"Is this true?" asked Norrena, addressing Huston.
"It is," responded Huston. "I was married according to the usages of the country where I was born and I do not believe that I have any legal grounds for divorce, but as a matter of fact, the entire transaction was fraudulent."
"State the facts in full," said Norrena.
"I will," said Huston, and he narrated the story of his marriage, substantially in the same language that he had related it to me.
Norrena turned to Captain Ganoe and asked:
"Have you any reason to offer why this statement just made by Paul Huston, before these witnesses, should not be accepted as true?"
"I have not," said the Captain. "He admits that he was married to Zeta Wild. That he left her without any offense on her part for which a divorce could be obtained. Hence, he is to-day a married man. Married according to law, and he has no right to marry another woman, and Dione has no right to take him as a husband."
"That is your view of the matter," said Norrena. "But under our usages, the girl to whom he was married was an imbecile and had no right to be married, and on this ground the marriage was null and void. Besides, he was deceived, and hence the marriage being fraudulent, could not be binding."
"A legal marriage, voluntarily entered into cannot be fraudulent, and is always binding upon the conscience of all well meaning people."