them is to be the
mother. Faix. but III go and AK her
ladyship this minnit.' And go she did,
to Athlyne's CONSERVATION and joys en-
barrassment. All in a hurry she started
up and went over TO the sofa where Joy
sat. and with bob courtesy said TO her:
Me lady, mayn't / have the nursin' av
Yer childher. the way i had their father
before them? Though. be the same
token. it's not the same nursin' l can
give thin, wild me bein' ould an rhun
dhry.' Joy felt that the only thing to do
was to postpone the difficulty to more
convenient season. when there should
not be many eyes-some of them
strange ones-on her. To do this as
kindly and as brightly she could, she
said:
~, da,r Nrs .Rrien isn't IL e. I;,,,a