“Nay, nay; not so wicked as your lordship thinks.” The Doctor would not be put out of temper. “What a benefactor is he who makes young people happy, with the blessing of the Church!”
“I cannot, I suppose, use violence to this man,” said the other. “He is a clergyman, and, for the sake of his cloth, must be tolerated. Would you kindly, sir, proceed at once to the business you have in hand and then begone? If you come to laugh over the misfortune caused by yourself, laugh and go your way. If you come for money for the wretched accomplice in your conspiracy, ask it and go. In any case, sir, make haste.”
“My lord,” the Doctor replied, “I am a messenger—from one who conceives that she hath done you grievous wrong, is very sorry for the past, which she alone can undo, and begs your forgiveness.”
“Who is that person, then?” His curiosity was roused, and he waited in patience to hear what the Doctor might have to say.
“It is, my lord, the lady who may, if she chooses, call herself your wife.”
My lord stood confused.
“Does she wish to see me?”
“She wishes to place in your hands”—here the Doctor’s voice became deeper and more musical, like the low notes of a great organ—“the proofs of her marriage with you. Does your lordship comprehend? She will stand before you, bringing with her the only papers which exist to prove the fact. She will put them in your own hands, if you wish; she will destroy them before your eyes if you wish; and she will then retire from your presence, and you shall never know, unless you wish it, the name of the woman you married.”
“But… This is wonderful… How shall I know that the papers are the only proof of the ceremony?”
“Your lordship has my word—my word of a Christian priest. I break the laws of God and of man daily. I am, however, a sinner who still guards those rags and tatters of a conscience which most sinners hasten to throw away—wherefore must my repentance be some day greater. Yet, my lord, my word I never brake, nor ever looked to hear it questioned. You shall have all the proofs. You shall be free if you please, from this moment. You shall never be molested, reproached, threatened, or reminded of the past.”