“We have a Duke of Buccleugh——” began Hamilton.
“Very likely he pronounced it that way; I am sure I heard it often enough to know, but I never can learn an English word until I see it written; and never should have learned his name if he had not constantly left his cards lying about on the tables; I dare say I shall find some of them in the card-basket still.” She commenced a diligent search while speaking, and soon held up a card on which was printed in large German letters the name of Mr. Howard Seymour Scott Smith.
“He used to sometimes say that the last word ought to be left out, for that his real name was Scott.”
“Perhaps he inherited property with the name of Smith?”
“No; he said something about a marriage certificate having been lost—that before he was born there was great irregularity in such things in England.”
Hamilton laughed.
“Is it not true?” asked Madame Rosenberg.
“Oh, very possibly.”
“He told us, too, that in Scotland people could be married without any certificate of birth, baptism, or confirmation—without even the consent of their friends. Franz says this is a fact, and that the existence of such a law is a great temptation to thoughtless young people.”
“I have no doubt it is,” replied Hamilton; “I would not answer for myself were I led into temptation. A great-uncle of mine made a marriage of this kind and it proved a very happy one—his friends, to provide for him quickly, used all their interest to send him out to India, where he made an enormous fortune, and as he has no children, has been, ever since his return, a sort of lawgiver in our family. I should not have been here now, if old Uncle Jack had not said that travelling was necessary to make me a man of the world, and that in Germany alone I could learn to speak the German well.”