"Well," said the new arrival, as soon as he had recovered his breath, "what have you got to say for yourselves?"
"I don't know that we've anything to say," replied Cecil sheepishly.
"I should think not!" said the other. "Here, take off that coat!" And he stripped the official garment from the Englishman's shoulders. "The cap, too!"
Banborough handed it to him, saying as he did so:
"You're a police official, I suppose?"
"I'm the Justice of the Peace from the next town. They just missed catching you at the last place you drove through, and telegraphed on to me. Knowing there was a cross-road here, I wasn't going to take any chance of losing you. I left the police to follow. They'll be along in a minute. Now what do you mean by it?"
"I don't suppose any explanations of mine would persuade you that you're making a mistake," said Banborough.
"No, I don't suppose they would. Now you put on that coat accidentally, didn't you? Just absent-mindedly—"
"I don't know you," broke in the Englishman, "and I don't—"
"That'll do," said the Justice of the Peace. "I don't know you either, and—yes, I do know the woman." Then turning to Miss Arminster, he continued: "Didn't I perform the marriage ceremony over you the year before last?"