"What sort of a stupid joke are you two trying to get off?" he inquired.
They had by this time reached the public parlor of the hotel and found seats.
"Is it possible, Uncle Clarence, that you do not know Mr. Rockharrt was married on the thirty-first of last month, in New York, to Mrs. Stillwater?" inquired Cora.
"What! My father!"
"Why should you be amazed or incredulous, Uncle Clarence? The incomprehensible feature, to my mind, is that you should not have heard of the affair directly from grandfather himself. Has he really not written and told you of his marriage?"
"He has never told me a word of his marriage, though he has written a dozen or more letters to me within the last few weeks."
"That is very extraordinary. And did you not hear any rumor of it? Did no one chance to see the notice of it in the papers?"
"No one that I know of. No; I heard no hint of my father's marriage from any quarter, nor had I, nor any one else at Rockhold or at North End, the slightest suspicion of such a thing."
"That is very strange. It must have been in the papers," said Sylvan.
"If it was I did not see it, but, then, I never think of looking at the marriage list."