The coastguard would hardly believe that the preacher had not brought his charge safely home. "I would have trusted my own daughter with him anywhere," he kept repeating. Of that strange scene in the hall, no one but the three concerned ever knew.
Later still they heard of Meg's marriage;—the bare announcement and no more. Mrs. Russelthorpe handed the missive to her husband.
"The girl is crazy," she said. "There is no other explanation."
Mr. Russelthorpe laid down his book—they were in the library—with a groan.
"I can't face Charles. I shall go away when he comes back," was the only comment he made.
"Why? It wasn't your fault," said his wife impatiently. "You had nothing to do with the unhappy child."
"Nothing, nothing!" muttered the old man. "She told me she was desperate, and I did nothing."
Mrs. Russelthorpe turned on him sharply; her face was hard and drawn.
"Margaret told you that? Then hold your tongue about it, Joseph. It is better she should be mad, than that she should have taken this scamp of her own free will."
Mr. Russelthorpe shook his head.