Bitterly he lamented the fact that now he could not go before the assembled critics in the morning and proclaim to them that Constance was his wife.

From this, it readily may be judged that Brock was not familiar with all the details of the vigorous Miss Fowler's plan.

As a matter of fact, he did not know that he was expected to fly the country like a fugitive.

She had known in her heart that he would never agree to a plan of that sort; it was, therefore, necessary for her to deceive him in more ways than one.

Plainly speaking, Brock had laboured under the delusion that she merely proposed to bribe the gaoler into letting him off for the night, in order that by some hook or crook they could be married early in the morning--provided her conception of the State marriage laws as they applied to aliens was absolutely correct.