"I'm the Justice of the Peace from the next town. They just missed
catching you at the last place you drove through, and telegraphed on to
me. Knowing there was a cross-road here, I wasn't going to take any
chance of losing you. I left the police to follow. They'll be along in a
minute. Now what do you mean by it?"

"I don't suppose any explanations of mine would persuade you that
you're making a mistake," said Banborough.

"No, I don't suppose they would. Now you put on that coat accidentally,
didn't you? Just absent-mindedly--"

"I don't know you," broke in the Englishman, "and I don't--"

"That'll do," said the Justice of the Peace. "I don't know you either,
and--yes, I do know the woman." Then turning to Miss Arminster, he
continued: "Didn't I perform the marriage ceremony over you the year
before last?"

"Yes," she said softly. And Cecil relinquished her hand. This, he
considered, was worse than being arrested.

"I thought I did," went on the magistrate. "I don't often forget a face,
and I'm sorry to see you in such bad company."

The young girl began to show signs of breaking down, and the situation
was fast becoming acute, when the unexpected tones of an unctuous voice
suddenly diverted everybody's attention.

"Why is thee so violent, friend?" said some one behind them. And turning
quickly, they perceived the sleek, clean-shaven, well-groomed figure of
a Quaker, dressed in a shad-bellied brown coat, a low black silk hat
with a curved brim, and square shoes.

"Who the devil--!" began the officer.

"Fie! fie!" said the stranger. "Abstain from cursings and revilings in
thy speech. But I am glad thee hast come, for verily I feared the
workers of iniquity were abroad."

"Oh, you know something about it, do you?" asked the Justice of the
Peace.

"I was returning from a meeting of the Friends," continued the Quaker
blandly, "when I came upon these two misguided souls. As my counsellings
were not heeded, and I am a man of peace, I had retired into the woods
to pursue my way uninterrupted, when I heard thee approach."

"Well, I'll be glad of your assistance, though I daresay I could have
managed them until the police came. They're a dangerous pair.

"And what will thee do with the other prisoner, friend?"

"Eh? What other prisoner?"

"The one that lies in a debauched sleep at the farther end of the van. I
have striven to arouse him, but in vain."

"Where is he?" said the magistrate, peering into th