Some
people in my position would now have felt rather crestfallen, and
would have begun to think that they had made a very foolish
mistake. Not the faintest misgiving of any kind troubled me. I
did not feel in the slightest degree depreciated in my own
estimation. And even now, after a lapse of three hours, my mind
remains, I am happy to say, in the same calm and hopeful
condition.
As soon as I and my subordinates were assembled together outside
the church, I intimated my intention of still following the other
cab in spite of what had occurred. My reason for deciding on this
course will appear presently. The two subordinates appeared to be
astonished at my resolution. One of them had the impertinence to
say to me:
"If you please, sir, who is it that we are after? A man who has
stolen money, or a man who has stolen a wife?"
The other low person encouraged him by laughing. Both have
deserved an official reprimand, and both, I sincerely trust, will
be sure to get it.
When the marriage ceremony was over, the three got into their cab
and once more our vehicle (neatly hidden round the corner of the
church, so that they could not suspect it to be near them)
started to follow theirs.
We traced them to the terminus of the Southwestern Railway. The
newly-married couple took tickets for Richmond, paying their fare
with a half sovereign, and so depriving me of the pleasure of
arresting them, which I should certainly have done if they had
offered a bank-note.
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