"It is not in now?" said the judge.
"No, my lord; it must have been cleverly abstracted."
"The whole leaf, I presume?" said Serjeant Wrangle.
"Undoubtedly. The marriage entered below Robert Carr's was that of Sir Thomas Ealing: I read that also, with its long string of witnesses: that is also gone."
"Can you account for its disappearance?" asked Serjeant Wrangle.
"Not in the least. I wish I could: and find out the offenders."
"The incumbent of the parish at that time is no longer living, I believe?" observed Serjeant Wrangle.
"He has been dead many years," replied Mr. Wilberforce. "But it was not the incumbent who married them: it was a strange clergyman who performed the ceremony, a friend of Robert Carr's."
"How do you know that?" snapped Serjeant Siftem, bobbing up again.
"Because he signed the register as having performed it," replied Mr. Wilberforce, confronting the Serjeant with a look as undaunted as his own.