to love a person in less time and still
retain your mental balance, you know, especially if she were pretty and
an heiress to half your own fortune. I daresay that is what they were
thinking about."

"Thinking? They weren't thinking of anything at all. They weren't
capable. Why didn't they consider the possibility that things might turn
out just as they have?"

"Possibly they did consider it, my boy. It looks to me as if they did
not care a rap whether it went to their blood relatives or to the
islanders. I fancy of the two they loved the islanders more. At any
rate, they left a beautiful opening for the very complications which now
conspire to give the natives their own, after all. There may be some
sort of method in their badness. More than likely they concluded to let
luck decide the matter."

"Well, I guess it has, all right."

"Don't lose heart. It's worth fighting for even if you lose. I'd hate to
see those islanders get all of it, even if you two can't marry each
other. I've thought it over pretty thoroughly and I've reached a
conclusion. It's necessary for both of you to be on the ground according
to schedule. You must go to the island, wife or no wife, and there's not
much time to be lost. Lady Deppingham won't let the grass grow under her
feet if I know anything about the needs of English nobility, and I'll
bet my hat she's packing her trunks now for a long stay in Japat. You
have farther to go than she, but you _must_ get over there inside of
sixty days. I daresay your practice can take care of itself,"
ironically. Browne nodded cheerfully. "You can't tell what may happen in
the next six months."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's possible that you may become a widower and she a wid--"

"Good heaven, Judge Garrett! Impossible!" gasped Bobby Browne, clutching
the arms of his chair.

"Nothing is impossible, my boy--"

"Well, if that's what you're counting on you can count me out, I won't
speculate on my wife's death."

"But, man, suppose that it _did_ happen!" roared the judge irascibly.
"You should be prepared for the best--I mean the worst. Don't look like
a sick dog. We've got to watch every corner, that's all, and be
Johnny-on-the-spot when the time comes. You go to the island at once.
Take your wife along if you like. You'll find her ladyship there, and
she'll need a woman to tell her troubles to. I'll have the papers ready
for you to sign in three days, and I don't think we'll have any troubl