He must defy these claimants;--and then if they chose to come to England with their story, he must bear it as best he could.

Those who saw him did not know that aught ailed him, and Robert Bolton spoke no word of the matter to any one at Cambridge.
But Robert Bolton thought very much of it,--so much that on the following day he ran up to London on purpose to discuss the matter with his brother William.

How would it be with them, and what would be his duty, if the statement made by the woman should turn out to be true?
What security had they after the story told by Caldigate himself that there had been no marriage?
By his own showing he had lived with the woman, had promised to marry her, had acknowledged his promise in the hearing of a clergyman, and had been aware that she had called herself by his name.

Then he had given her money to go away.

This had been his own story.