“It will be a very quiet affair,” continued Boast, “immediate relatives and all that—she has none, and neither have I, save my father and mother. We are to be married at my father’s. There’s no one Bertha thinks so much of as Louise. They have been chums for many years, and since you profess friendship for me, I feel sure you’ll not refuse my request.” Vance promised to consider the matter and let him know the next day, after consulting Louise. “Very well,” said Boast, “I will call to-morrow. It’s really too bad,” he went on, “that a weak little woman like Bertha should have had so much suffering during the last few months. Actuated by sympathy as well as love, I feel it my duty to set formalities aside, marry her, and thus insure to myself the privilege of protecting and caring for her as she deserves.” “Yes,” said [223] Vance, “she has had a great deal to endure. By the way, Mr. Boast, do you believe Steve Gibbons guilty of Mr. Grim’s murder?” Boast relit his cigar before answering. “Mr. Gilder,” said he, after deliberating, “I hope Mr. Gibbons is innocent. I have tried to look calmly at his case, shrouded in mystery as it is. I have tried to blunt my ears to whisperings and prejudices and not jump with the multitude toward a hasty conclusion Of course, the circumstantial evidence against Mr. Gibbous is rather damaging. Mr. Casey’s disappearance and Gibbon’s continued silence as to his whereabouts, makes it look still worse. The probabilities are that nine out of ten of the people of Gold Bluff believe him to be guilty. They have built up a wall of circumstantial evidence that seems to be impregnable, and unless the public pulse is permitted to cool before his trial comes off, they very likely will convict him, To me, mercy seems much more preferable than a hasty judgment, Well, good-night, Mr. Gilder. I am sorry to have been compelled to call on you at such a late hour, but you know,” said he, with a jocular laugh, “it is an urgent case, and when you are as near to your nuptials as I am, I’ll forgive you if you should rout me out of bed at all hours of the night.” “A strange man!” said Vance to himself when Boast was gone, “he talks like a philosopher. His judgment is seasoned with mercy. How could I have misunderstood him as I did? It’s rather odd that he and Bertha Allen are to be married. I know Louise will be surprised. After all, it’s best that he should marry Miss Allen, and the very fact that he makes her his wife at this time when she is left completely alone, really ennobles the fellow to me.” The following day a favorable answer was given to Boast, and the marriage took place the next evening. It was indeed a quiet affair. Whether Colonel Boast and his wife approved of their only son marrying his cousin or not, Vance was unable to satisfactorily decide in his own mind; but he and Louise both acknowledged that they felt freed from an indescribable restraint after taking their departure.