lawsuit with a powerful man; and she had gradually
brought herself to believe that she had been her lover's wife, because
in one of his ardent letters he had called her so to stifle the voice of
remorse in her bosom. The conviction had grown upon her, till now, after
a lapse of more than twenty years, she had forgotten all her former
doubts and scruples, believed herself and her son to be injured and
deprived of their just rights, and was ready to assert her marriage
boldly, though she had at one time felt and acknowledged that there was
no marriage at all, and that the words her seducer had used were but
intended to soothe her regret and terror. There was a point however
beyond which she was not prepared to go. She still shrunk from giving
false details, from perjuring herself in regard to particular facts. The
marriage, she thought, might be good in the sight of heaven, of herself,
and of her lover; but to render it good in the eyes of the law, she had
found would require proofs that she could not give--oaths that she dared
not take.

Another course, however, had been proposed for her; and now she sat in
that small parlor gaudily dressed, as I have said, but dressed evidently
for a journey. There were tears indeed in her eyes; and as her son stood
by her side she looked up in his face with a beseeching look as if she
would fain have said, "Pray do not drive me to this!"

But young John Ayliffe had no remorse, and if he spoke tenderly to her
who had spoiled his youth, it was only because his object was to
persuade and cajole.

"Indeed, mother," he said, "it is absolutely necessary or I would not
ask you to go. You know quite well that I would rather have you here:
and it will only be for a short time till the trial is over. Lawyer
Shanks told you himself that if you stayed, they would have you into
court and cross-examine you to death; and you know quite well you could
not keep in one story if they browbeat and puzzled you."

"I would say any where that my marriage was a good one," replied his
mother, "but I could not swear all that Shanks would have had me,
John--No, I could not swear that, for Dr. Paulding had nothing to do
with it, and if he were to repeat it all over to me a thousand times, I
am sure that I should make a blunder, even if I consented to tell such a
falsehood. My father and good Mrs. Danby used always to say that the
mutual consent made a marriage, and a good one too. Now your father's
own letter