ill let him marry her," she said, "and then, in the midst of
their fancied security and happiness, I will come down upon them like an
avalanche of destruction. I will claim him for my own husband by a
previous marriage. I have evidence enough to convict and ruin him.

"First, I have all his impassioned letters, written to me from
Charlottesville, while I was a guest at the Government House in
Richmond.

"Secondly, I have those perfectly manufactured letters addressed to me
in a fac-simile of his handwriting, signed by his name and mailed from
Wendover to me at Richmond.

"Why, these alone would be sufficient to prove his perfidy even to Emma
Cavendish's confiding heart! And they would be good for heavy damages in
a breach of promise case.

"But I do not want damages--I want revenge. I do not want to touch his
pocket--I want to ruin his life. Yes--and hers! I want to dishonor,
degrade and utterly ruin them both! And I have evidence enough to do
this," she said, resuming her summing up, "for there is--

"Thirdly, his meeting me at Forestville and his journey with me to
Richmond.

"Fourthly, his journey with me to Philadelphia.

"Fifthly, the rector's certificate, setting forth the marriage of Alden
Lytton and Mary Grey.

"Sixthly, the testimony of the rector, who will swear that he performed
the ceremony, and of the sexton and the sexton's daughter, who will
swear that they witnessed the marriage of Alden Lytton and Mary Grey;
and swear, furthermore--from his exact resemblance to Craven Kyte--to
the identity of Alden Lytton as the bridegroom.

"Alden Lytton can not disprove this by an alibi, for at the very time
Craven Kyte personated him, and under his name and character married me,
Alden Lytton, in a dead stupor, was locked up in his darkened chamber,
and no one knew of his whereabouts but myself, who had the key of his
room.

"Nor can Craven Kyte 'ever rise to explain,' for death and the
Susquehanna mud has stopped his mouth.

"So this chain of evidence must be conclusive not only to the minds of
the jury, who will send my gentleman to rusticate in a penitentiary for
a term of years, but also to Miss Cavendish, who will find her proud
escutcheon blotted a little, I think."

While Mary Grey gloated over the horrors of her plotted vengeance, there
came a rap at the door. She hastily put on a dressing-gown, softly
unlocked the door, threw herself into an easy-chair, with her back to
the window, and bade th