第112章

“Imustmostrespectfullyexpressmyapprovalalsoofthecoursewhichtheyoungladyhastaken，“hesaid。“Amoredangerouscompromisethanthecompromisewhichwehavejustheardsuggesteditisdifficulttoimagine。WithalldeferencetoSirPatrickLundie，hisopinionoftheimpossibilityofprovingthemarriageatCraigFernieremainstobeconfirmedastherightone。Myownprofessionalopinionisopposedtoit。TheopinionofanotherScottishlawyer(inGlasgow)is，tomycertainknowledge，opposedtoit。Iftheyoungladyhadnotactedwithawisdomandcouragewhichdoherhonor，shemighthavelivedtoseethedaywhenherreputationwouldhavebeendestroyed，andherchildrendeclaredillegitimate。WhoistosaythatcircumstancesmaynothappeninthefuturewhichmayforceMr。BrinkworthorMissSilvester——oneortheother——toasserttheverymarriagewhichtheyrepudiatenow？Whoistosaythatinterestedrelatives(propertybeingconcernedhere)maynotinthelapseofyears，discovermotivesoftheirownforquestioningtheassertedmarriageinKent？I

acknowledgethatIenvytheimmenseself-confidencewhichemboldensSirPatricktoventure，whatheiswillingtoventureuponhisownindividualopiniononanundecidedpointoflaw。“

Hesatdownamidstamurmurofapproval，andcastaslyly-expectantlookathisdefeatedadversary。“If_that_

doesn’tirritatehimintoshowinghishand，“thoughtMr。Moy，“nothingwill!“

SirPatrickslowlyraisedhishead。Therewasnoirritation——therewasonlydistressinhisface——whenhespokenext。

“Idon’tpropose，Mr。Moy，toarguethepointwithyou，“hesaid，gently。“Icanunderstandthatmyconductmustnecessarilyappearstrangeandevenblameworthy，notinyoureyesonly，butintheeyesofothers。Myyoungfriendherewilltellyou“(helookedtowardArnold)“thattheviewwhichyouexpressastothefutureperilinvolvedinthiscasewasoncetheviewinmymindtoo，andthatinwhatIhavedonethusfarIhaveactedindirectcontradictiontoadvicewhichImyselfgaveatnoverydistantperiod。Excuseme，ifyouplease，fromentering(forthepresentatleast)intothemotivewhichhasinfluencedmefromthetimewhenIenteredthisroom。Mypositionisoneofunexampledresponsibilityandofindescribabledistress。MayIappealtothatstatementtostandasmyexcuse，ifIpleadforalastextensionofindulgencetowardthelastirregularityofwhichI

shallbeguilty，inconnectionwiththeseproceedings？“

LadyLundiealoneresistedtheunaffectedandtouchingdignitywithwhichthosewordswerespoken。

“Wehavehadenoughofirregularity，“shesaid。sternly。“I，forone，objecttomore。“

SirPatrickwaitedpatientlyforMr。Moy’sreply。TheScotchlawyerandtheEnglishlawyerlookedateachother——andunderstoodeachother。Mr。Moyansweredforboth。

“Wedon’tpresumetorestrainyou，SirPatrick，byotherlimitsthanthosewhich，asagentleman，youimposeonyourself。

Subject，“addedthecautiousScotchman，“totherightofobjectionwhichwehavealreadyreserv