he is free."

"Leonidas, let me put a possible case. Suppose that when Anglesea married
the Californian widow he had an invalid wife living at the time in
England. Then the marriage with the Californian would have been of no
effect. Suppose, in the interim between the ceremony performed in the
church at St. Sebastian and this performed at All Faith Church, the
invalid wife had died--then the last marriage would be legal and
binding."

"Oh, Aunt Elfrida. Why do you suppose such dreadful conditions?" exclaimed
the youth.

"Because, my poor boy, I have reason to believe them to be the true
conditions," sorrowfully replied the lady.

The youth sprang up and walked the floor in great excitement.

"What reasons have you for thinking as you do?" he at length demanded.

"I cannot tell you now, dear boy."

"But you do not know this to be the case? You only think so?" he
questioned.

"No, I do not know it; because I cannot rely upon the truthfulness of my
informant, nor on the genuineness of the evidence offered."

"Who was your informant, Aunt Elfrida?"

"I cannot tell you, Le."

"But, anyhow, I am sure if that villain had any claim at all on Odalite,
brute that he was, he would have pushed it to extremity!"

"No doubt he would if he had dared, but he dared not, Le! If he had
claimed Odalite as his lawful wife, on the ground that his former marriage
with Mrs. Wright was an illegal one, upon account of the fact of his
having had a wife living at the time it was contracted, and dead since, be
sure that the honest California woman, finding herself deceived, would
have prosecuted him for bigamy, and our courts would have punished him
with the utmost rigor of the law! So, though he might have a lawful claim
on Odalite, he dared not press it! No, nor dared he even to remain in the
country. You know that he has sailed for England."

"Yes, thank Heaven! But, oh, Aunt Elfrida, if there should be any
foundation for your fears that Anglesea has any claim on Odalite, then
Uncle Abel should see to it at once and have her freed from such a monster
by course of law," vehemently exclaimed Le.

"And so he should, if there were any certainty about that claim; but there
is none. Odalite may be free or she may not be. We cannot be sure until we
know more of the man's antecedents. Le, you must be patient, and very
prudent. Odalite's position is a very delicate one. You must not think of
entering into any engagement with her at prese