第110章

LadyLundielookedfromonetotheotherwithunconcealedimpatienceastheseformalcourtesieswereexchangedbetweenthelawyers。“Allowmetoremindyou，gentlemen，ofthesuspensethatwearesufferingatthisendoftheroom，“shesaid。“Andpermitmetoaskwhenyouproposetobegin？“

SirPatricklookedinvitinglyatMr。Moy。Mr。MoylookedinvitinglyatSirPatrick。Moreformalcourtesies!apolitecontestthistimeastowhichofthetwolearnedgentlemenshouldpermittheothertospeakfirst!Mr。Moy’smodestyprovingtobequiteimmovable，SirPatrickendeditbyopeningtheproceedings。

“Iamhere，“hesaid，“toactonbehalfofmyfriend，Mr。ArnoldBrinkworth。Ibegtopresenthimtoyou，Mr。Moyasthehusbandofmyniece——towhomhewaslawfullymarriedontheseventhofSeptemberlast，attheChurchofSaintMargaret，intheparishofHawley，Kent。Ihaveacopyofthemarriagecertificatehere——ifyouwishtolookatit。“

Mr。Moy’smodestydeclinedtolookatit。

“Quiteneedless，SirPatrick!Iadmitthatamarriageceremonytookplaceonthedatenamed，betweenthepersonsnamed；butI

contendthatitwasnotavalidmarriage。Isay，onbehalfofmyclientherepresent(Mr。GeoffreyDelamayn)，thatArnoldBrinkworthwasmarriedatadatepriortotheseventhofSeptemberlast——namely，onthefourteenthofAugustinthisyear，andataplacecalledCraigFernie，inScotland——toaladynamedAnneSilvester，nowliving，andpresentamongus(asI

understand)atthismoment。“

SirPatrickpresentedAnne。“Thisisthelady，Mr。Moy。“

Mr。Moybowed，andmadeasuggestion。“Tosaveneedlessformalities，SirPatrick，shallwetakethequestionofidentityasestablishedonbothsides？“

SirPatrickagreedwithhislearnedfriend。LadyLundieopenedandshutherfaninundisguisedimpatience。TheLondonsolicitorwasdeeplyinterested。CaptainNewenden，takingouthishandkerchief，andusingitasascreen，yawnedbehindittohisheart’scontent。SirPatrickresumed。

“Youassertthepriormarriage，“hesaidtohiscolleague。“Itrestswithyoutobegin。“

Mr。Moycastapreliminarylookroundhimatthepersonsassembled。

“Theobjectofourmeetinghere，“hesaid，“is，ifIamnotmistaken，ofatwofoldnature。Inthefirstplace，itisthoughtdesirable，byapersonwhohasaspecialinterestintheissueofthisinquiry“(heglancedatthecaptain——thecaptainsuddenlybecameattentive)，“toputmyclient’sassertion，relatingtoMr。

Brinkworth’smarriage，totheproof。Inthesecondplace，weareallequallydesirous——whateverdifferenceofopinionmayotherwiseexist——tomakethisinformalinquiryameans，ifpossible，ofavoidingthepainfulpublicitywhichwouldresultfromanappealtoaCourtofLaw。“

AtthosewordsthegatheredvenominLadyLundieplanteditssecondsting——undercoverofaprotestaddressedtoMr。Moy。

“Ibegtoinformyou，Sir，onbehalfofmystep-daughter，“shesaid，“thatwehavenothingtodreadfromthewidestpublicity。

Weconsenttobepresentat，whatyoucall，’thisinformalinquiry，’reservingourrighttocarrythematterbeyondthefourwall