father’s rights were paramount as he had offered a home to his wife without any conditions which a court of law would adjudge to be cruel.  If she could shew that he had driven her to live apart from him by his own bad conduct, then probably the custody of her boy might be awarded to her, until the child should be seven years old.  But when the circumstances of the case were explained to Sir Marmaduke’s lawyer by Lady Rowley, that gentleman shook his head.  Mrs Trevelyan had, he said, no case with which she could go into court.  Then by degrees there were words whispered as to the husband’s madness.  The lawyer said that that was a matter for the doctors.  If a certain amount of medical evidence could be obtained to show that the husband was in truth mad, the wife could, no doubt, obtain the custody of the child.  When this was reported to Mrs Trevelyan, she declared that conduct such as her husband’s must suffice to prove any man to be mad; but at this Sir Marmaduke shook his head, and Lady Rowley sat, sadly silent, with her daughter’s hand within her own.  They would not dare to tell her that she could regain her child by that plea.

During those ten days they did not learn whither the boy had been carried, nor did they know even where the father might be found.  Sir Marmaduke followed up the address as given in the letter, and learned from the porter at ‘The Acrobats’ that the gentleman’s letters were sent to No. 65, Stony Walk, Union Street, Borough.  To this uncomfortable locality Sir Marmaduke travelled more than once.  Thrice he went thither, intent on finding his son-in-law’s residence.  On the two first occasions he saw no one but Mrs Bozzle; and the discretion of that lady in declining to give any information was most admirable.  ‘Trewillian!’ Yes, she had heard the name certainly.  It might be that her husband had business engagements with a gent of that name.  She would not say even that for certain, as it was not her custom ever to make any inquiries as to her husband’s business engagements.  Her husband’s business engagements were, she said, much too important for the ‘likes of she’ to know anything about them.  When was Bozzle likely to be at home?  Bozzle was never likely to be at home.  According to her showing, Bozzle was of all husbands the most erratic.  He might perhaps come in for an hour or two in the middle of the day on a Wednesday, or perhaps would take a cup of tea at home on Friday evening.  But anything so fitful and uncertain as were Bozzle’s appearances in the bosom of his family was not to be conceived in the mind of woman.  Sir Marmaduke then called in the middle of the day on Wednesday, but Bozzle was reported to be away in the provinces.  His wife had no idea in which of the provinces he was at that moment engaged.  The persevering governor from the islands called again on the Friday evening, and then, by chance, Bozzle was found at home.  But Sir Marmaduke succeeded in gaining very little information