"I believe that there are sometimes letters--bills of lading, or whatever they are called--which gives the wife the control of her own property; otherwise, everything becomes her husband's."
"Why did he wish to marry me? There was never a gleam of love in his eye--nor a note of love in his voice. Why--except that he might get my money?"
"Villainy--villainy--villainy. Jack, this is a conspiracy. Some woman has been made to play my part. Then he will claim me as his wife, and lay hands upon all that I have."
"No, Molly, he shall not while you have friends."
"Friends cannot help where the law orders otherwise. So much I know, Jack. Yet you can do one thing for me, you can protect me from the man. He must not take me away."
"Jack, I want more; I want all Lynn to believe me. You have known me all my life. Am I capable of such a change of mind? Am I capable of so monstrous a falsehood as to steal out to marry this man and then to declare that I have never left the house? Oh, the villain! the villain!" Her cheek was aflame; her eyes flashed.
I seized her hand. "Molly," I cried, "they shall all believe you. I will tell the truth everywhere."
Just then the garden door was thrown open and Sam Semple appeared. With a smiling face and a bending knee he advanced bowing low.
"Permit me to offer congratulations to the Countess of Fylingdale."
"I am not a countess. I am plain Molly Miller."
Sam looked disconcerted and puzzled. I perceived that, plot or no plot, he had no hand in it.
"I am come," he said, "from his lordship----"
"I have nothing to do with his lordship."
"Surely, madam--surely, my lady--there is some misunderstanding. I am sent by his lordship with his compliments to ask when it will be convenient for the countess to receive him."
"You have been informed, I suppose, that I was married to him this morning."
"Then go back to Lord Fylingdale and tell him that he is a villain and a liar; that I have learned his true character; that I am not married to him; and that if he ventures to molest me my friends will protect me. Give him that message, sir, word for word."
"I believe, Sam," I said, for his discomfiture and bewilderment made him reel and stagger, "that you have no hand in this new villainy. It was you, however, who brought that man to Lynn, knowing his true character and his antecedents. Let us never see your face here again. Go; if I thought you were in this new plot I would serve you again as the captain served you three years ago."