"You'd better go and warn the tramp," said Banborough; and the actor plunged into the woods.
A moment later the stranger came up to them, and panted out:
"I arrest you both, in the name of the law!"
Neither said anything, but Banborough took one of Miss Arminster's tiny gloved hands in his own and gave it a little squeeze just by way of reassuring her.
"Well," said the new arrival, as soon as he had recovered his breath, "what have you got to say for yourselves?"
"I don't know that we've anything to say," replied Cecil sheepishly.
"I should think not!" said the other. "Here, take off that coat!" And he stripped the official garment from the Englishman's shoulders. "The cap, too!"
Banborough handed it to him, saying as he did so:
"I'm the Justice of the Peace from the next town. They just missed catching you at the last place you drove through, and telegraphed on to me. Knowing there was a cross-road here, I wasn't going to take any chance of losing you. I left the police to follow. They'll be along in a minute. Now what do you mean by it?"
"I don't suppose any explanations of mine would persuade you that you're making a mistake," said Banborough.
"No, I don't suppose they would. Now you put on that coat accidentally, didn't you? Just absent-mindedly--"
"I don't know you," broke in the Englishman, "and I don't--"
"That'll do," said the Justice of the Peace. "I don't know you either, and--yes, I do know the woman." Then turning to Miss Arminster, he continued: "Didn't I perform the marriage ceremony over you the year before last?"
"Yes," she said softly. And Cecil relinquished her hand. This, he considered, was worse than being arrested.
"I thought I did," went on the magistrate. "I don't often forget a face, and I'm sorry to see you in such bad company."
The young girl began to show signs of breaking down, and the situation was fast becoming acute, when the unexpected tones of an unctuous voice suddenly diverted everybody's attention.
"Why is thee so violent, friend?" said some one behind them. And turning quickly, they perceived the sleek, clean-shaven, well-groomed figure of a Quaker, dressed in a shad-bellied brown coat, a low black silk hat with a curved brim, and square shoes.