Ben's Nugget, page 99 by Horatio Alger Jr.
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e become your legal protector, and at once. When we are married your guardian will be powerless. He will have me to deal with then, not a defenceless girl."
"But, Richard, this seems so sudden!"
"It ought not to, Florence. Have we not waited for each other long enough? Have we not been separated long enough? I am not much richer than when I left you--not so rich," he added, smiling, "as your other suitor, Orton Campbell."
"I will marry you if only to get rid of him, Richard," said Florence, impetuously.
"I won't quarrel with your motives, since you consent."
So it happened that on their arrival in San Francisco they directed Jones to drive to the house of a clergyman, and were speedily united in marriage, the clergyman's wife and daughter being witnesses. Circumstances compelled them to dispense with the usual "cards and cake."
At nine o'clock, Orton Campbell, secure of his prey, drove up to Mrs. Bradshaw's door and leisurely descended.
"Well, and how is Miss Douglas this morning?" he asked of the astonished landlady.
"How is she? She's gone."
"What!" ejaculated Orton, furiously; "you have dared to let her escape?"
"You sent for her yourself. She went away with the mad doctor."
"'The mad doctor'? I don't know anything about any mad doctor. Woman, you are deceiving me."
"Don't call me woman!" said Mrs. Bradshaw, offensively, putting her arms akimbo. "I'm no more a woman than you are."
"Then you'd better dress differently," sneered Campbell. "Tell me what all this means."
"The man that drove the lady out here yesterday came here more than an hour ago and said you had sent for her. He said there was a doctor in the carriage who would take her to the asylum. That corresponded with what you told me, and I let her go."
"That scoundrel Jones!" exclaimed Orton Campbell. "So this is his revenge? I must go back to the city at once and circumvent him if I can."
He was about to go when Mrs. Bradshaw said,