Although the carpet lay littered with books, boots, and articles of clothing which by their number proclaimed the dandy, the few selected for the valise had been deftly packed and with extreme economy of space.) In the first drawer below the writing flap the Rector found the register and parish account-books in an orderly pile.

He seized on the register at once, opened it, and ran his eyes down the later pages, muttering while he read.
"There is no entry here of Miss Brooks's marriage," he announced.
"One, two, three, five marriages in all entered in his handwriting: but no such name as Brooks or Plinlimmon.

Stay: what is the meaning of this ?--a blank line between two entries--one of March 20th, the other of the 25th--both baptisms.

Looks as if he'd left room for a post-entry.

Let's have a look at the papers." He tossed the bundles over and found one labelled "Marriages"; spread the papers out and rubbed his head in perplexity.