e
holy bands of wedlock--such is the tenor--there is a copy--nay, stop one
instant, if you please, sir. You say there was an imposition in the
case--I have no doubt but you speak what you believe, and what Miss
Mowbray told you. She was surprised--forced in some measure from the
husband she had just married--ashamed to meet her former lover, to whom,
doubtless, she had made many a vow of love, and ne'er a true one--what
wonder that, unsupported by her bridegroom, she should have changed her
tone, and thrown all the blame of her own inconstancy on the absent
swain?--A woman, at a pinch so critical, will make the most improbable
excuse, rather than be found guilty on her own confession."

"There must be no jesting in this case," said Tyrrel, his cheek becoming
pale, and his voice altered with passion.

"I am quite serious, sir," replied Jekyl; "and there is no law court in
Britain that would take the lady's word--all she has to offer, and that
in her own cause--against a whole body of evidence direct and
circumstantial, showing that she was by her own free consent married to
the gentleman who now claims her hand.--Forgive me, sir--I see you are
much agitated--I do not mean to dispute your right of believing what you
think is most credible--I only use the freedom of pointing out to you
the impression which the evidence is likely to make on the minds of
indifferent persons."

"Your friend," answered Tyrrel, affecting a composure, which, however,
he was far from possessing, "may think by such arguments to screen his
villainy; but it cannot avail him--the truth is known to Heaven--it is
known to me--and there is, besides, one indifferent witness upon earth,
who can testify that the most abominable imposition was practised on
Miss Mowbray."

"You mean her cousin,--Hannah Irwin, I think, is her name," answered
Jekyl; "you see I am fully acquainted with all the circumstances of the
case. But where is Hannah Irwin to be found?"

"She will appear, doubtless, in Heaven's good time, and to the confusion
of him who now imagines the only witness of his treachery--the only one
who could tell the truth of this complicated mystery--either no longer
lives, or, at least, cannot be brought forward against him, to the ruin
of his schemes. Yes, sir, that slight observation of yours has more than
explained to me why your friend, or, to call him by his true name, Mr.
Valentine Bulmer, has not commenced his machinations sooner, and also
wh