“Late that night, when honest Joseph Wyvil was in bed and asleep, Joe and Lil, in traveling rig, and with a couple of small valises, in which all their worldly goods were packed, and which were gallantly carried by the gentleman, who balanced them one in each brown hand, Joe and Lil sneaked out of the back door, and under cover of the darkness, trudged on to the railway station, where they took the 12.30 train to Scotland.
“They left the train the next morning only to hasten to the nearest minister’s house to get married. As soon as the ceremony was concluded and they had got a bit of breakfast at the counter of the railway station, standing up at it, uncomfortably, to drink weak and lukewarm coffee and eat stale sandwiches, they took the next train back to England.
“But not daring to face Joseph Wyvil in the first hours of his ‘roused wrath,’ they shunned the neighborhood of Stockton and stopped at a little Yorkshire village of Orton, not far from the city of Carlisle.
“They took lodgings at a pretty, picturesque little farm-house called Hayhurst, from which retreat they both wrote a mutual penitent letter to Joseph Wyvil, expressing profound sorrow for having disobeyed and offended so dear and good a brother, but declaring that they could not do otherwise, as, though he had forbidden them to think of marriage, they loved each other so much that they must either marry or die, and they ended by imploring his forgiveness, and signing themselves his devoted, obedient, loving brother and sister, Lil and Joe.
“Both Joe and Lil thought this letter so very touching, eloquent, pathetic and convincing that it must bring Mr. Wyvil hurrying to them in person with open arms and fervent blessings.
“And they waited for some such happy result.
“But no Mr. Wyvil came to greet their longing eyes. And no letter came in answer to theirs.
“Every day Joe went to the village post-office, but found nothing for them.
“A fortnight passed in this suspense, and then Joe suggested that their letter might have miscarried, and so they sat down together and indited a second letter, more penitent, more pathetic, more eloquent and convincing than the first. Joe posted it with his own hands, and they both waited confidently for some happy result.
“None came. Another fortnight passed, and then Joe grew angry and Lil anxious.