others--the wife of
Paul Ritson, and the clergyman who solemnized the marriage.

Greta's name was called, and she rose at the end of the table. Her bosom
heaved under the small lace shawl that covered her shoulders, and was
knotted like a sailor's scarf, on her breast. She stood erect, her eyes
raised slightly and her drooping hands clasped in front. After the
customary formalities, she was examined.

"You are the only child of the late Robert Lowther?"

"I am the daughter of Robert Lowther."

Drayton threw back his head, and laughed a little.

"You were married to Paul Ritson in 1875 at the parish church of
Newlands, the minister being the Reverend Mr. Christian?"

"I was."

"On the day of your marriage you accompanied your husband to London, and
the same night he left you at the Convent of St. Margaret, Westminster?"

"That is quite true."

There was a buzz of conversation in the court, accompanied by a
whispered conference on the bench. Counsel paused to say that it was not
a part of his purpose to trouble the court with an explanation of facts
which were so extraordinary that they could only be credited on the oath
of a person who, though present, would not be called. At this reference
Hugh Ritson raised his languid eyes, and the examination proceeded.

"Three days afterward you received a message from your husband,
requesting you to meet him at St. Pancras Station, and return with him
to Cumberland by the midnight train?"

"I did."

"Who took you the message?"

"Mrs. Drayton, the old person at the inn at Hendon."

"You went to the station?"

"Oh, yes."

"Tell the court what occurred there."

"Just on the stroke of twelve, when the train was about to leave, a man
whom at first sight I mistook for my husband came hurrying up the
platform, and I stepped into the carriage with him."

"Do you see that man in court?"

"Yes; he sits two seats to your right."

Drayton rose, smiled broadly, bowed to the witness, and resumed his
seat.

"Were you alone in the compartment?"

"At first we were; but just as the train was moving away who should join
us but Parson Christian."

There was another buzz of conversation, and counsel paused again to say
that he should not trouble the court with an explanation of the
extraordinary circumstances by which Parson Christian came to be in
London at that critical moment. These facts formed in themselves a
chain of evidence which must yet come before a criminal co