“I see nothing of the sort,” said Jack. “She holds that she is my wife, and I hold that I am her husband, and so we mean to stand by one another whatever may happen. Besides, the father would hand her over to Blaydon the day she went to him; and I don’t know what you think of it, but it seems to me that just now Blaydon occupies a pretty strong position. If he were to get his hands on her, and hold her as his wife, where should we be then? How could he be hindered from putting her aboard a ship and carrying her off to the South Seas?”
Mr. Liscomb shook his head.
“We should have to serve a writ of habeas corpus and——-”
“Don’t trouble yourself further on this score,” said Jack. “We are together now, and we mean to remain together. Take that as final.”
“Very unwise! You’ll have difficulty getting the divorce. But in an exceptional case, possibly—anyhow, we’ll make a move to-morrow, under the advice of Sir Edward, of course. We’ll be first in the field, at any rate. So far as I can see just now, we shall enter our case at once and trust to have it heard early in the Michaelmas sittings.”
“What, not before October?” cried Jack.
“Most likely November, with luck, but probably December,” replied Mr. Liscomb with the complacency of a lawyer for whom time means money. “You may rely on our losing no time. By the way, has the man anything to gain by holding on to the lady—I mean, of course, something in addition to the companionship of the lady?”
“Her father is well off—a wealthy farmer,” said Jack.
“Heavens! this is indeed an exceptional case—a wealthy farmer nowadays! And you have reason to believe that if she went to the custody of her father he would hand her over to the man?”
“He would do his best in that way—he would not succeed, because his daughter is stronger than he is; but he would only force her to run back to me.”