ind ask a th aes are 5 coe oars ee f s EB Hee Lee elias nai Een ip Z ast Hie gear reeoe nc reese sa SATA ERD itt ele atpirie ia eseusime gs PRN a 2 es i4 mae rng F at alefetates Oa Ce eye eH toR Be oc age sree ni F os ye Heiter ie Err Esp nies oe A ee ae eRe s RPh eabarttanes 4 ; eS 3; i SE PPS Shah er fi msc Aiea tng os = feaea ena ” e ia ; ST eee ma Miah ee heheneneeg he te eon) ae Fi Gia iho et F i eater SUE erate aay ‘ +s nag Cornell Law School Library University Library NT 3 1924 024 864 401 law IN THE EYE OF THE LAW IN THE EYE OF THE LAW 4 TALE OF SCOTTISH PROFESSIONAL LIFE 16” suv eer W. D. LYELL “‘ Justitia est constans et perpetua voluntas suum cuique tribuendi.”—-Uiian. **Since the Married Women’s Property Act, the old saying is no longer true that ‘in law a husband and wife are one person, and the husband is that person.’ "— Professor Walton, “The law is a hass . . . If that’s the eye of the law, the law's a bachelor."—Mr. Bumble. GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH WILLIAM HODGE & COMPANY 1898 i 36298 CONTENTS CHAPTER I.—A Case for Opinion - - 2 II.—Some Opinions on the Case i III.—Some Personal and Domestic Relations of Mr. Julius Faber IV.—The Discovery of the Deserter V.—A Consultation with Counsel - VI.—The Gled and the Tomtit understand one another e = - VII.—Mr. Wintrup reaps the Reward of his Labours 3 - 2 VIIL—An Eventful Day in Inverdee Sheriff Court - IX.—The End of the Day X.—The Triumph of the Tomtit PAGE 23 57 72 99 120 160 176 190 CHAPTER A CASE FIRST FOR OPINION A®CHIE MAXWELL never breakfasted till eleven o’clock on Monday mornings during session. “This he looked upon as a sort of juridical duty. On all the other days of the week—Sundays excepted—he appeared in the Parliament House at the statutory hour of ten with as punctual regularity as the busiest counsel there ; but the grateful holiday he heralded by an hour and a halfs extra slumber. It was whispered among his brethren, it is true, that this indulgence was more than compensated by hours of omnivorous legal reading before he went to bed on Sunday nights; though Archie always denied the soft impeachment with a smile. Precisely at eleven then, as usual, on the first Monday of June, he entered the dining-room of the house in Palace Street, Edinburgh, which B i 2 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW he and his cousin and brother advocate, Charlie Gordon, shared between them, and picked up his bundle of letters from the breakfast-table. Having rung the bell, he flung himself into an arm-chair and was soon immersed in the perusal of his morning correspondence. “Hum,” he muttered, as he tore open a dainty feminine epistle, ‘let me see: ‘We are giving a little concert in my father’s ward of the infirmary on Wednesday evening. Mr. and Miss Faber have promised to sing . . . rely on you. . . shall send for your ’cello.’ Just so, my dear Miss Cecilia} but I think not. You don’t catch me playing ’cello, nor second fiddle neither, to the fascinating Mr. Faber.” Then he opened another. ‘“«Mr. Faber has kindly agreed to stage- manage our little play. Will you be good enough to turn up at rehearsal on * Tl see Mr. Faber blowed first! What! another ? ‘We shall be glad to see you at tea on Thursday afternoon. Mr. and Miss Faber Confound the fellow, he’s all over the place! The women in Edinburgh have gone mad, I think, and I’m sure he’s no beauty ; but that may be jealousy. Hullo! here’s some- A CASE FOR OPINION 3 thing different, stamped ‘ Official—paid,’ with the Lord Advocate’s signature on the envelope. What can the Right Honourable one have to sayto me? Not an invitation to a state dinner, I trust”; and he proceeded leisurely to break the seal. “My Dear Maxwell,” the letter ran, “I don’t know whether your thoughts turn in the direction of a Sheriff-Substituteship ; but, if so, I think I may safely promise that the Secretary for Scotland will be glad to recommend you for your native county, Inverdee, which, as you know, is vacant by the death of poor Lumsden. The salary is £750. The work is light. Please answer by Wednesday.—Yours very truly, “J. L. ANDERSON. “P.S—I am sorry to think that henceforth we shall meet less often. I need hardly tell you how I have always enjoyed your companionship and admired your abilities.” Thé letter dropped from Maxwell’s hand. A Sheriff-Substituteship! Was this to be the end of all his dreams—the crown and consummation of his dearest hopes and ambitions? Was his vast store of painfully-acquired legal know- ledge, together with his keen insight into men and affairs, to be henceforth devoted to the settlement of small disputes between bucolic 4 IN THE EYE OF THE LAW hucksters about the purchase of oxen and the price of swine, or the conviction of drunkards for behaving according to the dictates of their natural and acquired brutality? Was he to leave the dear, delightful haunts of the Princes Street clubs and the Parliament House for the grass-grown streets of scandal-loving Inverdee —that out-of-the-way little county town at the end of a branch line of railway, where, except on market days and court days, the place seemed a village of the dead, inhabited only by two or three street loafers at the public- house corner and a few bedraggled hens in the roadway ? “The Secretary for Scotland,” he murmured distractedly, in burlesque imitation of the form in which Scottish judgments are usually pro- nounced, “having considered the closed record of an unsuccessful advocate, finds in fact that he has arrived at the pinnacle of the brilliant possibilities of a career of failure at the bar of Scotland ; therefore decerns and ordains the said Archibald Maxwell to be deported to the undesirable locality of Inverdee, and remits to the Lord Advocate to offer to him the lucrative appointment of—oh, damnation !” A CASE FOR OPINION 5 Of course he must accept; there was no doubt about that. After all, who was he that he should think of declining an offer that dozens of better men would have jumped at? Besides, kind as was the letter of old Sir John, it con- tained a pretty clear intimation that a refusal would be received with anything but favour ; and, as Sheriff-Substituteships go, £750 a year was not, in the present state of his pecuniary resources, to be lightly set aside. Then, as the letter said, Inverdee was his native county. “True,” thought Archie, “but oh! how fallen, how changed”; and, with a heavy sigh, he went to the table and sat down to his untasted break- fast, just as the door opened and his cousin and companion, Charlie Gordon, entered the room. They were both men of about thirty-four or thirty-five; considerably above middle height, and having a distinct family resemblance to one another. Maxwell was the fairer of the two, with keen, penetrating eyes, a large quantity of short-cropped, curling, light-coloured hair, on which the constant friction of the advocate’s wig seemed to have had little or no effect, and a frank, pleasant, open address, under which he concealed a reserve of deep concen- 6 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW trated power which few but his most intimate friends ever gave him credit for. Gordon, on the other hand, was slightly darker than his cousin, and his hair was already beginning to turn grey. His face had that worn, colourless look which comes as the result of brain work kept up too late at night, or dissipation, or very frequently as a consequence of an injudicious combination of the two. On the morning in question he looked particularly wearied and worn out; and, to judge from the expression of his face, hardly in the best of tempers. “Yet here, Laertes?” cried Archie, hastily concealing the Lord Advocate’s letter and turn- ing round with simulated gaiety. ‘No work for you to-day in the Court of Teinds, nor yet in the Justiciary?” “Nothing, thank goodness!” answered Gordon, ‘casting himself at full length upon the sofa, with a melancholy sigh. ‘“ My dear fellow, you get through life easily and enjoy it. Look at me! This is the first Monday of the session that I have had nothing to do, and I am glad of it, for I am thoroughly done up, I assure you.” Maxwell grinned merrily upon his lolling companion. A CASE FOR OPINION 7 “Oh Charlie, Charlie!” he cried, “why keep it up with me? I’m not an agent!” Gordon shot an angry glance at his cousin, who was now coolly going on with his breakfast. ‘“T am not ‘keeping it up’ as you are pleased to call it,” he retorted; “I am really fagged out, although I do manage to appear at break- fast a little before eleven o'clock !” Archie nodded pleasantly. ‘My head is burning still with last night's ” “ee Piquet ?” inquired Archie, placidly buttering a round of toast. “Oh, shut up!” exclaimed Gordon, rising angrily. “ You can’t understand the disposition of a man like me!” “T think I do, slightly,” responded Archie quietly. “ No, it’s not to be expected. If I dm to get through my work, I must have a certain amount of innocent recreation; and there’s an end of it!” “Certainly, or there will be, very soon, considering the pace at which you are going,” replied the other, rather seriously. ‘“ Well, what do you want now?” “ The fact is, I am such a wreck that I feel 8 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW quite unfit for intellectual exertion this morning, and so I looked in to ask i “If I could be of any assistance to you,” Maxwell suggested, as the other hesitated to proceed, “in regard to those papers you hold in your hand.” “Well—in short—yes!” answered Gordon, sitting down again rather shamefacedly. “The old story,” thought Archie, “plenty of brains, but no application! Upon my word, I believe he would come to me for my advice as to whether or not he ought to hang himself, rather than be bothered considering the point for himself—What is it this time?” he inquired aloud. “Two cases for opinion that came this morning. There, read them for yourself,” replied his cousin, throwing the documents on the table. ‘Hum !” said Archie, before unfolding the first, “from William Wintrup, S.S.C., I observe —a shark and a sharper. An ‘4.8.’ case too! Do you know, Charlie, it always strikes me there’s something fishy about these alphabetical conundrums. Ah! the second seems more respectable—from Cochrane & Cochrane, W.S., A CASE FOR OPINION 9 short and to the point, with the Dean of Faculty as your senior, I see.” And then, with a deepening frown, he read the memorials, one after the other, two or three times over. “‘T say, Charlie,” he cried at length, “I don’t like this. There’s some villainy here, depend upon it, though I don’t quite make it out as yet.” “Let me hear,” drawled Gordon, ‘I haven’t read the papers.” “That’s nothing to be proud of, my feeble friend,” thought Maxwell as he glanced sharply at the figure on the sofa. “ Listen, then,” he said, “they are both quite short, This is the first—from Wintrup :-— ‘A, not being a domiciled Scotsman, married #8, a domiciled Scotswoman, who subsequently deserted him, and has remained away for the statutory period of four years. ‘A, since the desertion began, has come to Scotland, where he has resided for more than forty days, and where he proposes to reside for some time. ‘The opinion of counsel is requested on the following points :— 10 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW ‘;, Whether A has a good action against B for divorce for desertion. ‘9, Whether, the action being undefended, A’s residence in Scotland may be held by the Court sufficient to constitute domicile, and found jurisdiction. ‘3, Whether, in the event of divorce being granted, A will have a claim to the half of B’s movable estate under the Married Women’s Property Act, 1881, section 6.’ “The second, from Cochrane & Cochrane,” he continued, picking up the remaining paper, “contains a paraphrase of the third question only—‘ Does the 6th section of the Married Women’s Property Act, 1881, apply to the case of a husband divorcing his wife for desertion ?’ and, as I have said, the Dean of Faculty is here consulted as your senior.” ‘Charlie, my boy,” repeated Archie, when he had finished reading these precious documents, ‘<] don’t like the look of it.” “Why, what’s the matter with it?’ inquired the other irritably. Maxwell was sitting thoughtfully gazing at the questions once more. “But for the final query in Wintrup’s A CASE FOR OPINION II memorial,” he answered at length, “I should have said this was a mere subterfuge by a disenchanted couple to invoke the law, illegally, to loose them from their chains. But this double allusion to the Married Women’s Property Act somewhat alters the complexion of affairs, unless indeed .” here he turned once more to the papers, and remained in deep meditation for some time. ‘Well, there’s no harm in giving my opinion on an ‘4.8.’ case at all events,’ exclaimed Gordon, fretfully, after a pause. “No harm, my boy, so long as it remains an ‘A.B. case,” replied the other. ‘Give your opinion by all means ; but scrutinise with anxious care the next consistorial cause that is sent you by William Wintrup, Esq., S.S.C. ; and, if it bears the faintest resemblance: to this alphabetical piece of casuistry, don’t touch it with the proverbial tongs. That's my advice.” “Well, well! ‘Sufficient unto the day,’’ said Gordon, rising ; “but, as to these opinions now, if you were in my place what would ” F you be inclined to “J should be inclined to say—if I were 12 IN THE EVE OF THE LA W in your place”—answered Maxwell, smiling demurely at the well-known formula,’ “ that. A, by a careful concealment of all the salient facts, and not otherwise, might possibly succeed if he brought his action in a Scotch Court. But. there,” he continued, ‘we shall ° look into the authorities presently. |Mean- time, I have more important news for you— something that must alter the current of both of our lives. Read that!” and_ he handed Gordon the letter from the Lord Advocate. Gordon read the communication with an ever-lengthening visage, and finally threw.it on the table in seemingly speechless amazement. “Well?” asked Maxwell. ‘You're never going to take it, of course?” faltered Gordon, at length. Maxwell remained silent. ‘You, only a Sheriff-Substitute!” the other went on, gathering courage. ‘The thing is ludicrous. How should we survive the loss of the most popular man in the Parliament House? What should I—I—do without you?” . ‘The Parliament House will not cease A CASE FOR OPINION 13 its busy hum on my account,” answered his cousin. “It is like a little world, and, in. the nature of things, cannot but soon forget even those of its sons whom it once deemed almost ‘indispensable. So it has ever been! But it is of you I am thinking, Charlie. Your way of living will have to be changed. You must rely on yourself for the future.” “You don’t mean to say that you are really going back to that forsaken spot? I thought you were too glad to be rid of it for ever.” “T am, in deed and truth, going to Inverdee.” Then Gordon began to rave. How was he possibly to continue to keep up his practice if Maxwell were not there to counsel and advise in secret? It was cruel, unkind, and unjust. Now that he had got his foot firmly planted on the ladder, he would undertake to help Maxwell to ascend along with him. Let him think no more of this paltry appoint- ment—the offer was almost an insult to a . man of his.parts!—and in the meantime he, Gordon, would allow him £ 500,—4600 a year, just to go on as they had been. hitherto doing ; and here, he all but broke down and 14 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW wept—in his chagrin, self-pity, and childish terror of being left alone in legal darkness. “Charlie, my man,” said Maxwell gravely, after the other had:so far recovered himself, ‘“‘you are talking nonsense; and you know it. It’s not very likely that I am going to refuse a certain £750 a year, and a life at least of independence, for the sake of a _ precarious five or six hundred from you if your practice continues, and if you remember your promise —and far be it from me to suggest that you would not do so. Come, I want to talk to you seriously. We have been at the bar together for the last ten years. You have succeeded: I have failed. Yes, yes, I know it is too late for me ever to make a business now. How and why you have got on and I have not, you may know—I don’t profess to. The vagaries of agents in their choice of counsel are too wonderful for me! I cannot comprehend them! Once or twice you have not treated me over-well; but we will say no more of that. I promised to help you; and I think you will acknowledge that, up to now and to the best of my ability, I have done so.” Here he paused; and Gordon, who was 4A CASE FOR OPINION 15 nervously twisting the Lord Advocate’s letter in his trembling hands, nodded an ungracious assent. “For the sake of her that’s gone,” continued Archie softly, “I have borne with: you as I should have borne with no one else. I have slaved for you, having none other of my kith and kin to slave for. I have been ready to prompt, to advise, to suggest to you arguments for all your cases, till now you have a reputation as a junior, which—forgive me for saying it, Charlie—you will have to work hard to sustain when I have left you.” ‘What need to tell me that now?” cried Gordon savagely. ‘Don't I know it, and writhe under it? I am a sham, a mockery, a puppet who has danced to your wire-pulling for ten years. I have come to hate the life, and almost to hate you. The brilliant Gordon,” he continued bitterly, “whose disquisitions on a knotty point of conveyancing law are only equalled by the piquancy of his cross-exami- nations on questions of fact in the convenient absence of his senior, is such a poor, miserable, self-distrustful ignoramus and bungler that he dare not even write an opinion upon such an 16 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW elementary and knavish set of questions as that”—and he dashed Mr. Wintrup’s unfor- tunate memorial to the ground — “ without coming, with bated breath and whispering humbleness, to make a pretence of consulting with, but really to receive his instructions from, his lord and master in law. My God! Often and often, when I have been repeating like a parrot, at the bar of one of the divisions, the lesson you had taught me on the previous night, and have seen you lolling in the re- porters’ box, professing to take no interest in what was going on, but really watching lynx- eyed for every point to be made as you had told me to make it, I have felt as though I could have cursed the day I ever entered the Parliament House!” : Again he sank down on the sofa, and buried his face in his hands. “And now,” he continued, almost hysterically, ‘now that I simply cannot stand alone, now that gradually you have made me so dependent on your instructions and advice that I seem to have no mind of my own, now you threaten to abandon me to despair!” Maxwell, who had been listening to this A CASE FOR OPINION 17 harangue in frowning silence, here intervened with the sudden, sharp, and seemingly irrelevant question, “Look here! How much do you owe Faber ?” Gordon looked up, pale to the lips. “What has that to do with it?” he stammered. “Everything,” replied the other shortly. “Until that man came to Edinburgh you were industrious, painstaking, careful—none more so. Now you sit all afternoon in the card-room of the club, playing with that beastly Asiatic— for to whatever nationality he may profess to belong, that is what he is. You apply yourself well enough to your work at night, because you must do so; but then, instead of going to bed, I hear you sneaking out, doubtless to Faber and cards once more. Do you know where this is leading you?” Gordon sat silently regarding Maxwell, his face white and drawn. “You are making about £3000 a year,” continued the other, rising and marching about the room, “and at the present moment have not, I daresay, a twenty pound note to bless yourself with. No, I thought not,” as Gordon c 18 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW visibly winced. ‘I tell you, you are ruining your life, spoiling the prospects of a career whose possibilities are infinite. Don’t you see it is this cursed gambling, not your reliance on me, that is making you mistrust your own capabilities? The best thing that can happen to you is that I should leave you to yourself— that is, if you are not already in this man’s power. Come, how much do you owe him?” “Nothing—a mere trifle,” murmured Gordon, completely subdued. “Hum! So you won't tell me,” said Max- well. “Well now, I'll tell you something, for I have been making inquiries. This man Faber calls himself the son of an English officer. His mother was an Afghan, a beautiful woman, whom his father married after the first. war. That I believe to be true enough. That he is a knave and adventurer, I also believe to be true. I encountered him first, about five years ago, in a country house in Kent, where he met, in an evil hour for her I am afraid, the famous Miss Mabel Sellars.” “What!” cried Gordon, “‘the vanishing millionairess ’?” “The same,” replied the other. “ Now, after A’ CASE FOR OPINION 19 that visit he succeeded in inducing Mabel Sellars to marry him. That I happen to know for an indubitable fact, though it seems to have been kept a profound secret.” Gordon stared in amazement. “Is this true?” he asked. ‘‘T know it to be so,” replied tae other. “Where is she, then?” Archie shrugged his shoulders. “As you are aware, she is being perpetually ‘’tized’ in the newspapers, like the marchioness in the ‘Old Curiosity Shop,’ without any obvious result. Well, six months ago, Faber - came to Edinburgh without his wife, but with this precious sister of his, with whom he lives in the house they have rented in Durham Street. Now, mark this. Cochrane & Coch- rane were the law agents of Mabel Sellars’ father and her trustees. Old Mr. Cochrane, who is one of the shrewdest and most reliable ‘of men, has been laid aside for some time, and has been wintering somewhere in the East, | hear. Young Cochrane, who is not remarkable for extra intelligence, seems to play cards with Faber—the stupid young fool !—about as much as you do. He, too, is looking somewhat sad 20 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW of late. Faber has been seen several times recently in deep consultation on the floor of the Parliament House with that scamp Wintrup. Do you see any connection between that chain of circumstances and these cases for opinion?” he continued, holding up the documents. “ By Jove!” whispered Gordon breathlessly. “For A, read Julius Faber, for 2, Mabel Sellars,” continued Maxwell impressively, “and, unless I am much mistaken, we have here the materials of a nice little plot whereby Faber, having somehow got rid of -his pretty, but somewhat silly, wife—as I always thought her—is going to try to grab half her fortune by process of law; and young Cochrane, in the unfortunate absence of his father, is to be coerced into giving up the securities to Mr. Faber, while shielding himself behind the barrier of an opinion of counsel.” ‘It looks very like it,” said Gordon thought- fully, ‘I believe you are right.” “IT was afraid,” Maxwell resumed, “that you might be so thoroughly in Faber’s toils that he had some hold on you as well. But as you owe him only a trifle, I suppose there is no fear of anything of that sort?” and A CASE FOR OPINION 21 he shot a keen, questioning glance at Gordon, who had by this time completely recovered his composure. “No fear of anything of that sort,” the other repeated, ‘I assure you.” “That's well,” responded Maxwell heartily. “Now, to answer these precious questions in a manner which, if I am right, may put a spoke in Mr. Faber’s wheel. Let us see— ah! yes,” and having read once more the memorial from Wintrup, he rapidly jotted down the following on a scrap of draft paper :— “Ans. 1 and 2. A, not being a domiciled Scot, has no action for divorce for desertion against ZB. “Ans. 3. In the circumstances of the previous reply an answer to this query is perhaps unnecessary. The point is doubtful ; but I incline to think that the words of the statute must be construed strictly, and that they apply only to the dissolution of the marriage by the death of the wife. 4 would therefore have no claim to the half of &’s estate, even if he succeeded in obtaining decree of divorce,” : “As to Cochrane & Cochrane’s case,” he 22 IN THE EYE OF THE LAW continued, “you had better say something of. the same nature if the Dean of Faculty approves, as doubtless he will when the point is properly explained to him. It will be cold comfort to Mr. Faber and Mr. Wintrup, S.S.C., let us hope. Now, I must be off! By the way, I am dining at the festive board of the Dean of Faculty to-night. I suppose you are to be there? Miss Ida looks more charming than ever since you became engaged to. her.” “Yes, I’m to be there,” replied Gordon, ignoring the latter part of Archie’s panegyric. “By the way, I introduced Faber the other day. He may probably be at dinner also.” “Oh!” said Maxwell, opening his eyes very wide, “that was a bold thing to do. And his sister?” ‘“‘T introduced her to the Dean also.” “That was bolder,” replied the other enig- matically ; and, with a curt nod, he left the room, and the house. CHAPTER SOME OPINIONS SECOND ON THE CASE "THE Dean of Faculty, as his habit was— a habit which drove his only daughter Ida to the verge of distraction—was solemnly stalking about the floor of the front library of his house in Buckingham Row, awaiting the arrival of his dinner guests. It was one of his peculiarities—also strongly disapproved by the young lady of the house—to receive in that room, instead of in his daughter’s drawing-room up stairs. The antiquated calf- and vellum- covered law books of two of his remote ancestors—a forgotten Judge and a bygone Lord Chief Baron—were ranged methodically on the dark oaken shelves that completely surrounded the room. Equally grim and gaunt, the portraits of these deceased worthies looked out upon their degenerate descendant from niches above the fireplace, and stared 24 IN THE EYE OF THE LAW angrily across at a conspicuous copy of Cockburn’s Trials for Sedition, in which their virtuous endeavours to protect our glorious constitution, by the simple expedient of sentencing to transportation all who held opinions differing from their own on the subject, are painted with an unsparing hand ; while, at the further end, concealed by heavy velvet curtains, was the Dean’s own private study, his “sanctum sanctorum where all his real work was done,” as he used to announce in somewhat pompous tones. The work was but little after all, poor man; but, like Boswell sleeping in barracks and imagining himself a soldier for the time being, the fancy pleased him. For, though Dean of the F aculty of Advo- cates, Robert Hunter of Woodhill was by no means a. busy man. Rich, aristocratic, and somewhat haughty and reserved, ever mindful of his judicial progenitors and their musty tomes, reverencing their memories while detesting their political peculiarities, he had passed many years at the bar without advancement from either Whigs or Tories, and without much employment from the agents, who rather re- SOME OPINIONS ON THE CASE 25 sented the airs of superiority and condescension under which he concealed the natural modesty, and even shyness, of his kindly nature. Twenty years before this story opens he had married, rather late in life, a gentle lady, who died in giving birth to his daughter Ida. At length the Faculty of Advocates, suddenly awaking to the fact that there was one amongst them whose czzstne and taste in wines were alike irreproachable, and whose minor claims— ancestral, feudal, forensic, and pecuniary—were deserving of high recognition; had with one voice called him to the honourable office of Dean; and thus had he been overwhelmed with a burden of gratitude “ which,” as he said in a voice broken with emotion when taking the chair for the first time, “he would carry with him to his grave.” Since that time, from ‘being one of the least known and most retiring of the hadztuds of the Parliament House, he had striven, with some success, to make himself popular with his brethren, young and old. Chamber work of a kind, too, had been thrust upon him; but he was practically incapable now of being of real service as an advising counsel. He was getting old. His mind had 26. IN THE EYE OF THE LAW ‘never been accustomed to grasp facts and apply to them the law which, with infinite pains and i labour, he, had all his life been acquiring. He was, in short, a sa sad monument of failure through lack of early ex, “experience of practice, and a ‘childlike ignorance. of the ways of the_ world ; 1; though, fortunately for himself, he knew_ itno. On that very day there had been sent to him for opinion, along with Gordon as his junior, the case which we have already seen dealt with by Maxwell. All afternoon he had been buffeting his books and cudgelling his brains ; : but, as now he stalked about the floor, cogitating the point, he was no nearer a solution of the legal difficulties and subtleties with which he had bewildered his mind than when he first took up the question. “Ah, Ida, my dear!” he cried, as his daughter entered the room, “here you are, in time for once, I am glad to see.” His daughter, a petted spoiled child of nineteen, whose temper, even at her best moments, was somewhat variable and uncertain, pouted discontentedly at the implied reproach ; and, flopping down on a chair by the fireplace, SOME OPINIONS ON THE CASE 27 held up her fan before her face to screen it from the scorching heat of the fire, which even in the month of June the Dean insisted on having lighted before dinner. Father and daughter were singularly unlike in appearance and character. He was a tall, slim, clean-shaven, old-fashioned gentleman, nearer seventy than sixty despite his ever- youthful countenance, with its kindly grey eyes, straight nose, and mobile, somewhat. weak-looking mouth and chin ;—a mild mixture of both of his legal predecessors, whose faces. were now glaring down upon him fantastically in the flickering firelight. She, on the other hand, “favoured”—as the Scotch say—her mother’s side of the family. She was fair and inclined to plumpness, her straight hair elaborately curled, and netted like a cherry tree. She was decidedly pretty, but decidedly discontented looking, seeming usually to be actuated by a wilful capriciousness which often caused grave uneasiness to her really kind-hearted parent as he watched, without. comprehending, her vague longings, her aim- less rebellion at the ordinary course of everyday events, her human yearnings for ‘something 28 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW better than she had known.” Since leaving school she had gone through the usual round of Edinburgh gaiety, and become accustomed _ to its exclusive and by no means over-brilliant society; and, in her heart of hearts, she disliked _ it all intensely. “Why could not her father, with all his wealth, leave this provincial place, with its cliques, its self- complacency, and snobbery? Why not take her to be presented, and live in town during the season?” Not that she had ever preferred this vain request, well knowing how utterly. incomprehensible such an ambition would appear to his mind. The spring and autumn vacations she spent at their country seat, Woodhill, in Inverdee- shire—also, in her opinion, ‘a pokey hole,” though she dared not say so. And now she had deliberately tied herself for ever to the kind of life she so heartily detested. In a moment of ennui and caprice, for the sake of a new sensation to break the monotony of existence, she had become engaged to Charlie Gordon, the “rising counsel ”—how she detested “rising counsel”—and to-night she felt more miserable than ever at the thought of it. Altogether, the young lady, SOME OPINIONS ON THE CASE 29 who sat toying with her fan in front of the fireplace as she awaited her father’s guests, was in no enviable frame of mind. “Is Charles Gordon to be here to-night, my dear?” asked her father at length, stopping in the midst of his perambulations. “Oh, yes, I suppose so,” Ida answered, with a shrug. ‘ He's always about the place,” she muttered to herself. ‘“‘That’s well, that’s well,” observed the Dean blandly; “he and I have an opinion to consider, about which I should like to have a chat with him” “ Bother opinions!” thought Ida. “And really it is impossible even at. luncheon-time to get a word with that young man of yours in the Parliament House. Ah, my dear,” he continued kindly, coming and standing behind her chair, “there must be great attraction here to bring him from his . work on a Monday evening. We must let him off early to-night.” ‘He is welcome to go when he pleases, so far as I am concerned,” thought the unhappy martyr. # “Yes, you have chosen well,” proceeded her 30 IN THE EYE OF THE LAW father, rather sententiously, but with a certain dignity too. ‘Gordon is, indeed, one to be proud of—upright, honourable, and a man of talent. The days of family patronage and prestige are now happily gone for ever”—here he paused to give a half-wistful, half-reproachful glance at the ancestral portraits and the gloomy tomes—“‘ happily gone for ever,” he resumed, in a firmer tone. ‘‘The day of the recognition of real, genuine worth has arrived”; and he meditated sweetly on his unanimous election to the Deanship. ‘Not that all men of parts necessarily come to the front,” he continued, after a pause. “Look at young Archie Maxwell of Balindear, for instance!” “IT wish, father, you would not call him Maxwell of Balindear,” Ida broke in pettishly ; “you know he sold the place years ago, and is even now as poor as a church mouse.” “True, my dear, too true,” replied her father, with a sigh, “it was only the effect of old association. There have been Maxwells at Balindear ever since Inverdee was a county ; but Archie had to sell, poor fellow. Some grocer or provision merchant from Liverpool SOME OPINIONS ON THE CASE _ 3r bought the place, I understand, and the price did little more than pay off the bonds and dispositions in security. True, very sad!” “Well, Archie is coming to-night also,” said Ida, somewhat repentant of her late outburst, ‘cand his dear friend, Katie Aitken, of Over- brae. You know, her father is dead, and she actually lives with an old aunt, all the year round, at that out-of-the-way little ”"—“ pokey hole” was at the tip of her tongue, but fortunately correcting herself in time, she finished rather lamely with “place.” “Ves, I heard of the death,” answered her father. ‘I always liked Overbrae, marching, as it does, with Balindear, about three miles up the river from Inverdee. And so they are old friends, are they? Well, they will soon have an opportunity of renewing their intercourse if the news I-hear is true.” “What news is that?” inquired Ida, betraying a slight interest at last. ‘Maxwell is to succeed Mr. Lumsden as Sheriff-Substitute at Inverdee.” — “What! Our county, father?” cried Ida in amazement. “Yes, my child, our county as you call it, 32 IN THE EVE OF THE LAV" and for that matter his own county, and Kat Aitken’s county too. I suppose we ought t say, in these degenerate days,” he added, witl a melancholy glance at the portraits, “also thi county of the general provision merchant whi has purchased Balindear.” “ Well, I wish him joy of her!” said Ida. “Yes, it is a very good appointment, my dear,” replied the unsuspecting Dean. Ida sniffed. “Tell me, father, have you asked thi: wonderful Mr. Faber to dinner to-night? Yor know I have never met him yet, and every one is raving about him.” “T have asked him, and, though it is some what informal, his sister too. I apologised for not being able to take you to call. Yes, they are both coming. Miss Faber appears to me from the little I have seen of her, an excep: tionally beautiful woman; Faber himself, 2 thorough man of the world, in my opinion He seems rich and well connected. He says his father knew me before he went into the army, but I have no recollection of the circum. stance. He is rather a rolling stone, I should think, but unmistakably a gentleman. _ They SOME OPINIONS ON THE CASE 33 have taken a house in Durham Street, and evidently propose ’ settling there for some time.” “Come, this sounds better,” thought Ida. “I must cultivate this rolling stone and man of the world. I suppose I shall have to go in to dinner with old Martin; but I can easily arrange to get the new man on my other side.” And now the door was thrown open, and the company began to arrive. “Oh, brave!” exclaimed the Dean of Faculty, as “old Martin,” otherwise Mr. Elphinstone- Martin, Sheriff-Principal of Inverdee and Kirk- andrews, rolled into the room, his rotund figure glorious in knee breeches, silk stockings, shoes and buckles, and a single-breasted coat. Had his shining bald head only been crowned with the accustomed tie wig, he might easily have been mistaken, with his rubicund, clean-shaven face, his jovial laugh, and merry eye, for an elderly Charles Surface or a modern Squire Western. “Oh, brave!” repeated the Dean, with ponderous playfulness, walking round the new arrival. “Ha! ha! ha!” roared Mr. Elphinstone- D 34 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW Martin, in high-pitched, good-humoured tones, “I suppose I ought to apologise for appearing in this costume. It is not fancy dress, Miss Hunter, I assure you. But you know the Edinburgh Kirkandrews ball takes place to- night, and they expect this sort of thing from the Sheriff of the county. Not that I like it myself, Miss Hunter,” he continued, turning to Ida, with an apologetic shout. “It exposes me to rude personal observations, such as you have just heard. Why, the very last time I was at Holyrood attending on the Lord High Com- missioner, a professor of anatomy had the impertinence to remark,” here he glanced proudly down at the goodly proportions of his calves, “that I must either be suffering from elephantiasis or stuffing. Ha! ha! ha!” “ Kirkandrews?” asked the Dean, in seem- ing wonder, ‘is that the latest county that has succumbed ?” “There, again!” bellowed Mr. Martin delightedly, ‘just because a man, by a judicious selection of politics, happens to have. obtained promotion from both parties, and to_ have been tossed about from Sheriffdom to Sheriffdom » SOME OPINIONS ON THE CASE 35 ‘With kaleidoscopic rapidity,” suggested the Dean slily. “With kaleidoscopic rapidity, as your worthy father puts it,” Mr. Elphinstone-Martin went on stoutly, though evidently rather put out, “he lays himself open to misconstruction thus!” But again the door was thrown open, and the Dean: hastened to welcome his guests with old-fashioned courtesy. ey, Archie Maxwell, in irreproachable ‘evening dress, his fair curly hair smoothed down into rebellious propriety, came first. “I congratulate you, my dear boy,” ’ said the Dean, with undertoned meaning, as he warmly shook Archie’s proferred hand. “Thank you—thank you very much. But it is still a secret. An appointment uncon- firmed, you know i “Ts an appointment all the same,” replied the Dean. ‘We shall be well and lawfully governed in the county now ”. and Archie proceeded to greet Miss Hunter, and chaff his future non-resident chief. "Mr. and Miss Faber,” shouted the butler, as he flung open the door. Again the Dean stepped forward, and 36 IN THE EYE OF THE LAW bowed low over the hand of the queenly woman who preceded her brother into the room. What need is there to describe her whose form and features have since been so elaborately portrayed by hundreds of journal- ists? She seemed about thirty years of age, though these tell-tale little wrinkles about the eyes may have been concealed by “art's_ adventitious aid.” With a tall, strong, supple, ‘majestic figure, a well- poised little head, glorious chestnut hair loosely gathered into a coil at the back and lying low down on her neck, clear, transparent skin, melting, penetrating, languishing, flashing brown eyes, and straight eyebrows—‘the actor’s feature,” as some one has called them—she really looked like a sovereign receiving the homage of a subject as the Dean bent over her daintily- gloved hand. Behind her came her brother, Mr. Julius Faber, whose arrival and stay in Edinburgh had caused such a sensation among the small coteries who inhabit the clubs and the west- end. He was a striking-looking, darkly- bronzed man, of from forty to forty-five years old, with that sensuous, ‘sentimental type of SOME OPINIONS ON THE CASE 37 face that men instinctively mistrust and women rave about ; good-looking enough, but with every feature exaggerated ; eyes fine in colour, but a trifle too protuberant; nose slightly too broad and too straight; lips and chin full and curved, surmounted by a small black moustache, clipped close; his dark hair turn- ing becomingly grey above the ears. As he smiled, showing his large white teeth, his face lighted up and his eyes seemed to glow with pure enjoyment of life. Ida gazed eagerly at him from behind her screen, and as she met his answering glance, she felt her heart beat tumultuously, and her eyes become dim. “What a fool I am to grow pale,” she thought. “And yet, I don’t care if he does see. Thank heaven! at last I seem to have met a man!” But now Gordon, too, had arrived, along with young Mr. Cochrane, W.S., a weak, straw-haired young man, with a receding fore- head and a fatuous smile, who laboured perpetually under the pleasing delusions that he was the possessor of a voice like Rubini and a nose like Napoleon. Several other 38 IN THE EYE OF THE LAW guests, male and female, had put in an appear- ance; when, last amd least came Miss Katie Aitken, a bird-like, fluffy little personage, “small in body, great in soul,” as she used to say, all curls, unfettered by the cherry tree net on the top of her head, all diamonds about the neck, all pink satin about the bodice, dress, and skirt, and no waist worth mentioning. “Pray excuse me, Ida dear,” she cried, in clear, bell-like tones as she effusively kissed her hostess, pecking first at one cheek, then at the other, “but a perfect deast of a cab- man—I’m sure he drinks—has been driving me round the gardens and out of my mind for the last twenty-five minutes.” “Why, it’s the Tomtit!” exclaimed Maxwell, advancing upon the young lady, after she had comfortably ensconced herself in the corner of a lounge. ‘The Tomtit, by all that’s wonderful!” “The Gled,* by all that’s—blessable!” re- sponded Miss Aitken promptly, looking up merrily from a pair of the sauciest blue eyes, and holding out both her hands. ‘My dear Archie, what a comfort it is to see a ‘kent face’ once more in this ‘ east-windy, west-endy ’—as * Hawk. SOME OPINIONS ON THE CASE 39 somebody or other called it—dreary wilderness of of uninteresting n nonentities !” “No treason against the grey metropolis of the north!” answered Archie good-humouredly, shaking a warning finger at this daring young lady, “especially in the house of one of her most devoted sons. And how goes the dear old county?” “None the better for the light of your countenance, sir, for many a day, truant and deceiver,” replied the Tomtit vivaciously. “But come, we are going in to dinner. Are you to take me? That's glorious. Now we caz talk.” This last observation was caused by the sight of the Dean solemnly offering his arm to Miss Faber, having previously whispered, with expres- sive pantomime, into the willing ear of Maxwell. Then Miss Aitken and he followed their host and his partner. Gordon, Faber, and the straw- haired Mr. Cochrane were paired off with three ladies with expansive bosoms and limited intel- ligences, while Ida and “old Martin” brought up the rear. By means of a little adroit management, admired and appreciated by the gentleman in question, Miss Ida succeeded in defeating the 40 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW somewhat half-hearted manceuvres of the dis- consolate Gordon, and in planting the mysterious Mr. Faber in the vacant post of honour on her left. The rest of the company having settled somehow in their places, the Dean said grace in a confidential whisper to his serviette, and they all sat down. The host turned with ‘unaccustomed vivacity to resume his talk with his brilliant and beautiful neighbour ; and soon champagne and conversation flowed. “And how is ‘The Enemy’ getting on?” asked Maxwell of his fair companion, who had for some time ceased her eager chatter, and was now gazing, with comprehending eye, first at the affable Dean, anon at the melancholy countenance of Gordon irretrievably stranded between the portly forms of two of the aforesaid dames, and then at the victorious Mr. Faber, who seemed to be devoting himself to the daughter of the house with almost as great zeal as her partner, Mr. Elphinstone-Martin, was devoting himself to the quails on toast. “The Enemy,” by the way, was the generic name by which Miss Aitken was wont to desig- ‘nate the purchaser of Balindear and all his ‘family and dependants. SOME OPINIONS ON THE CASE 4! “?” “Yes.” “ Did they both do this freely and voluntarily?” “ Certainly.” ‘And in their sound and sober senses?” “Oh, yes, I think so,” replied the witness, with another fascinating smile. “And now, Miss Faber,” said Archie, “I have only two more questions’to ask,” and he fixed his “gled’s” eye piercingly upon the witness. Then, in impressive tones, he went on— “Are they free to marry?” ‘I beg your pardon,” she faltered, “I don’t quite. ——” ‘Oh, yes,” he responded unflinchingly, “you understand the question—perfectly well. No_ ‘man may,marry more than one woman; no woman miore than one man. I ask you again, so far as you know, are they free to marry?” Si For a moment or two she seemed strangely agitated and distressed, clasping and unclasping _ her ‘hands, and gazing nervously down at Ida’s perplexed face. Then, conquering her emotion with difficulty, she turned boldly, almost defi- antly, to the Court. 172 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW ‘So far as I know—they are!” The reply was recorded. ‘One more question, Has either of them _ lived in Scotland for the last twenty-o one days?” “Both have! ual “Then,” said Archie, “you may leave the box. Next witness, Mr. Bentley.” The next witness was Ida’s old nurse, who, ‘with many tears and self-reproaches, had aided and abetted her young mistress in this clan- destine and romantic runaway match. After the evidence was concluded, Mr. Bentley, the solicitor, who had been sulking rather discontentedly while the work was thus taken out of his hands, rose and said— “Then I move your lordship for warrant in ordinary form.” “Very good,” said Archie shortly; and he began dictating to the clerk, “grants warrant to the registrar of the burgh of “It is already wnite and only wants your lordship’s: signature,” said that functionary, rising up, smiling, to present the document. Archie read it over, sighed, and picked up a quill, which he preceded leisurely to dip into the ink-bottle. ~ AN EVENTFUL DAY 173. “One moment, my lord!” cried the Pro- curator-Fiscal, “bursting “into the room and holding up his hand, in a condition of con- siderable excitement and agitation. “I have only this moment received a telegram, e layed “on account of last night’s storm, instructing me ‘to oppose _ ‘the _granting of ‘this warrant on behalf of the Crown.” ‘What, sir!” shouted Faber indignantly, starting forward. “ Silence!” roared the court officer. “Your. client will consult his own interest __ by “maintaining a a respectful ¢ demeanour in a ‘Court of Justice, Mr. Bentley,” said the Sheriff ‘significantly. Then turning to the Procurator- Fiscal, he asked— “What is the ground of your opposition, Mr. Procurator-Fiscal?” “Crown counsel has just arrived to state the objection himself, and is at this moment ascending the stairs,” replied that worthy functionary, relapsing into a chair and mop- ping his heated*brow. Once more the door of the well of the court was thrown open ; and the Tomtit grasped the arm of her aunt, uttering at the same time a 174 IN THE EYE OF THE LAW convulsive cry of astonishment, as Charlie Gordon, attired in wig and gown, advanced quickly to the right side of the table and bowed to the Court. Behind him came Mr. Cochrane, accompanied by the stolid but ever- genial Inspector M‘Kechnie, and last of all, with bowed head, leaning heavily on his stick, an ‘old and broken man—the Dean of ‘Faculty himself. The Sheriff rose at his unexpected appear- ance, and, with a gesture, invited him to a seat beside himself on the bench; but, with a courteous yet peremptory wave of the hand, the old gentleman declined the proffered honour, and, sweeping past Mr. Faber, with- out letting his eyes fall on him, sat down beside his shrinking and now thoroughly frightened daughter. Gently taking her hand in both of his own, he remained in the same attitude during the whole of the subsequent proceedings. “I appear, my lord,” said Gordon, in vibrat- ing tones, ‘to oppose this application for warrant, on behalf of the Lord Advocate.” “Then T presumé that you are one of the counsel for the Crown?” inquired the judge, with grave politeness. AN EVENTFUL DAY 175 “TI have the honour to hold the office of a supernumerary Advocate-Depute,” replied Gordon. The Sheriff bowed, and smiled. “But I never heard of such a thing t" cried ment. “Surely, my lord, this is auitte irregular?” “Unusual, no doubt, but hardly irregular, Mr. Bentley,” responded the Sheriff courteously. i ‘Such a course on behalf of the Crown, acting in the “public interest, is clearly competent. “What objection do you desire to state, Mr. Advocate-Depute, to this warrant being granted in the usual way?” “My objection,” said Gordon, in measured accents, and amidst a silence that could be felt, ‘is that the male petitioner, being already a married man, is not now free to contract this alliance.” CHAPTER THE END OF NINTH THE DAY 4 S Gordon gave utterance to the utterly unexpected words recorded at the con- clusion of the last chapter, a buzz of excitement flashed through the eager crowd of onlookers in court; and Mr. Faber was seen to be eagerly gesticulating and talking to his now completely bewildered adviser. “My lord,” exclaimed that gentleman at length, starting up excitedly, ‘“‘I have been instructed in the circumstances now disclosed, and in order to prevent the time of the Court being further invaded, to withdraw this petition simpliciter. We do not now ask that any further proceedings should be taken on it.” ‘That course I cannot permit at this stage,” returned the judge imperturbably. “How do you propose to prove your objection, Mr. Advocate-Depute ?” THE END OF THE DAY 177 “By means of witnesses, my lord; and first I propose to call, with your lordship’s per- mission, Miss Mabel Sellars.” “ Miss Mabel Sellars?” asked the Sheriff, with the slightest possible emphasis on the first word. “Yes, my lord,” replied Gordon, with the ghost of a smile; ‘that is the lady’s correct designation.” “Oh, I am glad I came,” whispered the Tomtit, in a whirl of excitement. ‘Is it all a dream, auntie? Pinch yourself to see if you are awake.” “Strange this,” murmured Archie to himself, as he wrote down the lady’s name. ‘Can I have been entirely mistaken all through?” Then, looking up with a sudden gleam in his eye, he cried sternly, looking in the direction of Miss Charlotta Faber, who was now sitting, as white as death, behind the bar— “On no account whatever let the witnesses who have already been examined withdraw from the court!” “Oh, poor girl, poor girl,” sobbed Katie piteously, as Mabel Sellars, pale and emaci- ated, with gaunt, hollow cheeks and pallid lips, N 178 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW but keen-eyed and quick-witted as ever, stepped with indomitable spirit into the witness-box. “You may sit down if you feel indisposed,” said Archie kindly, after he had administered the oath. “Thanks! I prefer to remain as I am,” answered Mabel firmly. “Of course! and die before our eyes rather than give in,” murmured the Tomtit compas- sionately. But now Gordon rose in his place. “Miss Sellars, I believe you were formerly acquainted with the male petitioner?” he began. “T was.” ‘Where did you first meet him?” « At Wilton Hall in Kent, more than four years ago.” “And I believe that, after a short time, he ‘professed to have formed an attachment for you?” “That is so,” replied Mabel, without faltering. « And, I understand, asked you to marry him?” “ He did.” “And you consented ?” “Yes,” “He gave you, I believe, certain reasons for desiring to keep the engagement quiet, and, THE END OF THE DAY 179 at last, persuaded you to be married to him secretly ?” ““Yes, I was very young,” she answered simply. “*Where and when was the marriage cere- mony performed ?” “ At the Parish Church of Easterham, four years ago, on the 14th of last month.” “ After the ceremony where did you go?” “We went together to London, where he had previously taken rooms for us in a street off Cavendish Square.” ‘“Now, Miss Sellars, I want you to tell his lordship the rest of the story in your own words.” ‘“‘The rooms,” Mabel went on without a moment’s delay or affectation, ‘‘consisted of a sitting-room, bed-room, and dressing-room en suite. No sooner had we arrived”—here she faltered for a moment, but one glance at the lowering visage of Mr. Faber, glaring at her with savage and baffled malignity gleaming from his bloodshot eyes, and one look from the sweet and sympathetic face of Katie, seemed to restore her. ‘‘No sooner had we arrived than he had the audacity to tell me that our 180 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW marriage was not legal, because, he said, he had married me under a false name, and. I_. was under age—both of which were no reasons at all, I now understand.” “Well, never mind. the peculiarities of. English law; I can assure you we have plenty of our own,” said Archie, with a smile. “Go on with your story.” “He then said to me, as coldly and cruelly as man can speak to woman, that he had never loved me, that he had no desire whatever to encumber himself with me, that he had only determined to humble my -pride and enrich himself at my expense; and gave me the choice of signing bills and documents in his favour to the amount of £250,000, or, as he put it, having my shame published to the world.” “Take time, Miss Sellars. Pray remain composed. What did you say in answer to this proposal ?” “T saw the kind of cowardly scoundrel with whom I had to deal,” replied the witness scorn- fully, ‘‘and so ”—with a touch of her old vivacity —‘ I promptly locked myself into the bed-room, and gave him to understand through the door THE END OF THE DAVY 181 that I should rouse the house if he made the slightest attempt to come near me. I stayed in that room all night ; and, next morning, while the servant was in the sitting-room, and he dared do nothing to detain me, I coolly walked out of the house and disappeared.” . Here there was a general sigh of satisfaction, and a low murmur of subdued applause. ‘‘Well, Miss Sellars,” said the Advocate- Depute, “will you kindly continue, if you are able for the effort ?” “ After that,” said Mabel, going on courage- ously, “I went straight to Edinburgh and confessed the whole story to Mr. Cochrane, my late father’s solicitor, and solicitor for my then trustees, with the result that, acting on his advice, ] kept out of Mr. Faber’s way by various subterfuges which I need not mention, while Mr. Cochrane caused inquiries to be made about Mr. Faber and his antecedents.” “In consequence of which you heard some- thing about him that somewhat relieved your mind, I believe?” “JT did.” ‘“‘ Before we go to that, however, I want you to narrate the circumstances which next brought 182 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW you into contact with the gentleman,” Gordon continued. Then Mabel told how she had first discovered that Faber had concocted a plan of bringing an action of divorce for desertion against her in the Scotch Courts, with the object of seizing half her fortune ; how she had hurried to Edin- burgh to consult Mr. Cochrane, only to find that, though on his way, he had not yet returned from abroad ; how she had gone to Faber him- self, and, for the sake of avoiding scandal and publicity, had offered him, if he ceased to molest her, an annuity of fifty pounds; how he had asked time to consider, and requested her to call at his solicitor’s office in a couple of days. She then went to explain that, in the mean- time, Mr. Cochrane had come home; and, at her request, retained counsel for her in case the action should really be proceeded with. “With silly foolhardiness,” she continued, “T kept my appointment with Mr. Faber at the solicitor’s office. I was, in the first place, shown into a room where there were boxes, a desk, a safe, and all the appurtenances of a well-appointed place of business. The solicitor THE END OF THE DAY 183 came in, and politely requested me, on some pretext, to walk upstairs to his other room, which I did quite unsuspiciously. When I got there I found that gentleman ’”—pointing an accusing finger at the bloodless face and rouenite frame of the once-fascinating Faber —‘and a forbidding-looking. woman, who . turned out to. be the solicitor’s wife. She tok told me afterwards | she had been his cook ; “and - “she Jooked it. ~ “No sooner had I entered the apartment, which was a mere attic, with no window but a skylight, than the door was locked, and I was informed by these courteous ‘conspirators that I must either sign bills and grant assigna- tions of securities to the amount of some hundreds of thousands of pounds or remain there a prisoner until the successful consumma- tion of the plot about the divorce proceedings. I refused to sign anything. They threatened that their demands would rise day by day, and left me with the hideous old woman. Latterly,” she faltered, ‘‘they began to starve me ——” “Don’t go on, Miss Sellars,” cried Archie, in tones of indignant commiseration. ‘“ Surely, ° Mr. Advocate-Depute, we need hardly distress 184 IN THE EYE OF THE LAW the lady with more of this. You escaped, we are all glad to see, Miss Sellars?” “Yes. On the very day of the trial of the divorce case, I was lying on a pallet, when I was astonished to see the skylight window suddenly shattered from without, and this gentleman,” pointing sweetly to the self-con- scious and blushing Inspector M‘ Hechaiey “came to my rescue!” Here, Court or no Court, a very distinct and unchecked round of applause tickled the ears of the gratified police officer. “ But, to return for one moment,” said Gor- don ; “you have told us that you came to learn something with regard to the male petitioner which freed you from ncinty What was it?” “T learned many things,” she answered, with emotion ; “amongst others t that he is a roué,_ a gambler, a ‘cheat, and a thief.’ _ “ Silence,” roared the court int officer, as Faber, with a loud oath, advanced menacingly to the witness-box. ‘« Be seated, sir,” said the Sheriff sternly. “T learned that he was a professional black- mailer, one of whose principal and usual methods of procedure was to beguile rich THE END OF THE DAY 185 women—married or unmarried—into compro- mising situations, to go through the ceremony of “marriage with foolish girls, if need be, and of his silence.” “And I think you. made one more discovery, Miss Sellars, which is perhaps even more relevant to the present inquiry ?” “Yes. I discovered the head that planned all his wicked and cruel schemes. I learned the name of the accomplice and instigator of all his plots and subterfuges, who shares the plunder, and looks on unmoved at the shame and degradation of his victims.” ‘“Who is that person?” asked Gordon, with stern austerity. Again a breathless silence fell upon the audience, as they leant forward to hear the culminating disclosure of this dramatic scene. ‘The woman who calls herself his sister, who. ‘has _ given « evidence. to-day that Julius Faber is free to marry | Ida, Hunter, while all ~ the ‘time “she well knows that ‘she herself i is, and has. been for ten years, Julius ‘Faber's lawful v wife!’ ——— "Maxwell 1 threw down his pen in horror and we ene ee ee 186 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW amazement. A heart-rending groan burst from, the lips of the Dean of Faculty as he fell heavily forward on the table, with the protect- ing arms of his terrified daughter around him. Faber stared about him, savage, half-dazed, and hopeless. Policemen had been dropping in, quietly and unostentatiously. The impreg- nable and immovable Inspector M‘Kechnie was standing bolt upright in his near vicinity, while the superintendent of the county police had, with affectionate solicitude, seated himself in close proximity to the lady we have hitherto known as Miss Charlotta Faber. An ominous, undertoned, but gradually swell- ing growl arose from the throats of the great unwashed; and a crisis seemed imminent, when Gordon once more broke in calmly, and in most business-like tones— ' “That will do, Miss Sellars; thank you very much. I have corroborative evidence, my lord; but I presume that, in the circum- stances, your lordship will not, as at present advised, grant this warrant.” “Warrant refused,” replied the Sheriff curtly, tossing ‘the | unsigned papers from the bench to the table. THE END OF THE DAY 187 “There are numerous charges, my lord,” Gordon went on, in his matter-of-fact-way, “in this county and in others; but in the meantime I shall ask your lordship for warrants. to apprehend Julius Faber and Charlotta Faber —the first I shall take on the charge of bigamy, the second on a charge of perjury committed during the hearing of the present petition.” ~~" Warrants granted,” said Archie quickly. “ Officers, see to your prisoners at once !.” Howl after howl of execration greeted the ears of the whilom debonnaire Mr. Faber, as, wild and dishevelled, he was hurriedly thrust out of sight down the little trap-door behind the bar. As the fair Charlotta was receiving a gentle and respectful hint from the county superin- tendent as to the propriety of her following her partner in crime, she turned with a sweeping bow to Mabel. » “‘Had I thought of this for one moment,” she hissed, ‘I should have stabbed you with my own hand. You have had revenge for your money at last,” she suggested sarcastically, to Gordon as she passed. “ Poor, silly old man,” she cried as she was led away; “Dean of 188 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW Faculty! You, who thought to spend your few remaining years in voluptuous ease with such a woman as I, where is the honour of the bar of Scotland that was entrusted to your own honour? Where is that of your daughter to-day?” ee Then she faced the bench defiantly. ‘“‘T knew it would be you!” she cried, gnash- ing her pearly teeth in fury, and glaring at Archie, with flashing eyes and heaving bosom. “From the first moment we met, I hated you. Of all the men I ever encountered, none have I detested as I detested you!” But here the patience of the police was at length exhausted; and she, too, disappeared down the fateful steps. The audience remained respectfully silent as the Dean and his daughter passed slowly and sorrowfully from the room which, elated with the hope of coming joy and bliss, she had entered so blithely a little hour ago. And then, as Gordon, Mr. Cochrane, and the Tomtit hastened to the support of Mabel, who was now all but fainting, the frantic cheers of the crowd burst forth again and again, and would THE END OF THE DAY 189 not be subdued or restrained in spite of the almost apoplectic efforts of the court officer, till Archie, feeling very much in- clined to cheer also, and thinking it well to exercise a dignified discretion, wisely withdrew _ Ae ne ee ee eter + mmaeeneen from the bench. _ CHAPTER THE TRIUMPH OF TENTH THE TOMTIT HE task of the humble narrator of these thrilling events draws to a close. The trial of the Fabers, husband and wife, for a small portion of their unusual and somewhat bizarre and picturesque crimes, is still too fresh in the public memory to warrant its reproduction in these pages. They are both, at the present moment, undergoing their well- merited punishment ; and many a.fair head lies easier on its pillow, and many a hapless and distracted heart beats more peacefully and hopefully, now that surcease has been gained from the rapacious and ever-increasing demands for hush-money of these human “leeches at the vein, ever crying, ‘Give, give!’” The name of Mr. William Wintrup, S.S.C., is no longer to be found in the annual edition of the Scotézsh Law List, but may be seen THE TRIUMPH OF THE TOMTIT Ig! neatly inscribed, along with a minute descrip- tion of his personal physical peculiarities and a far from flattering portrait of his rubicund physiognomy—with hands upraised as if in the act of benediction—in the records of our principal penal establishment in the desirable locality of Peterhead. The_Dean of Faculty, in spite of the well- meant entreaties of his many friends, insisted on resigning the “ebon wand” of his office, and retiring to end his days in his country Seat j in Inverdeeshire. The only person who entirely approved of this arrangement was Mr. Elphinstone- Martin. “If it were for nothing else,” he exclaimed, in pompous tones, one day at the fireplace in the old Parliament House, “it would be a blessing in disguise, as the salvation of the old saying that ‘the Dean of Faculty never dies’; for no — sane Lord Advocate could ever have made Robert Hunter a judge! No, no; his resig- nation was the only feasible method of up- holding the tradition.” “But isn't there some such proverb in regard to your own office?” Gordon asked somewhat maliciously. 192 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW “That may be, my boy!” Mr. Elphinstone- Martin replied, in a benevolent bellow, ‘but some other method will have to be adopted in order to fulfil the prophecy in my case; resig- nation is not one of my virtues.” Ida Hunter, a much-subdued and greatly altered woman, lives with her father uncom- plainingly in far-off Woodhill, and tends him. with increasing unselfishness and assiduous care. It is hinted that there is some proba- bility of her ultimately making a match of it with her early admirer, the somewhat weak but well-meaning son of Mr. Cochrane, who has’ been restored to his partnership, and having, like Gordon, eschewed cards and bad company, is now in a fair way of doing well. For many months Mabel Sellars lay almost at the point of death at Overbrae, whither she had been conveyed at the conclusion of the trying scene in Inverdee Sheriff Court. But her high courage, fine constitution, and indomi- table determination at length prevailed; and, thanks also to Katie Aitken and the repentant Mrs. Urquhart’s ceaseless care and nursing, she in time regained almost entirely her former health and spirits. THE TRIUMPH OF THE TOMTIT 193 The wedding of Archie Maxwell and his sweet little bride was celebrated quietly in the parish church of Inverdee, with Mabel Sellars as bridesmaid and Charles Gordon as best man. In addition to a large turn-out of the town and county people, a contingent of Archie’s old bar friends from Edinburgh put in an unexpected appearance. The local practitioners, too, headed by the procurator-fiscal and the once indignant, but now enthusiastically loyal Mr. Bentley were present in force; and afterwards kept it up till late in the following morning at the Balindear Arms, with the ready assistance of the visitors from Edinburgh, and under the chairmanship and guidance of the jovial Mr. Elphinstone - Martin, who, in his favourite costume as Sheriff-Principal of the united counties of Inverdee and Kirkandrews, pre- sided over the revels with uproarious dignity. - The estate of Balindear soon passed out of the hands of “the Enemy,” who, having in many ways made the place too hot to hold either himself or his family, retired in disgust to his provision dealing in Liverpool, and spent his declining years in "roundly “abusing and _ ‘denouncing the kingdom of Scotland generally, 0 194 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW and the county of Inverdee and all connected with it-in particular. The purchaser of the place was Mr. Cochrane, who bought, as he said, ‘‘on behalf of a client undisclosed,” and, as if by magic, the obnoxious notice ‘board dis- appeared, the lodge gates were restored to their former simplicity, and the garden of Betty’ Miller returned to its pristine dimensions. During vacation time Charlie Gordon became a constant visitor at the house of Sheriff Max- well and his wife, either in the town of Inverdee, where they lived during the winter, or at Overbrae, where they usually spent the spring and summer months. “And how is Mr. Montgomery?” asked Maxwell, one night, as the two of them sat smoking together at Overbrae. Gordon laughed good-naturedly. “Never forgiven me, I really believe, for sending back my work on that eventful day,” he replied, ‘(and he certainly does not ‘do something for his living’ by attending to my papers any more carefully than before.” “Talking of that,” said Archie casually, ‘“‘have you seen Miss Sellars recently ?” “Oh, yes,” returned Charlie, with a blush. “Look here, old man, I have learned all about i it.” a THE TRIUMPH OF THE TOMTIT 195 “Oh!” “Yes, I know the gracious and generous hand to whose aid I owe my escape from that fellow’s clutches; and, although I can never get rid of the obligation either to her or to you, I propose soon to discharge it!” “T am glad that you are already in a position to do so, my dear chap!” “I don’t intend—exactly—to pay the money,” Gordon began half shyly. “No?” “There are other ways. of extinguishing gbligations mentioned by the Civilians, aren’t there?” he inquired, looking up with a merry twinkle in his eye at the other's perplexed countenance. “Oh yes, of course,” answered Archie, with an oratorical wave of his pipe. ‘I don’t quite see what that has to do with the present dis- cussion, but debts might be cancelled, for instance, by Confusion!” ~ a Charlie nodded. ‘When the debt and credit become merged in one and the same person ——,” Archie began in expository tones. Then, suddenly catching sight of the other's beaming ,counte- 196 IN THE EVE OF THE LAW nance, “Ah!” he shouted, suddenly shying away his pipe and wringing his cousin’s hand, “it’s that, is it? I congratulate you, my dear boy, with all my heart. You are just cut out for one another.” ‘‘Mabel has already told me that you had some such opinion,” said Charlie laughing. “With all her money, and with your ability, what might you not accomplish?” pondered Archie, as he lay back in his chair. “My dear Archie,” said Charlie softly, “it is not the money. The money is the worst part of it.” ee «Hum !” quoth Archie, with a good-natured shrug. “You know that Mabel has bought Balin-_ dear, of course?” “T suspected as much.” “Well, she wants to give it to Katie and. you as a marriage present,” Charlie continued, quickly and nervously. ‘She says that it isa small return for all you have done for me, and for bringing us together, and all the rest of it; and that, as for the price, she will never miss it, any more than an ordinary person would miss the presentation of a tea-service. Think, man,” THE TRIUMPH OF THE TOMTIT 197 he went on, as Archie slowly shook his head, “think, man, what it will mean to you. You may give up your appointment here, and return to work more congenial, with an almost certain chance of success; you may ——” “My dear Charlie,” answered his cousin, with emotion, “I am overwhelmed. But such a thing cannot be. It is impossible that, with any semblance of self-respect, I could think fora moment of taking advantage of such munificence. I have made my bed, and it is not so uncomfortable after all. No, no, let us talk no more of it,” he continued, with a smile; “when next I see your charming ‘millionaires,’ I shall thank her as I ought; but it cannot be.” “TI thought not,” responded Charlie rather sadly. “Come,” shouted Archie, starting up, “let us tell the glad tidings to the Tomtit in the garden!” On that same evening, when Charlie Gordon had strolled down to the river to identify, for the twentieth time, the very spot where Mabel had first lent a gracious ear to Maxwell's pleading on his friend’s behalf, Archie stood on the lawn in front of Overbrae, gazing contentedly, with- 198 IN THE EYE OF THE LAW out a single pang of wistful longing, on the undulating stretches of field and hillside which his forefathers used to call their own, and which might to-night have been his once more for the taking. And as he gently swung the hammock in which the Tomtit was as usual reposing after the labours of the day, he looked lovingly down on her, and sang softly to him- self, in sheer content and gladness of heart. “Archie, are you happy?” a little voice whispered from the hammock. And, for answer, he still swung and sang. “Archie, are you sure?” the pleading little voice went on. “I know, my darling boy, that ‘this kind of life does not fulfil all your great ambitions and aspirations. Do you still envy Mabel and Charlie Gordon the future that lies before them ?” “T have my duty—and my Tomtit,” replied Archie softly, his eyes shining with chastened light. ‘All my hopes, ambitions, aspirations are here fulfilled. What more should man desire ? ‘There never was beauty that tongue can name Like the smile o’ love in a fond young e’e!’” THE TRIUMPH OF THE TOMTIT 199 ‘“Why do you sing, Archie?” she murmured, after a dreamy pause. “It’s no’ for nocht the gled whistles,’” he quoted merrily. ‘I sing because I am happy ; because I love you, and you love me.” And then he stooped over the hammock and kissed her, as she clung weeping around his neck. THE END. PRINTED BY WILLIAM HODGE AND COMPANY GLASGOW AND EDINBURGH pbk Pei tree tees He? pees hater tae ean Chianti ae ote 1 : ae Pen are fs Cae 2a AeA: eek area Sener a et C7 ea as Der iari} per PS oe) apn tetaay Hes ect (3 be ee 4 ay ts is Q : e