In a few days after this it became generally known to all who took interest in such matters that John Ashbrook and old Jamblin’s daughter were shortly to become man and wife.
There were of course a number of disappointed swains, who had to repine at the loss they had sustained, but we are happy to be able to state, upon reliable authority, that no serious results attended their discomfiture. They solaced themselves by seeking “fresh fields and pastures new,” and bore their fate with becoming fortitude.
The wedding ceremony was performed on a grand scale, and on the day on which it took place Stoke Ferry Farm was filled with guests of every denomination. Lord Ethalwood honoured the nuptials with his presence, and his grand-daughter, Aveline, was one of the bridesmaids; Maude Ashbrook, and her brother Richard, were of course there, and the good people in the neighbourhood had not seen such a gathering or such a scene of festivity for many a long day.
The bride looked lovely, as all brides do under similar circumstances, or said to do, which is much the same thing.
Farmer Jamblin was a little thoughtful, or it might be said downcast, this being attributable to painful reminiscences in respect to his son; but when the ceremony had been performed, he rallied and was as cheerful as the best of them.
After the bride and bridegroom had started on their wedding tour, he became silent and thoughtful again. He had, however, for his companions Maude and Richard Ashbrook, who had arranged to stay at Stoke Ferry for a few days to keep him company.
CHAPTER LXXXIV.
PEACE’S LAWLESS CAREER—CAPTURE, TRIAL, AND CONVICTION—HIS ATTEMPTED ESCAPE FROM WAKEFIELD.
We must return again to the hero of our story. To say the truth the life of this man is little more than a record of his escapades, troubles, and trials, and a detail of the various robberies in which he was engaged. The scoundrel’s hypocrisy forms a large element in his character.
He was professedly a religious man; the neighbours thought him so, and possibly he thought so too; so he associated with the good folk who congregated in the sacred edifice, but never made himself conspicuous.