"My friend's fortune, you will observe," replied Jekyl, "does not rest entirely upon the event of the lawsuit with which you, Mr. Tyrrel, now threaten him.--Deprive him, if you can, of the Oakendale estate, he has still a large patrimony by his mother; and besides, as to his marriage with Clara Mowbray, he conceives, that unless it should be the lady's wish to have the ceremony repeated to which he is most desirous to defer his own opinion, they have only to declare that it has already passed between them." "A trick, sir!" said Tyrrel, "a vile infamous trick! of which the lowest wretch in Newgate would be ashamed--the imposition of one person for another." "Of that, Mr. Tyrrel, I have seen no evidence whatever. The clergyman's certificate is clear--Francis Tyrrel is united to Clara Mowbray in the holy bands of wedlock--such is the tenor--there is a copy--nay, stop one instant, if you please, sir. You say there was an imposition in the case--I have no doubt but you speak what you believe, and what Miss Mowbray told you. She was surprised--forced in some measure from the husband she had just married--ashamed to meet her former lover, to whom, doubtless, she had made many a vow of love, and ne'er a true one--what wonder that, unsupported by her bridegroom, she should have changed her tone, and thrown all the blame of her own inconstancy on the absent swain?--A woman, at a pinch so critical, will make the most improbable excuse, rather than be found guilty on her own confession." "There must be no jesting in this case," said Tyrrel, his cheek becoming pale, and his voice altered with passion. "I am quite serious, sir," replied Jekyl; "and there is no law court in Britain that would take the lady's word--all she has to offer, and that in her own cause--against a whole body of evidence direct and circumstantial, showing that she was by her own free consent married to the gentleman who now claims her hand.--Forgive me, sir--I see you are much agitated--I do not mean to dispute your right of believing what you think is most credible--I only use the freedom of pointing out to you the impression which the evidence is likely to make on the minds of indifferent persons." "Your friend," answered Tyrrel, affecting a composure, which, however, he was far from possessing, "may think by such arguments to screen his villainy; but it cannot avail him--the truth is known to Heaven--it is known to me--and there is, besides, one indifferent witness upon earth, who can testify that the most abominable imposition was practised on Miss Mowbray." "You mean her cousin,--Hannah Irwin, I think, is her name," answered Jekyl; "you see I am fully acquainted with all the circumstances of the case. But where is Hannah Irwin to be found?"