inst the marriage, he contending there
was no marriage, and that a divorce was unnecessary. The young wife had
not abandoned the hope of seeing her husband return, all this time,
although uneasiness concerning the fate of the ship, was extending from
her owners into the families of those who had sailed in her. She wished
to meet Mark with a sum of money that would enable him, at once, to
commence life respectably, and place him above the necessity of
following the seas.

Betts reached Bristol the very day that a decision was made, on a
preliminary point, in the case of Yardley versus Woolson, that greatly
encouraged the father in his hopes of final success, and as greatly
terrified his daughter. It was, in fact, a mere question of practice,
and had no real connection with the merits of the matter at issue; but
it frightened Bridget and her friend Anna enormously. In point of fact,
there was not the smallest danger of the marriage being declared void,
should any one oppose the decision; but this was more than any one of
the parties then knew, and Doctor Yardley seemed so much in earnest,
that Bridget and Anne got into the most serious state of alarm on the
subject. To increase their distress, a suitor for the hand of the former
appeared in the person of a student of medicine, of very fair
expectations and who supported every one of Doctor Yardley's theories,
in all their niceties and distinctions; and what is more, would have
supported them, had they been ten times as untenable as they actually
were, in reason.

Had the situation of Doctor Heaton been more pleasant than it was, it is
probable that the step taken by himself, his wife, and Bridget, would
never have been thought of. But it was highly unpleasant. He was poor,
and dependent altogether on his practice for a support. Now, it was in
Doctor Woolston's power to be of great service to the young couple, by
introducing the son-in-law to his own patients, but this he could not
think of doing with a depletionist; and John, as Anne affectionately
styled her husband, was left to starve on his system of depletion. Such
was the state of things when Bob appeared in Bristol, to announce to the
young wife not only the existence but the deserted and lone condition of
her husband. The honest fellow knew there was something clandestine
about the marriage, and he used proper precautions not to betray his
presence to the wrong persons. By means of a little management he saw
Brid