ng fellow she has been waiting here to meet. It is
a runaway marriage, bless you!"

This whisper reached the ears of Alden Lytton and Mary Grey.

Alden Lytton paid no attention to it, thinking that it referred to some
"levanting" youth and girl who had chosen this station for their
escapade.

But Mary Grey smiled grimly to herself as she heard it.

They had barely time to get a cup of coffee each before the warning
shriek of the steam engine called the passengers to take their places.

Alden Lytton drew his companion's arm within his own, led her into the
ladies' car, put her into a comfortable seat, and took his place beside
her.

Purposely suggested by Mary Grey's own calculated actions while waiting
at the station, a whisper had got around among the attendants that the
lovely young lady in black had come down to meet her lover and elope
with him; and from the attendants it had reached the ears of some of the
passengers.

And now, as Alden Lytton placed himself innocently enough on the seat
beside Mary Grey, the eyes of several of their fellow-travelers turned
with curiosity toward them.

Certainly the demeanor of both rather favored the idea of their being a
pair of engaged lovers.

Alden Lytton, with his beaming and happy face, and his careful
attentions to his companion, wore the look of a successful suitor and
prospective bridegroom. Mary Grey, with her pale, pretty face and
nervous manner, had as much the appearance of a runaway girl, trembling
and frightened at what she was daring.

Meanwhile the train whirled onward, bearing many passengers to happy
homes or on pleasant visits; but carrying one among them on to crime and
another to disaster.

As they drew near the end of the journey the crowd in the ladies' car
was thinned out by the leaving of passengers at the smaller stations,
until at length Alden Lytton and Mary Grey were left nearly alone and
quite out of hearing of any fellow-traveler.

Then Alden said to her:

"I hope you have some plan of occupation and happiness for your future
life."

"Yes," murmured Mary Grey, "I have some little prospect. I have the
offer of a very good position in a first-class ladies' college near
Philadelphia."

"I hope it will suit you."

"I do not know. I have promised to go on and see the institution and
talk with the principal before concluding the engagement."

"That would be safest, of course," said Alden.

"And I should have gone on a day or two s