“My wife, gentlemen,” said Grayson, gravely introducing them. Hannah's laughter exploded.
“O, father, father, father!” she exclaimed, leaning forward and extending her hands; “ain't you caught, beautifully!”
The laugh was contagious; and though the elder knit his brows, and was evidently on the point of bursting with very different emotions, his sons yielded to its influence, and, joining Hannah and her husband, laughed loudly, peal after peal!
The father could bear it no longer—he seized Hannah by the arm and shook her violently, till she restrained herself sufficiently to speak; as for him, he was speechless with rage.
“It's entirely too late to make a 'fuss,' father,” she said at length, “for here is the marriage-certificate, and Grayson is your son!”
“I have not stolen your horse, Elwood,” said the bridegroom, taking the paper which the father rejected, “though I have run away with your daughter. And,” he added, significantly, “since if you had this land, you would probably give it to Hannah, I think you and I had better be friends, and I'll take it as her marriage-portion.”
“If you can show that you did not take the horse, Grayson,” said George, the elder of the two sons, “I'll answer for that: but——”
“That I can do very easily,” interrupted the young husband, “I have the proof in my pocket.”
He caught Elwood's eye as he spoke, and reassured him with a look, for he could see that the old man began to apprehend an exposure in the presence of his sons. This forbearance did more to reconcile him to his discomfiture than aught else, save the influence of George; for, like all passionate men, he was easily swayed by his cooler children. While Hannah and her brothers examined the marriage certificate, and laughed over “the stratagem,” Grayson drew Elwood aside and exhibited a paper, written in a cramped, uneven hand, as follows:—
“This is to certify, that it was not Josiah Grayson who took Robert Elwood's horse from his stable, last night—but I took him myself, by arrangement, so as to accuse Grayson of the theft, and drive him to leave his new farm.