be Lytton? Oh, Alden, my son, what _have_ you been up
to?" inquired Joseph Brent, half in mockery and half in real anxiety.

"Whatever else I may have been 'up to,' I certainly never have been 'up
to' marrying two wives at one time," answered Alden, in the same spirit
of half banter, half protest.

"But who is this Mary, self-styled Lytton?"

"I know no more than the dead!"

"But are you sure you never had a slight flirtation with, or a platonic
affinity for, a Mary or anybody else?"

"Never! Nor do I even know a single 'Mary' in this world, except--"

"Oh, yes!--except whom--except whom?"

"Mrs. Mary Grey," answered Alden, gravely, and with a certain new
disturbance in his manner that had not been there before.

Mr. Lyle brought his hand down upon the table with an emphatic thump.

"That is the woman!" he said, with an air of entire conviction. "But
surely you never fell under her baleful spell?"

"Ah, who that ever knew her has not fallen under that baleful spell? But
for the last two years I have been entirely disillusioned," answered
Alden.

"Come, gentlemen, I am sorry to hurry you; but really," said Sheriff
Bowlen, taking out his watch, "it is now two o'clock, and we must get on
to Wendover."

"Very well," answered Alden Lytton, coldly. Then turning to Mr. Brent
and Mr. Lyle he said: "And you, my friends, must be getting on, too, or
you will lose your train. And then what will become of your bridal
trips?"

"I do not care what may become of _my_ bridal trip! I mean to see you
safe through this abominable conspiracy--for a conspiracy it certainly
is, whoever may be the conspirators!" said Joseph Brent, emphatically.

"Pooh--pooh! Some very shallow piece of malice, or some very poor
practical joke upon me or the magistrate! The wonder is, however, that
any magistrate could be found to issue such a warrant as this," said
Alden Lytton, making light of a matter which he thought the slightest
investigation must soon set right.

In the meantime Joseph Brent and Stephen Lyle spoke apart for a few
minutes, and then came to Alden Lytton and said:

"Look here; we are going with you to the magistrate's office. We are
determined to see this matter through. It may be a trifle or it may
not."

"And how about the two pretty girls who are waiting, with their hats on,
to be taken on their wedding tours?"

"They can wait. A few hours, which must decide this, can make but little
difference to them. Your lovely