owing to the
general press of vehicles. The chaise which had been seen waiting at
Lornton Inn was, no doubt, the one they had escaped in; and the pair of
heads which had planned so cleverly thus far had probably contrived
marriage ere now.

The fears of her parents were realized. A letter sent by special
messenger from Barbara, on the evening of that day, briefly informed them
that her lover and herself were on the way to London, and before this
communication reached her home they would be united as husband and wife.
She had taken this extreme step because she loved her dear Edmond as she
could love no other man, and because she had seen closing round her the
doom of marriage with Lord Uplandtowers, unless she put that threatened
fate out of possibility by doing as she had done. She had well
considered the step beforehand, and was prepared to live like any other
country-townsman's wife if her father repudiated her for her action.

'D--- her!' said Lord Uplandtowers, as he drove homeward that night. 'D---
her for a fool!'--which shows the kind of love he bore her.

Well; Sir John had already started in pursuit of them as a matter of
duty, driving like a wild man to Melchester, and thence by the direct
highway to the capital. But he soon saw that he was acting to no
purpose; and by and by, discovering that the marriage had actually taken
place, he forebore all attempts to unearth them in the City, and returned
and sat down with his lady to digest the event as best they could.

To proceed against this Willowes for the abduction of our heiress was,
possibly, in their power; yet, when they considered the now unalterable
facts, they refrained from violent retribution. Some six weeks passed,
during which time Barbara's parents, though they keenly felt her loss,
held no communication with the truant, either for reproach or
condonation. They continued to think of the disgrace she had brought
upon herself; for, though the young man was an honest fellow, and the son
of an honest father, the latter had died so early, and his widow had had
such struggles to maintain herself; that the son was very imperfectly
educated. Moreover, his blood was, as far as they knew, of no
distinction whatever, whilst hers, through her mother, was compounded of
the best juices of ancient baronial distillation, containing tinctures of
Maundeville, and Mohun, and Syward, and Peverell, and Culliford, and
Talbot, and Plantagenet, and York, and L