"I consent, upon my own responsibility," he said.
"Thank you," said Mrs. Middleton, with real gratitude.
She would not lose the man she loved, after all.
* * * * * * *
A month later the marriage of Captain Gregory Lovell, of Her Majesty's service, and Mrs. Harvey Middleton, of Middleton Hall, was celebrated. There was a long paragraph in the Morning "Post," and Mrs. Lovell was happy.
When, a week later, at Paris, the gallant captain was informed of the trick that had been played upon him, there was a terrible scene. He cursed his wife, and threatened to leave her.
"But, Gregory, I have three hundred pounds income," she pleaded. "We can live abroad."
"And I have sold myself for that paltry sum!" he said, bitterly.
But he concluded to make the best of a bad bargain. Between them they had an income of five hundred pounds, and on this they made shift abroad, where living is cheap. But the marriage was not happy. He was brutal at times, and his wife realized sadly that he had never loved her. But she has all the happiness she deserves, and so has he.