“But, Uncle Abel, we know who has the right to her! We know that she is my wife!”
“No, Le, we do not know that. We only think we know it. We thought we knew that Angus Anglesea was dead and in Hades. But you see he is alive, and in Washington.”
“That is a nuisance; but his being here gives him no claim on Odalite.”
“None as you and I think. But we do not know what the law may decide, Le. It is of no use going over the whole situation again. You know it, as well as I do. Angus Anglesea married Ann Maria Wright, August 1, 18—. Of that transaction we have abundant proof. If Anglesea were then free to contract that marriage, then is he the lawful husband of Ann Maria Anglesea, his second wife. But, on the other hand, if his first wife, Lady Mary Anglesea, did not die until the twenty-fifth of that same August, then his marriage with Ann Maria Wright, on the first of the said month, is null and void, and he was free to contract marriage at the time that he married my daughter, and Odalite Force is his legal second wife.”
“Oh, Heaven! oh, Heaven! oh, Heaven! What shall I do?” exclaimed the youth, starting up in a frenzy.
“‘We must be wise as serpents and harmless as doves,’” said Mr. Force; “for, Le, we have to deal with one who has the malice and subtlety of a demon from the deepest abyss. He is absolutely unscrupulous. I do not know, mind you, but I firmly believe he has falsified dates to suit his own base purposes. I believe also that he designedly laid a trap for us by which he could satiate his vengeance.”
“I—I shall kill him, and hang for it!” burst forth the boy.
“No, you won’t, Le. You came of Christian parents, and have had a Christian training. You will do nothing unworthy of your race and education,” calmly replied Mr. Force.
“Uncle!” exclaimed the youth, “how came that false publication of his death, with time, place and circumstances all complete, in the newspaper of his own village? It is amazing. It is incredible that such a fraud could have been perpetrated.”
“Yes, it is amazing and incredible. And yet we know that it is a fraud, since the man is alive and well. How it was done I do not know. Why it was done I can well understand. It was done as a trap to catch us, and place us in a false and humiliating position. I have no doubt that, from the hour of his ejection from our house and his ignominious retreat from the neighborhood, he meditated vengeance. I have no doubt he lay in wait, watching us for these three years past, giving no sign of his existence, leaving us to suppose that we were finally rid of him, but all the while watching and waiting for your return, Le, to see what would come of it. I believe that he knew the course of your ship as well as you did yourself—knew where she went and when she was ordered home. Then he manufactured this false evidence of his death, with time, place and circumstances all complete, as you said, with obituary eulogy, sketch of his life and career, and including his marriage with Lady Mary Merland, the date of her death, August 25, 18—, and his second marriage with Odalite Force——”