"I have heard of you!" returned the clergyman. "You are one, they
tell me, given to misusing scripture."
He had conceived a painful doubt that he had been drawn into some
plot!
"Sir!" said Donal sternly, "if you saw any impropriety in the
ceremony, why did you perform it? I beg you will now reserve your
remarks. You ought to have made them before or not at all. If you be
silent, the thing will probably never be heard of, and I should
greatly dislike having it the town-talk."
"Except I see reason--that is, if nothing follow to render
disclosure necessary, I shall be silent," said the minister.
He would have declined the fee offered by Donal; but he was poor,
and its amount prevailed: he accepted it, and took his leave with a
stiffness he intended for dignity: he had a high sense, if not of
the dignity of his office, at least of the dignity his office
conferred on him.
Donal had next a brief interview with Mr. Graeme. The factor was in
a state of utter bewilderment, and readily yielded Donal a promise
of silence: the mere whim of a dying girl, it had better be ignored
and forgotten! As to Grant's part in it he did not know what to
think. It could not affect the property, he thought: it could hardly
be a marriage! And then there was the will--of the contents of which
he knew nothing! If it were a complete marriage, the will was worth
nothing, being made before it!
I will not linger over the quiet, sad time that followed.
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