ON the day when Sir Patrick received the second of the twotelegrams sent to him from Edinburgh, four respectableinhabitants of the City of Glasgow were startled by theappearance of an object of interest on the monotonous horizon oftheir daily lives.

The persons receiving this wholesome shock were--Mr. and Mrs.Karnegie of the Sheep's Head Hotel- and Mr. Camp, and Mr. Crum,attached as "Writers" to the honorable profession of the Law.

It was still early in the day when a lady arrived, in a cab fromthe railway, at the Sheep's Head Hotel. Her luggage consisted ofa black box, and of a well-worn leather bag which she carried inher hand. The name on the box (recently written on a new luggagelabel, as the color of the ink and paper showed) was a very goodname in its way, common to a very great number of ladies, both inScotland and England. It was "Mrs. Graham."

Encountering the landlord at the entrance to the hotel, "Mrs.Graham" asked to be accommodated with a bedroom, and wastransferred in due course to the chamber-maid on duty at thetime. Returning to the little room behind the bar, in which theaccounts were kept, Mr. Karnegie surprised his wife by movingmore briskly, and looking much brighter than usual. Beingquestioned, Mr. Karnegie (who had cast the eye of a landlord onthe black box in the passage) announced that one "Mrs. Graham"had just arrived, and was then and there to be booked asinhabiting Room Number Seventeen. Being informed (withconsiderable asperity of tone and manner) that this answer failedto account for the interest which appeared to have been inspiredin him by a total stranger, Mr. Karnegie came to the point, andconfessed that "Mrs. Graham" was one of the sweetest-lookingwomen he had seen for many along day, and that he feared she was very seriously out ofhealth.

Upon that reply the eyes of Mrs. Karnegie developed in size, andthe color of Mrs. Karnegie deepened in tint. She got up from herchair and said that it might be just as well if she personallysuperintended the installation of "Mrs. Graham" in her room, andpersonally satisfied herself that "Mrs. Graham" was a fit inmateto be received at the Sheep's Head Hotel. Mr. Karnegie thereupondid what he always did--he agreed with his wife.

Mrs. Karnegie was absent for some little time. On her return hereyes had a certain tigerish cast in them when they rested on Mr.Karnegie. She ordered tea and some light refreshment to be takento Number Seventeen. This done--without any visible provocationto account for the remark--she turned upon her husband, and said,"Mr. Karnegie you are a fool." Mr. Karnegie asked, "Why, mydear?" Mrs. Karnegie snapped her fingers, and said, "_That_ forher good looks! You don't know a good-looking woman when you seeher." Mr. Karnegie agreed with his wife.

Nothing more was said until the waiter appeared at the bar withhis tray. Mrs. Karnegie, having first waived the tray off,without instituting her customary investigation, sat downsuddenly with a thump, and said to her husband (who had notuttered a word in the interval), "Don't talk to Me about herbeing out of health! _That_ for her health! It's trouble on hermind." Mr. Karnegie said, "Is it now?" Mrs. Karnegie replied,"When I have said, It is, I consider myself insulted if anotherperson says, Is it?" Mr. Karnegie agreed with his wife.

There. was another interval. Mrs. Karnegie added up a bill, witha face of disgust. Mr. Karnegie looked at her with a face ofwonder. Mrs. Karnegie suddenly asked him why he wasted his lookson _her,_ when he would have "Mrs. Graham" to look at beforelong. Mr. Karnegie, upon that, attempted to compromise the matterby looking, in the interim, at his own boots. Mrs. Karnegiewished to know whether after twenty years of married life, shewas considered to be not worth answering by her own husband.Treated with bare civility (she expected no more), she might havegone on to explain that "Mrs. Graham" was going out. She mightalso have been prevailed on to mention that "Mrs. Graham" hadasked her a very remarkable question of a business nature, at theinterview between them up stairs. As it was, Mrs. Karnegie's lipswere sealed, and let Mr. Karnegie deny if he dared, that herichly deserved it. Mr. Karnegie agreed with his wife.

In half an hour more, "Mrs. Graham" came down stairs; and a cabwas sent for. Mr. Karnegie, in fear of the consequences if he didotherwise, kept in a corner. Mrs. Karnegie followed him into thecorner, and asked him how he dared act in that way? Did hepresume to think, after twenty years of married life, that hiswife was jealous? "Go, you brute, and hand Mrs. Graham into thecab!"

Mr. Karnegie obeyed. He asked, at the cab window, to what part ofGlasgow he should tell the driver to go. The reply informed himthat the driver was to take "Mrs. Graham" to the office of Mr.Camp, the lawyer. Assuming "Mrs. Graham" to be a stranger inGlasgow, and remembering that Mr. Camp was Mr. Karnegie's lawyer,the inference appeared to be, that "Mrs. Graham's" remarkablequestion, addressed to the landlady, had related to legalbusiness, and to the discovery of a trust-worthy person capableof transacting it for her.

Returning to the bar, Mr. Karnegie found his eldest daughter incharge of the books, the bills, and the waiters. Mrs. Karnegiehad retired to her own room, justly indignant with her husbandfor his infamous conduct in handing "Mrs. Graham" into the cabbefore her own eyes. "It's the old story, Pa," remarked MissKarnegie, with the most perfect composure. "Ma told you to do it,of course; and then Ma says you've insulted her before all theservants. I wonder how you bear it?" Mr. Karnegie looked at hisboots, and answered, "I wonder, too, my dear." Miss Karnegiesaid, "You're not going to Ma, are you?" Mr. Karnegie looked upfrom his boots, and answered, "I must, my dear."

Mr. Camp sat in his private room, absorbed over his papers.Multitudinous as those documents were, they appeared to be notsufficiently numerous to satisfy Mr. Camp. He rang his bell, andordered more.

The clerk appearing with a new pile of papers, appeared also witha message. A lady, recommended by Mrs. Karnegie, of the Sheep'sHead, wished to consult Mr. Camp professionally. Mr. Camp lookedat his watch, counting out precious time before him, in a littlestand on the table, and said, "Show the lady in, in ten minutes."

In ten minutes the lady appeared. She took the client's chair andlifted her veil. The same effect which had been produced on Mr.Karnegie was once more produced on Mr. Camp. For the first time,for many a long year past, he felt personally interested in atotal stranger. It might have been something in her eyes, or itmight have been something in her manner. Whatever it was, it tooksoftly hold of him, and made him, to his own exceeding surprise,unmistakably anxious to hear what she had to say!

The lady announced--in a low sweet voice touched with a quietsadness--that her business related to a question of marriage (asmarriage is understood by Scottish law), and that her own peaceof mind, and the happiness of a person very dear to her, wereconcerned alike in the opinion which Mr. Camp might give when hehad been placed in possession of the facts.

She then proceeded to state the facts, without mentioning names:relating in every particular precisely the same succession ofevents which Geoffrey Delamayn had already related to Sir PatrickLundie--with this one difference, that she acknowledged herselfto be the woman who was personally concerned in knowing whether,by Scottish law, she was now held to be a married woman or not.

Mr. Camp's opinion given upon this, after certain questions hadbeen asked and answered, differed from Sir Patrick's opinion, asgiven at Windygates. He too quoted the language used by theeminent judge--Lord Deas--but he drew an inference of his ownfrom it. "In Scotland, consent makes marriage," he said; "andconsent may be proved by inference. I see a plain inference ofmatrimonial consent in the circumstances which you have relatedto me and I say you are a married woman."

The effect produced on the lady, when sentence was pronounced onher in those terms, was so distressing that Mr. Camp sent amessage up stairs to his wife; and Mrs. Camp appeared in herhusband's private room, in business hours, for the first time inher life. When Mrs. Camp's services had in some degree restoredthe lady to herself, Mr. Camp followed with a word ofprofessional comfort. He, like Sir Patrick, acknowledged thescandalous divergence of opinions produced by the confusion anduncertainty of the marriage-law of Scotland. He, like SirPatrick, declared it to be quite possible that another lawyermight arrive at another conclusion. "Go," he said, giving her hiscard, with a line of writing on it, "to my colleague, Mr. Crum;and say I sent you."

The lady gratefully thanked Mr. Camp and his wife, and went nextto the office of Mr. Crum.

Mr. Crum was the older lawyer of the two, and the harder lawyerof the two; but he, too, felt the influence which the charm thatthere was in this woman exercised, more or less, over every manwho came in contact with her. He listened with a patience whichwas rare with him: he put his questions with a gentleness whichwas rarer still; and when _he_ was in possession of thecircumstances---behold, _his_ opinion flatly contradicted theopinion of Mr. Camp!

"No marriage, ma'am," he said, positively. "Evidence in favor ofperhaps establishing a marriage, if you propose to claim the man.But that, as I understand it, is exactly what you don't wish todo."

The relief to the lady, on hearing this, almost overpowered her.For some minutes she was unable to speak. Mr. Crum did, what hehad never done yet in all his experience as a lawyer. He patted aclient on the shoulder, and, more extraordinary still , he gave aclient permission to waste his time. "Wait, and composeyourself," said Mr. Crum--administering the law of humanity. Thelady composed herself. "I must ask you some questions, ma'am,"said Mr. Crum--administering the law of the land. The lady bowed,and waited for him to begin.

"I know, thus far, that you decline to claim the gentleman," saidMr. Cram. "I want to know now whether the gentleman is likely toclaim _you._"

The answer to this was given in the most positive terms. Thegentleman was not even aware of the position in which he stood.And, more yet, he was engaged to be married to the dearest friendwhom the lady had in the world.

Mr. Crum opened his eyes--considered--and put another question asdelicately as he could. "Would it be painful to you to tell mehow the gentleman came to occupy the awkward position in which hestands now?"

The lady acknowledged that it would be indescribably painful toher to answer that question.

Mr. Crum offered a suggestion under the form of an inquiry:

"Would it be painful to you to reveal the circumstances--in theinterests of the gentleman's future prospects--to some discreetperson (a legal person would be best) who is not, what I am, astranger to you both?"

The lady declared herself willing to make any sacrifice, on thoseconditions--no matter how painful it might be--for her friend'ssake.

Mr. Crum considered a little longer, and then delivered his wordof advice:

"At the present stage of the affair," he said, "I need only tellyou what is the first step that you ought to take under thecircumstances. Inform the gentleman at once--either by word ofmouth or by writing--of the position in which he stands: andauthorize him to place the case in the hands of a person known toyou both, who is competent to decide on what you are to do next.Do I understand that you know of such a person so qualified?"

The lady answered that she knew of such a person.

Mr. Crum asked if a day had been fixed for the gentleman'smarriage.

The lady answered that she had made this inquiry herself on thelast occasion when she had seen the gentleman's betrothed wife.The marriage was to take place, on a day to be hereafter chosen,at the end of the autumn.

"That," said Mr. Crum, "is a fortunate circumstance. You havetime before you. Time is, here, of very great importance. Becareful not to waste it."

The lady said she would return to her hotel and write by thatnight's post, to warn the gentleman of the position in which hestood, and to authorize him to refer the matter to a competentand trust-worthy friend known to them both.

On rising to leave the room she was seized with giddiness, andwith some sudden pang of pain, which turned her deadly pale andforced her to drop back into her chair. Mr. Crum had no wife; buthe possessed a housekeeper--and he offered to send for her. Thelady made a sign in the negative. She drank a little water, andconquered the pain. "I am sorry to have alarmed you," she said."It's nothing--I am better now." Mr. Crum gave her his arm, andput her into the cab. She looked so pale and faint that heproposed sending his housekeeper with her. No: it was only fiveminutes' drive to the hotel. The lady thanked him--and went herway back by herself.

"The letter!" she said, when she was alone. "If I can only livelong enough to write the letter!"