“And then I went to my room and packed a small handbag with the merest necessaries for my journey.
“We still kept schoolroom hours for meals and had our dinner at two o’clock.
“Madame drank claret and Miss Murray stout at dinner; but both equally went to sleep in their easy chairs over the drawing-room fire, while I was supposed to be busy with my exercises until the five o’clock tea.
“Now was my opportunity.
“As soon as my governesses were both asleep in their chairs, I left the room, went up to my chamber, put on my outdoor dress, took my traveling bag and left the house.
“Never was there before so perfectly easy and simple a flight.
“I walked down the King’s Road until I reached the new pier, and there at the land end I met Saviola and Anglesea waiting for me. A close carriage stood within call.
“Saviola was very much agitated.
“It was Anglesea who spoke first.
“‘My dear little girl,’ he said, as if he had been speaking to his niece or younger sister, ‘I do not at all approve of these proceedings; but as I feel perfectly certain that you would go on without my consent and assistance, I think it is best, in the interests of your absent family, that I should aid and abet you in what you do—see you safely, legally and regularly through it. Now do not be frightened. We shall take the train for London. Thence the night express for Scotland. And to-morrow morning, as soon as we are over the border, you shall be married. I shall not leave you until I witness the ceremony and hold the certificate in my pocket. You will write to your father and plead your cause as no one but yourself can do so well. Perhaps he will storm, perhaps he will reproach you, but he will end in forgiving you—when he has considered all the circumstances. Here is the carriage.’