of a former marriage and of the present existence of the former
wife would certainly be forthcoming, he defied Mr. Bonteen and his
evidence,--and swore that if his claims were not satisfied, he would
make use of the power which the English law gave him for the recovery
of his wife's person. And as to her property,--it was his, not hers.
From this time forward if she wanted to separate herself from him she
must ask him for an allowance. Now, it certainly was the case that
Lady Eustace had married the man without any sufficient precaution as
to keeping her money in her own hands, and Mr. Emilius had insisted
that the rents of the property which was hers for her life should
be paid to him, and on his receipt only. The poor tenants had been
noticed this way and noticed that till they had begun to doubt
whether their safest course would not be to keep their rents in their
own hands. But lately the lawyers of the Eustace family,--who were
not, indeed, very fond of Lady Eustace personally,--came forward for
the sake of the property, and guaranteed the tenants against all
proceedings until the question of the legality of the marriage should
be settled. So Mr. Emilius,--or the Reverend Mealyus, as everybody
now called him,--went to law; and Lady Eustace went to law; and the
Eustace family went to law;--but still, as yet, no evidence was
forthcoming sufficient to enable Mr. Bonteen, as the lady's friend,
to put the gentleman into prison.

It was said for a while that Mealyus had absconded. After his
interview with Mr. Bonteen he certainly did leave England and made a
journey to Prague. It was thought that he would not return, and that
Lady Eustace would be obliged to carry on the trial, which was to
liberate her and her property, in his absence. She was told that
the very fact of his absence would go far with a jury, and she was
glad to be freed from his presence in England. But he did return,
declaring aloud that he would have his rights. His wife should be
made to put herself into his hands, and he would obtain possession
of the income which was his own. People then began to doubt. It was
known that a very clever lawyer's clerk had been sent to Prague to
complete the work there which Mr. Bonteen had commenced. But the
clerk did not come back as soon as was expected, and news arrived
that he had been taken ill. There was a rumour that he had been
poisoned at his hotel; but, as the man was not said to be dead,
people hardly beli