Bad Hugh

"Poor girl!" and the convict spoke sorrowfully. "I did not think she

would take it so hard, but the worst is not yet told, and I must hasten.

I ingratiated myself at once into John Richards' good graces and when I

knew it would answer, I suggested a mock marriage. First, however, I

would know something definite of his family as they were then, and so,

as a Mr. Morris, who wished to purchase a country seat, I went to

Snowdon, and after some inquiries in the village, forced my way to

Terrace Hill. The lady listening to me was the only one I saw, and I

felt sure she at least would be kind to Adah. On my return to New York,

I urged the marriage more pertinaciously than at first, saying, by way

of excusing myself, that as I was only Adah's guardian, I could not, of

course, feel toward her as a near relative would feel--that as I had

already expended large sums of money on her, I was getting tired of it,

and would be glad to be released, hinting, by way of smoothing the

fiendish proposition, my belief that, from constant association, he

would come to love her so much that at last he would really and truly

make her his wife. He did hesitate--he did seem shocked, and if I

remember rightly, called me a brute, an unnatural guardian, and all

that; but little by little I gained ground, until at last he consented,

and I hurried the matter at once, lest he should repent.

"I had an acquaintance, I said, who lived a few miles from the city--a

man who, for money, would do anything, and who, as a feigned justice of

the peace, would go through with the ceremony, and ever after keep his

own counsel. I wonder the doctor did not make some inquiries concerning

this so-called justice, but I think I am right in saying that he is not

remarkably clear-headed, and this weakness saved me much trouble, and

after a long time I arranged the matter with my friend, who was a lawful

justice, staying with his brother, at that time absent in Europe. This

being done, I decided upon Hugh Worthington for a witness, as being the

person, of all the world, who should be present at Adah's bridal. He had

recently come to New York. I had accidentally made his acquaintance,

acquiring so strong an influence over him that I could almost mold him

to my will. I did not tell him what I wanted until I had tempted him

with drugged wine, and he did not realize what he was doing. He knew

enough, however, to sign his name and to salute the bride, who really

was a bride, as lawful a one as any who ever turned from the altar where

she had registered her vows."