The lawyer opened his eyes
at the story. He had never heard anything like it.
"It doesn't sound as if you were sober when you did it. Were you, sir?
It was a mad prank, anyhow!"
"I had been drinking, but I wasn't drunk. I'd been telling them stories
and they used them as a means of tempting me to act in the absurd
marriage ceremony. Like a fool I consented. Like a fool--but I wasn't
drunk."
"No, but when you were in your right mind and sober you signed your names
as Mr. and Mrs. Carnac Grier in the register of a hotel. I will try to
win your case for you, but it won't be easy work. You see the Judge
himself told you the same thing. But it would be a triumph to expose a
thing of that kind, and I'd like to do it. It wouldn't be cheap, though.
You'd have to foot the bill. Are you rich?"
"No, but my people are," said Carnac. "I could manage the cash, but
suppose I lost!"
"Well, you'd have to support the woman. She could sue you for cruelty
and desertion, and the damages would be heavy."
Carnac shook his head, paid his fee and left the office.
He did not go near Luzanne. After a month he went to Paris for eight
months, and then back to Montreal.
CHAPTER III
CARNAC'S RETURN
Arrived in Montreal, there were attempts by Carnac to settle down to
ordinary life of quiet work at his art, but it was not effective, nor had
it been in Paris, though the excitement of working in the great centre
had stimulated him.
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