ong to the club when you came
in.'

'Come with me to the Waterloo. You see, something must be done about
these two ninnies. He must get something to do; and set to work. The
Baby has never been accustomed to live up a tree. She must have a
proper house.'

Frank King got his coat and hat; and they both went out. He was
thinking of his own affairs mostly--and of this singular sense of
relief that seemed to permeate him; Mr. Tom, on the other hand, was
discussing the various aspects of the elopement, more particularly with
regard to the Court of Chancery. During dinner the two friends arrived
at the conclusion that people generally would look upon the affair as a
harmless, or even humorous, escapade; and that the Court, seeing that
the thing was done, would allow the young people to go their way, with
a suitable admonition.

This was not quite what happened, however. To begin with, there was a
clamour of contention and advice among guardians and friends; there
were anonymous appeals to the runaways in agony-columns; there were
futile attempts made to pacify the Court of Chancery. All the
Beresfords came up to town, except Nan, who remained to look after the
Brighton house. The chief difficulty of the moment was to discover the
whereabouts of Mr. John Hanbury. That gentleman was coy; and wanted to
find out something of what was likely to happen to him if he emerged
from his hiding-place. At last it was conveyed to him that he was only
making matters worse; then he wrote from certain furnished apartments
in a house on the south-west side of Regent's Park; finally, there was
a series of business interviews, and it was arranged that on a
particular day he should attend the Court and hear the decision of the
Vice-Chancellor.

On that fateful morning, poor Madge, her pretty eyes all bedimmed with
tears, and her lips tremulous, was with her sisters and mother in the
rooms in Bruton Street; the gentlemen only attended the Court. Jack
Hanbury was looking exceedingly nervous and pale. And indeed, when the
case came on, and the Vice-chancellor began to make certain
observations, even Mr. Tom, whose care for the future of his sister had
now quite overcome all his scorn for that fellow Hanbury, grew somewhat
alarmed. The Court did not all appear inclined to take the
free-and-easy view of the matter that had been anticipated. The
Vice-Chancellor's sentences, one after the other, seemed to become more
and more severe