His procedure was cold, hard, and
inexorable. Soon the curate disappeared from the parish, almost
suddenly, after bitter and hard words had been heard to pass between
him and the rector one evening in the garden, intermingled with
which, like the cries of the dying in the din of battle, were the
beseeching sobs of a woman. Not long after this it was announced
that a marriage between the Duke and Miss Oldbourne was to be
solemnized at a surprisingly early date.
The wedding-day came and passed; and she was a Duchess. Nobody
seemed to think of the ousted man during the day, or else those who
thought of him concealed their meditations. Some of the less
subservient ones were disposed to speak in a jocular manner of the
august husband and wife, others to make correct and pretty speeches
about them, according as their sex and nature dictated. But in the
evening, the ringers in the belfry, with whom Alwyn had been a
favourite, eased their minds a little concerning the gentle young
man, and the possible regrets of the woman he had loved.
'Don't you see something wrong in it all?' said the third bell as he
wiped his face. 'I know well enough where she would have liked to
stable her horses to-night, when they have done their journey.'
'That is, you would know if you could tell where young Mr. Hill is
living, which is known to none in the parish.'
'Except to the lady that this ring o' grandsire triples is in honour
of.
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