“And you really prophesied the marriage?” queried Féraz.
“It was easy enough”—replied his brother carelessly—“Given two uninstructed, unthinking bipeds of opposite sexes—the male with debts, the female with dollars, and an urbanely obstinate schemer to pull them together like Lord Melthorpe, and the thing is done. Half the marriages in London are made up like that,—and of the after-lives of those so wedded, ‘there needs no ghost from the grave’ to tell us,—the divorce courts give every information.”
“Ah!” exclaimed Féraz quickly—“That reminds me,—do you know I saw something in the evening paper last night that might have interested you?”
“Really! You surprise me!” and El-Râmi laughed—“That is strange indeed, for papers of all sorts, whether morning or evening, are to me the dullest and worst-written literature in the world.”
“Oh, for literature one does not go to them”—answered Féraz. “But this was a paragraph about a man who came here not very long ago to see you—a clergyman. He is up as a co-respondent in some very scandalous divorce case. I did not read it all—I only saw that his Bishop had caused him to be ‘unfrocked,’ whatever that means—I suppose he is expelled from the ministry?”
“Yes. ‘Unfrocked’ means literally a stripping-off of clerical dignity,” said El-Râmi. “But, if it is the man who came here, he was always naked in that respect. Francis Anstruther was his name?”
“Exactly—that is the man. He is disgraced for life, and seems to be one of the most consummate scoundrels that ever lived. He has deserted his wife and eight children...”
“Spare me and yourself the details!” and El-Râmi gave an expressively contemptuous gesture—“I know all about him and told him what I knew when he came here. But he’ll do very well yet—he’ll get on capitally in spite of his disgrace.”
“How is that possible?” exclaimed Féraz.
“Easily! He can ‘boom’ himself as a new ‘General’ Booth, or he can become a ‘Colonel’ under Booth’s orders—as long as people support Booth with money. Or he can go to America or Australia and start a new creed—he’s sure to fall on his feet and make his fortune—pious hypocrites always do. One would almost fancy there must be a special Deity to protect the professors of Humbug. It is only the sincerely honest folk who get wronged in this admirably-ordered world!”