"No personal harm is intended you, and I have no designs
upon your watch and purse. I merely want the loan of you in your
clerical capacity, to perform the ceremony of marriage over a runaway
couple. I knew you wouldn't come of your own free will; therefore, I
took the trouble to ascertain about those little expectations of yours
from Mrs. Holywell, and used that good lady, whose health, I trust, is
no worse than usual, as a cat's-paw. You must pardon the deception, dear
sir, and you must perform the marriage ceremony without inconvenient
scruples, or hesitation, or questions. Be thankful, for the sake of
morality, we see the propriety of getting married at all. You are
listening to me and paying attention to me, I hope?"
Paying attention! Yes, his whole soul was absorbed in listening.
"Where I take you, who I am, you will never find out. Don't try, my dear
Mr. Rashleigh, even if you have the opportunity. Marry me--for I am to
be the happy bridegroom--and don't utter another word, save and except
the words of the ceremony, from the time you enter my house until you
leave it.
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