As we entered, the clerical-looking gentleman rose, modestly, and smiled.
“The Reverend Mr. Hope,” said Judge Conway, presenting him. And Mr. Hope, with the same gentle smile upon his lips, advanced and shook hands.
At that name I had seen Mohun suddenly start, and turn pale. Then his head rose quickly, his pallor disappeared, and he said with entire calmness:
“Mr. Hope and myself are old acquaintances, I may even say, old friends.”
To these words Mr. Hope made a gentle and smiling reply; and it was plain that he was very far from connecting the personage before him with the terrible tragedy which had taken place at Fonthill, in December, 1856. What was the origin of this ignorance? Had the worthy man, in his remote parsonage, simply heard of the sudden disappearance of Mohun, the lady, and her brother? Had his solitary life prevented him from hearing the vague rumors and surmises which must have followed that event? This was the simplest explanation, and I believe the correct one. Certain it is that the worthy Mr. Hope received us with smiling cordiality. Doubtless he recalled the past, but was too kind to spread a gloom over Mohun’s feelings by alluding to his loss. In a few moments we were seated, and Judge Conway explained the presence of the parson.
The explanation was simple. Mohun, incessantly engaged on duty, had begged Judge Conway to send a message to the parson of his parish; the parson was absent, leaving his church temporarily in charge of his brother-clergyman, Mr. Hope; thus that gentleman by a strange chance, was about to officiate at Mohun’s second marriage, as he had at his first.
I have explained thus, perhaps tediously, an incident which struck me at the time as most singular. Are there fatalities in this world? The presence of the Reverend Mr. Hope on that night at “Five Forks,” resembled one of those strange coincidences which make us believe in the doctrine of destiny.
Having exchanged compliments with the clergyman, Mohun and I were shown to a dressing-room.
No sooner had the door closed, than I said to Mohun:—
“That is strange, is it not?”