"Is it
not just possible, my dear Sir Roger, she may have gone off of herself?"
Everybody stared at this audacious suggestion.
"There is no such possibility, Doctor Oleander," said Sir Roger,
haughtily. "The bare insinuation is an insult. Miss Dane was my plighted
wife of her own free will."
"Your pardon, Sir Roger. Yet, please remember, Miss Dane was a highly
eccentric young lady, and the rules that hold good in other cases fail
here. She was accustomed to do most extraordinary things, for the mere
sake of being odd and uncommon, as I take it. Her guardian will bear me
out; therefore I still cling to the possibility."
"Besides, young ladies possessing sound lungs will hardly permit
themselves to be carried off without raising an outcry," said Mr.
Sardonyx; "and in this case there was none. The faintest cry would have
been heard."
"Neither were there any traces of a struggle," put in Mr. Ingelow, "and
the chamber window was found unfastened, as if the bride had loosed it
herself and stepped out."
Sir Roger looked angrily around, with a glance that seemed to ask if
they were all in a conspiracy against him; but, before he could speak,
the door-bell rang loudly.
Pages:
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142