WE posted five-and-thirty miles, then stopped for a couple ofhours to rest, and wait for a night coach running northward.

On getting into this vehicle we were fortunate enough to find thefourth inside place not occupied. Mrs. Baggs showed her sense ofthe freedom from restraint thus obtained by tying a huge redcomforter round her head like a turban, and immediately fallingfast asleep. This gave Alicia and me full liberty to talk as wepleased. Our conversation was for the most part of thatparticular kind which is not of the smallest importance to anythird person in the whole world. One portion of it, however, wasan exception to this general rule. It had a very positiveinfluence on my fortunes, and it is, therefore, I hope, ofsufficient importance to bear being communicated to the reader.

We had changed horses for the fourth time, had seated ourselvescomfortably in our places, and had heard Mrs. Baggs resume thekindred occupations of sleeping and snoring, when Aliciawhispered to me:

"I must have no secrets, now, from you-- must I, Frank?"

"You must have anything you like, do anything you like, and sayanything you like. You must never ask leave--but only grant it!"

"Shall you always tell me that, Frank?"

I did not answer in words, but the conversation suffered amomentary interruption. Of what nature, susceptible people willeasily imagine. As for the hard-hearted I don't write for them.

"My secret need not alarm you," Alicia went on, in tones thatbegan to sound rather sadly; "it is only about a tiny pasteboardbox that I can carry in the bosom of my dress. But it has gotthree diamonds in it, Frank, and one beautiful ruby. Did you evergive me credit for having so much that was valuable aboutme?--shall I give it you to keep for me?"

I remembered directly Old File's story of Mrs. Dulcifer'selopement, and of the jewels she had taken with her. It was easyto guess, after what I had heard, that the poor woman hadsecretly preserved some of her little property for the benefit ofher child.

"I have no present need of money, darling," I answered; "keep thebox in its present enviable position." I stopped there, sayingnothing of the thought that was really uppermost in my mind. Ifany unforeseen accident placed me within the grip of the law, Ishould not now have the double trial to endure of leaving my wifefor a prison, and leaving her helpless.

Morning dawned and found us still awake. The sun rose, Mrs. Baggsleft off snoring, and we arrived at the last stage before thecoach stopped.

I got out to see about some tea for my traveling companions, andlooked up at the outside passengers. One of them seated in thedickey looked down at me. He was a countryman in a smock-frock,with a green patch over one of his eyes. Something in theexpression of his uncovered eye made me pause--reflect--turn awayuneasily--and then look again at him furtively. A sudden shudderran through me from top to toe; my heart sank; and my head beganto feel giddy. The countryman in the dickey was no other than theBow Street runner in disguise.

I kept away from the coach till the fresh horses were on thepoint of starting, for I was afraid to let Alicia see my face,after making that fatal discovery. She noticed how pale I waswhen I got in. I made the best excuse I could; and gentlyinsisted on her trying to sleep a little after being awake allnight. She lay back in her corner; and Mrs. Baggs, comforted witha morning dram in her tea, fell asleep again. I had thus anhour's leisure before me to think what I should do next.

Screw was not in company with the runner this time. He must havemanaged to ident ify me somewhere, and the officer doubtless knewmy personal appearance well enough now to follow and make sure ofme without help. That I was the man whom he was tracking couldnot be doubted: his disguise and his position on the top of thecoach proved it only too plainly.

But why had he not seized me at once? Probably because he hadsome ulterior purpose to serve, which would have been thwarted bymy immediate apprehension. What that purpose was I did my best tofathom, and, as I thought, succeeded in the attempt. What I wasto do when the coach stopped was a more difficult point tosettle. To give the runner the slip, with two women to take careof, was simply impossible. To treat him, as I had treated Screwat the red-brick house, was equally out of the question, for hewas certain to give me no chance of catching him alone. To keephim in ignorance of the real object of my journey, and thereby todelay his discovering himself and attempting to make me aprisoner, seemed the only plan on the safety of which I couldplace the smallest reliance. If I had ever had any idea offollowing the example of other runaway lovers, and going toGretna Green, I should now have abandoned it. All roads in thatdirection would betray what the purpose of my journey was if Itook them. Some large town in Scotland would be the safestdestination that I could publicly advertise myself as bound for.Why not boldly say that I was going with the two ladies toEdinburgh?

Such was the plan of action which I now adopted.

To give any idea of the distracted condition of my mind at thetime when I was forming it, is simply impossible. As for doubtingwhether I ought to marry at all under these dangerouscircumstances, I must frankly own that I was too selfishly andviolently in love to look the question fairly in the face atfirst. When I subsequently forced myself to consider it, the mostdistinct project I could frame for overcoming all difficulty was,to marry myself (the phrase is strictly descriptive of the Scotchceremony) at the first inn we came to, over the Border; to hire achaise, or take places in a public conveyance to Edinburgh, as ablind; to let Alicia and Mrs. Baggs occupy those places; toremain behind myself; and to trust to my audacity and cunning,when left alone, to give the runner the slip. Writing of it now,in cool blood, this seems as wild and hopeless a plan as ever wasimagined. But, in the confused and distracted state of all myfaculties at that period, it seemed quite easy to execute, andnot in the least doubtful as to any one of its probable results.

On reaching the town at which the coach stopped, we foundourselves obliged to hire another chaise for a short distance, inorder to get to the starting-point of a second coach. Again wetook inside places, and again, at the first stages when I gotdown to look at the outside passengers, there was the countrymanwith the green shade over his eye. Whatever conveyance wetraveled by on our northward road, we never escaped him. He neverattempted to speak to me, never seemed to notice me, and neverlost sight of me. On and on we went, over roads that seemedinterminable, and still the dreadful sword of justice hungalways, by its single hair, over my head. My haggard face, myfeverish hands, my confused manner, my inexpressible impatience,all belied the excuses with which I desperately continued to wardoff Alicia's growing fears, and Mrs. Baggs's indignantsuspicions. "Oh! Frank, something has happened! For God's sake,tell me what!"--"Mr. Softly, I can see through a deal board asfar as most people. You are following the doctor's wickedexample, and showing a want of confidence in me." These were theremonstrances of Alicia and the housekeeper.

At last we got out of England, and I was still a free man. Thechaise (we were posting again) brought us into a dirty town, anddrew up at the door of a shabby inn. A shock-headed girl receivedus.

"Are we in Scotland?" I asked.

"Mon! whar' else should ye be?" The accent relieved me of alldoubt.

"A private room--something to eat, ready in an hour'stime--chaise afterward to the nearest place from which a coachruns to Edinburgh." Giving these orders rapidly, I followed thegirl with my traveling companions into a stuffy little room. Assoon as our attendant had left us, I locked the door, put the keyin my pocket, and took Alicia by the hand.

"Now, Mrs. Baggs," said I, "bear witness--"

"You're not going to marry her now!" interposed Mrs. Baggs,indignantly. "Bear witness, indeed! I won't bear witness tillI've taken off my bonnet, and put my hair tidy!"

"The ceremony won't take a minute," I answered; "and I'll giveyou your five-pound note and open the door the moment it's over.Bear witness," I went on, drowning Mrs. Baggs's expostulationswith the all-important marriage-words, "that I take this woman,Alicia Dulcifer for my lawful wedded wife."

"In sickness and in health, in poverty and wealth," broke in Mrs.Baggs, determining to represent the clergyman as well as to bethe witness.

"Alicia, dear," I said, interrupting in my turn, "repeat mywords. Say 'I take this man, Francis Softly, for my lawful weddedhusband.' "

She repeated the sentence, with her face very pale, with her dearhand cold and trembling in mine.

"For better for worse," continued the indomitable Mrs. Baggs."Little enough of the Better, I'm afraid, and Lord knows how muchof the Worse."

I stopped her again with the promised five-pound note, and openedthe room door. "Now, ma'am," I said, "go to your room; take offyour bonnet, and put your hair as tidy as you please."

Mrs. Baggs raised her eyes and hands to heaven, exclaimed"Disgraceful!" and flounced out of the room in a passion. Suchwas my Scotch marriage--as lawful a ceremony, remember, as thefinest family wedding at the largest parish church in allEngland.

An hour passed; and I had not yet summoned the cruel courage tocommunicate my real situation to Alicia. The entry of theshock-headed servant-girl to lay the cloth, followed by Mrs.Baggs, who was never out of the way where eating and drinkingappeared in prospect, helped me to rouse myself. I resolved to goout for a few minutes to reconnoiter, and make myself acquaintedwith any facilities for flight or hiding which the situation ofthe house might present. No doubt the Bow Street runner waslurking somewhere; but he must, as a matter of course, haveheard, or informed himself, of the orders I had given relating toour conveyance on to Edinburgh; and, in that case, I was still nomore in danger of his avowing himself and capturing me, than Ihad been at any previous period of our journey.

"I am going out for a moment, love, to see about the chaise," Isaid to Alicia. She suddenly looked up at me with an anxioussearching expression. Was my face betraying anything of my realpurpose? I hurried to the door before she could ask me a singlequestion.

The front of the inn stood nearly in the middle of the principalstreet of the town. No chance of giving any one the slip in thatdirection; and no sign, either, of the Bow Street runner. Isauntered round, with the most unconcerned manner I could assume,to the back of the house, by the inn yard. A door in one part ofit stood half-open. Inside was a bit of kitchen-garden, boundedby a paling; beyond that some backs of detached houses; beyondthem, again, a plot of weedy ground, a few wretched cottages, andthe open, heathery moor. Good enough for running away, butterribly bad for hiding.

I returned disconsolately to the inn. Walking along the passagetoward the staircase, I suddenly heard footsteps behindme--turned round, and saw the Bow Street runner (clothed again inhis ordinary costume, and accompanied by two strange men)standing between me and the door.

"Sorry to stop you from going to Edinburgh, Mr. Softly," he said."But you're wanted back at Barkingham. I've just found out whatyou have been traveling all the way to Scotland for; and I takeyou prisoner, as one of the coining gang. Take it easy, sir. I'vegot help, you see; and you can't throttle three men, whatever youmay have d one at Barkingham with one."

He handcuffed me as he spoke. Resistance was hopeless. I couldonly make an appeal to his mercy, on Alicia's account.

"Give me ten minutes," I said, "to break what has happened to mywife. We were only married an hour ago. If she knows thissuddenly, it may be the death of her."

"You've led me a nice dance on a wrong scent," answered therunner, sulkily. "But I never was a hard man where women areconcerned. Go upstairs, and leave the door open, so that I cansee in through it if I like. Hold your hat over your wrists, ifyou don't want her to see the handcuffs."

I ascended the first flight of stairs, and my heart gave a suddenbound as if it would burst. I stopped, speechless and helpless,at the sight of Alicia, standing alone on the landing. My firstlook at her face told me she had heard all that had passed in thepassage. She passionately struck the hat with which I had beentrying to hide the handcuffs out of my fingers, and clasped me inher arms with such sudden and desperate energy that sheabsolutely hurt me.

"I was afraid of something, Frank," she whispered. "I followedyou a little way. I stopped here; I have heard everything. Don'tlet us be parted! I am stronger than you think me. I won't befrightened. I won't cry. I won't trouble anybody, if that manwill only take me with you!"

It is best for my sake, if not for the reader's, to hurry overthe scene that followed.

It ended with as little additional wretchedness as could beexpected. The runner was resolute about keeping me handcuffed,and taking me back, without a moment's unnecessary waste of timeto Barkingham; but he relented on other points.

Where he was obliged to order a private conveyance, there was noobjection to Alicia and Mrs. Baggs following it. Where we gotinto a coach, there was no harm in their hiring two insideplaces. I gave my watch, rings, and last guinea to Alicia,enjoining her, on no account, to let her box of jewels see thelight until we could get proper advice on the best means ofturning them to account. She listened to these and otherdirections with a calmness that astonished me.

"You shan't say, my dear, that your wife has helped to make youuneasy by so much as a word or a look," she whispered to me as weleft the inn.

And she kept the hard promise implied in that one short sentencethroughout the journey. Once only did I see her lose herself-possession. At starting on our way south, Mrs. Baggs--takingthe same incomprehensible personal offense at my misfortune whichshe had previously taken at the doctor's--upbraided me with mywant of confidence in her, and declared that it was the maincause of all my present trouble. Alicia turned on her as she wasuttering the words, with a look and a warning that silenced herin an instant:

"If you say another syllable that isn't kind to him, you shallfind your way back by yourself!"

The words may not seem of much importance to others; but Ithought, as I overheard them, that they justified every sacrificeI had made for my wife's sake.