Noel Vanstone declared that he
would take the whole responsibility of correcting this deficiency in the
arrangements, on his own shoulders; he would not trouble Mr. Bygrave
to give him any assistance; he would confer, when they got to their
journey's end, with the landlady of the hotel, and would examine the
candidates for the vacant office himself. All the way to London, he
returned again and again to the same subject; all the evening, at the
hotel, he was in and out of the landlady's sitting-room, until he fairly
obliged her to lock the door. In every other proceeding which related to
his marriage, he had been kept in the background; he had been compelled
to follow in the footsteps of his ingenious friend. In the matter of the
lady's maid he claimed his fitting position at last--he followed nobody;
he took the lead!
The forenoon of the next day was devoted to obtaining the license--the
personal distinction of making the declaration on oath being eagerly
accepted by Noel Vanstone, who swore, in perfect good faith (on
information previously obtained from the captain) that the lady was
of age. The document procured, the bridegroom returned to examine the
characters and qualifications of the women-servants out of the place
whom the landlady had engaged to summon to the hotel, while Captain
Wragge turned his steps, "on business personal to himself," toward the
residence of a friend in a distant quarter of London.
Pages:
771
772
773
774
775
776
777
778
779
780
781
782
783
784
785
786
787
788
789
790
791
792
793
794
795