Mencke was clad in deep mourning.
There was an oppressive silence in the room for the space of three or
four minutes then Wilhelm Mencke started forward, his phlegmatic nature
for once all aflame.
"It is an infernal lie!" he cried, shaking his massive fist before
Wallace's face; "all an infernal lie, I tell you, made up for the
occasion, with the design, perhaps, of claiming her money. But you'll
find, my would-be smart young man, that you have tackled the wrong
parties this time."
Wallace made no verbal reply to this coarse outbreak, but, quietly
slipping one hand within a breast-pocket, he drew forth a folded paper,
which he opened and held before the man.
"Read," he said, briefly.
With rapidly fading color, with eyes that grew round and wide, with
mingled conviction and dismay, Wilhelm Mencke read the marriage
certificate, which proved that Wallace Hamilton Richardson and Violet
Draper Huntington had been legally united, by a well-known clergyman of
Cincinnati, about three weeks previous to the sailing of the young girl
for Europe.
The man knew it was the truth, and this conviction was plainly stamped
upon his face as he read; but he was so enraged by the fact, and also by
the secret fear that Wallace might make him some trouble pecuniarily,
that he lost control of his temper and reason.
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