Three generations

8 BALASS DAYS
forty years. So they set out on their happy yet tranquil
flight, undisturbed by fears of pursuit, accompanied by
bitter reproaches and a humiliating capture.
I conclude, from other crumbs of evidence which
have drifted down to me, that the innocent culprits,
after their privileged escapade and the fulfilment of
their marriage, had the grace to take a farther journey
by repairing straightway to Helen Burn's home in
the Lothians, in order that she might introduce her
husband to her parents and relations. The two seem
to have been cordially received, without a shade of
blame, except in one small particular. The wedding-
ring plays no part in the original simple Scotch marriage-
service. However, convention demands the ring, and
all Scotch married women wear wedding-rings, put on
in private on the wedding-day, or shortly afterwards
by the bride herself, by the bridegroom if the couple
are shyly sentimental, or by some favoured friend.
Now, Harry, in his blundering eagerness, had for-
gotten to get a wedding-ring, and the bride arrived at
her father's house without the sign on her hand that
she had entered the honourable state of matrimony.
Mrs. Burn, whose maiden name was Helen Hogg (her
family was possibly a homely divagation from the house
of New Liston), was jealous for the proprieties. That
a married daughter of hers should appear without
a token of her promotion was not to be thought of.
The Christian names of mother and daughter were the
same, and the initials of the matron corresponded to
what had been those of the maiden. Mrs. Burn slipped
Dff her own wedding-ring, with its H. B., and put it
on her daughter's finger. The mother's ring would
not be missed, and could be easily replaced the next
time she was in Haddington or Edinburgh. The