Martin, a good deal abashed, again mumbled out his belief that young Mr. Thorneycroft, as he was then called, had never been at Swindon.

The indignant scarlet deepened on the young woman’s face and temples, and she looked at Martin with fixed attention and surprise.  Presently recovering, as if from some vague confusedness of mind, she said, “What you believe, can be no consequence—­truth is truth, for all that.”

The Rev. Mr. Wishart here interposed, remarking that as it was quite apparent we were determined to defend the usurpation by Miss Rosamond Stewart—­a lady to be greatly pitied, no doubt—­of another’s right, it was useless to prolong or renew the interview; and all three took immediate leave.  A few minutes afterward Martin also departed, still vehemently asserting that no such marriage ever took place at Swindon or anywhere else.

No stone, as people say, was left unturned by us, in the hope of discovering some clue that might enable us to unravel the tangled web of coherent, yet, looking at the character of young Mr. Allerton, improbable circumstance.  We were unsuccessful, and unfortunately many other particulars which came to light but deepened the adverse complexion of the case.  Two respectable persons living at Swindon were ready to depose on oath that they had on more than one occasion seen Maria Emsbury’s sweetheart with Mr. Angerstein at Bath—­once especially at the theatre, upon the benefit-night of the great Edmund Kean, who had been playing there for a few nights.

The entire case, fully stated, was ultimately laid by us before eminent counsel—­one of whom is now, by the by, a chief-justice—­and we were advised that the evidence as set forth by us could not be contended against with any chance of success.  This sad result was communicated by me to Mrs. Allerton, as she still unswervingly believed herself to be, and was borne with more constancy and firmness than I had expected.  Her faith in her husband’s truth and honor was not in the slightest degree shaken by the accumulated proofs.  She would not, however, attempt to resist them before a court of law.  Something would, she was confident, thereafter come to light that would vindicate the truth, and confiding in our zeal and watchfulness, she, her aunt, and children, would in the meantime shelter themselves from the gaze of the world in their former retreat at Lausanne.

This being the unhappy lady’s final determination, I gave the other side notice that we should be ready on a given day to surrender possession of the house and effects in South Audley Street, which the Widow Thorneycroft had given up to her supposed niece-in-law and family on their arrival in England, and to re-obtain which, and thereby decide the whole question in dispute, legal proceedings had already been commenced.