My emotions were tumultuous. No such marriage could be forced on me, of course; but duty, duty! Marriage had been to me an asset to be used in my career, some time after my doctor's degree, like casting in chess. I thought of Miss Frayn's untamable nature; and then of her sweetly tender way with the little ones, how they clambered over her while she called them "honey." "On the main point," said the captain, "the court had its mind made up when I came out. This marryin' has got to be did. Who's to do it is what they're figgerin' on!" "Captain Winfield," said I, "if the public interests require it, if my constituents demand it, I will make the sacrifice! Doctor Johnson said that marriages might well be arranged by the Lord Chancellor, and Judge Worthington is now sitting in chancery. I will marry the defendant, _pro bono publico_!" "Oc," said the captain, in a properly serious manner, though some tittered, "you're a livin' marvel! I'll go back and report." Almost immediately, as my heart-beats stifled me, they emerged from the chambers. My mother was in tears. Worthington bore Miss Frayn on his arm, and both looked exaltedly happy. Roberta, as I called her in my thoughts, shrank back bashfully, more beautiful than I had ever seen her. It was a great, a momentous hour for me. I felt that I had settled the case. "I shall ask the plaintiff," said the judge, "to dismiss this case!" "On what grounds?" interrogated Beasley sharply. "Don't tell, Forceythe!" said Roberta, hiding her face on the judge's arm as I approached. "Because the defendant," the judge replied to Beasley, "has resigned. She is about to be married!" "Didn't I tell you, Oc," said Winfield, slapping me on the back--which in the delightful embarrassment of the occasion I did not resent--"that it was up to you?" A boy in the audience--I think it was William Middlekauff--caught the judge's statement, and ungrammatically shouted: "Who to?" "The lucky man?" shouted the crowd. "Name him!" As it seemed proper for me to do under the circumstances, I went forward to take Roberta's hand in anticipation of the announcement. Then all went dark before my eyes. "I am happy," said Judge Worthington, "happy and inexpressibly honored to say that the defendant is to be married to me!" * * * * * The Hired Man was asleep as the Professor concluded his tale, and some of the rest were nodding. They rose to retire. "I suppose," said the Groom, "that the only safe way is to let them entirely alone, Professor?" The Professor, embarrassed by the presence of the Bride, could only bow. "Gad!" said Colonel Baggs, taking his hand. "Your case goes into the hard-luck file with that of the Nez Percè victim, Mr. Cowan of Radersburg." CHAPTER VII "On this lake," declaimed the Colonel, "farther from tide water than any other like body of water on this earth, could float our entire navy." "Safest place in the world for it, too," declared the Groom.