“I declare! If you haven’t played the right bower! And you have very nearly took the trick, only for my little joker. Here it is, gentlemen! See me take this trick! Here! Here’s the joker!”
And, with these words, she took a folded parchment from her pocket, and handed it to the rector.
CHAPTER XXII
THE LITTLE JOKER
“What are these?” demanded the reverend gentleman, unfolding the parchment.
“Oh, it’s only my little joker, that took his right bower and won the trick,” laughed the woman.
“I don’t understand,” said the rector, while Abel Force, Thomas Grandiere and William Elk drew near and looked over his shoulders at the document.
“Well, read it, and then maybe you will understand. Don’t you see it is the marriage certificate?” demanded the woman.
“It is, indeed,” said the rector, examining the document. “It is, indeed, a certificate of the marriage of Angus Anglesea, colonel in the Honorable East India service, Anglewood Manor, Lancashire, England, and Ann Maria Wright, widow, of Wild Cats’ Gulch, California, signed by the officiating minister, Paul Minitree, pastor of St. Sebastian’s Parish, Sebastian, California, and witnessed by Henry Powers, Margaret Rayburn and Philomena Schubert! It is dated August 1, 18—. Col. Anglesea, what explanation can you give of this?” sternly demanded the rector, while the severe faces of the other men emphasized the question.