THE INVESTIGATION.
One is my true and honorable wife,
As dear to me as are the ruddy drops
That visit my sad heart.
--SHAKESPEARE.
In due time they reached the village and were driven at once to the
office of the magistrate, Squire Estep, of Spring Hill Manor.
No rumor of the arrest had got abroad, and no crowd was collected about
the office doors.
The sheriff alighted first, and was followed out by the accused and his
two friends.
They entered the office, where just then no one was present except the
magistrate, one clerk and two constables.
The three gentlemen bowed as they entered, and the venerable magistrate
arose and acknowledged their presence by a nod and sat down again.
The sheriff laid the warrant on the table before the magistrate and,
pointing to Mr. Alden Lytton, said:
"That is the prisoner, your worship."
One of the constables placed chairs, and the gentlemen seated themselves
and waited.
"White," said Mr. Estep, addressing one of the constables, "go to the
Reindeer and serve this upon the gentleman to whom it is directed, and
whom you will find there."
The constable took the slip of paper from the speaker's hand, bowed and
went out.
And the three gentlemen waited with what patience they might command,
while the magistrate drummed upon the table with his fingers.
Presently the constable returned, ushering in two persons, in one of
whom Alden Lytton recognized his great rival at the bar, Philip Desmond.
The other, an elderly gentleman in a clergyman's dress, was a total
stranger to him.
Both these gentlemen bowed to the magistrate and to the accused and his
friends, and one of them--the clerical stranger--came up to Alden and,
to his great amazement, said:
"I am very sorry, Mr. Lytton, in meeting you a second time, to see you
here in this position; sorrier still that I am here to bear testimony
against you."
While he was saying this the magistrate, who was engaged in searching
among some documents, drew forth from them a paper which seemed to be a
memorandum, which he from time to time consulted, as he addressed the
accused and said:
"You are Mr. Alden Lytton, attorney at law, of the Richmond bar, I
believe?"
"I am," answered Alden Lytton.
"Attend, if you please, to the reading of this," said the magistrate, as
he commenced and read out aloud the warrant upon which the accused had
been brought before him.
At the conclusion of the reading Alden Lytton bowed gravely and waited.
"Mr. Alden Lytton, you have heard that you are charged with having, on
the fifteenth of February of this present year, feloniously intermarried
with Emma Angela Cavendish, in and during the lifetime of your lawful
wife, Mary Lytton, now living in this State. Such marriage, under such
circumstances, being a felony, punishable with imprisonment and hard
labor in the State Penitentiary for a term not less than ---- or more
than ---- years. What have you to say to this charge?" inquired the
magistrate.
Alden Lytton with some difficulty controlled his indignation as he
answered:
"It is perfectly true that in last February I married Miss Cavendish, of
Blue Cliffs. But it is a false and malicious slander that I ever at any
time married any one else. It is only amazing to me, Mr. Magistrate,
that you should have issued a warrant charging me with so base a crime.
You could not possibly have had any grounds to justify such a
proceeding."
"We shall see," answered, the magistrate. "You admit that you married
Miss Cavendish on the fifteenth of last February?"
"Certainly I do."
"Then nothing remains but to prove or to disprove the statement that at
the time of your marriage with Miss Cavendish, at Blue Cliffs, you had a
lawful wife then living in the city of Richmond."
Alden Lytton flushed to the temples at hearing his true wife's pure and
noble name brought into this dishonoring examination. He spoke sternly
as he inquired:
"Upon what grounds do you make this charge? Where are your witnesses?"
"The Reverend Mr. Borden will please step forward," said the magistrate.
The strange clergyman came up to the table and stood there.
The magistrate administered the oath to this witness.
At the same moment Mr. Philip Desmond took his place at the table to
conduct the examination.
"Your name is Adam Borden?"
"Yes, sir," answered the clerical witness.
"You are the rector of Saint Blank's Episcopal Church, Philadelphia?"
"Yes, sir."
"You know the accused?"
"Yes, sir. He is Mr. Alden Lytton," replied the rector, bowing gravely
to the prisoner.
Alden acknowledged the courtesy by a nod, and then waited with more
amazement and curiosity than anxiety to hear what sort of a case they
would make out against him with the aid of this man, whom he never saw
before, and yet who claimed to know him well.
"State, if you please, Mr. Borden, what you know of Mr. Lytton in regard
to this case."
"In the month of September of last year Mr. Lytton came to my house in
company with a lady to whom he wished to be married immediately. I
conducted the pair into the church and married them there, in the
presence of my sexton and his daughter. I registered the marriage in the
church books and gave a certificate, signed by myself and the witnesses
to the marriage. They then left the church together. I had never seen
them before, and I have never seen them since until to-day, when I see
and recognize Mr. Lytton, just as I should recognize his bride if I
should see her."
"Where is she?" inquired the magistrate.
"Your worship, the lady can be produced at once, to be identified by the
witness," said Philip Desmond.
And he wrote on a slip of paper and handed it to a constable, who
silently left the room.
Meanwhile Alden Lytton waited with constantly increasing curiosity to
find out to whom he had been unconsciously married in the month of
September, and in the city of Philadelphia. It flashed upon him suddenly
that he had been in Philadelphia about the middle of the last September,
and in company with Mary Grey. But he felt certain that he had never
gone out with her while there; and he waited with intensely curious
interest to hear how they could possibly make out a case against him.
Presently the door opened and the constable returned, bringing with him
a gracefully-moving woman, dressed in black and deeply veiled.
"Your worship, this is the true wife of the accused, produced here to be
identified by the witness," said Mr. Desmond, taking the hand of the
lady and leading her to the table.
"Will you be so good as to raise your veil, ma'am?" requested the
magistrate.
The lady lifted the black veil and threw it behind her head, revealing
the beautiful face of Mary Grey.
Alden Lytton had half expected to see her, yet he could not forbear the
exclamation:
"Mrs. Grey!"
"Mrs. Lytton, if you please, sir! You have taken from me your love and
your protection, but you can not take from me your name! That is still
mine. You have taken from me my peace of heart, but you shall not take
from me my name! When you address me again call me Mrs. Lytton, for that
is my legal name!"
"It is false--infamously false!" began Alden Lytton, crimsoning with
indignation.
But the magistrate stopped him, saying:
"Mr. Lytton, this is very unseemly. If this lady claims a relation to
you that she can not prove she will do so at her own proper peril. Let
us continue the examination and conduct it with decent order."
Alden Lytton bowed to the magistrate and said, with what calmness he
could command:
"This woman--no, this libel upon womanhood, who is brought here to be
identified as my wife, might have rather been summoned to bear testimony
against me in any false charge she and her co-conspirators might have
chosen to set up, since she is not, and never has been, my wife. Her
presence here can not establish one single point in this infamous
accusation. Yet I am anxious to know how she and her confederate--as I
am forced to regard this witness--will attempt to do so. Let the
examination proceed."
"Mr. Borden, will you look upon this lady?" respectfully demanded Mr.
Desmond.
The reverend gentleman put on his spectacles and scrutinized the face of
Mary Grey, who met his gaze, and then lowered her eyes.
"Can you identify her as the lady whom you united in marriage with Mr.
Alden Lytton?" inquired Mr. Desmond.
"Yes, assuredly I can. She is the lady, then called Mary Grey, whom I
united in marriage with that gentleman, then called Alden Lytton, and to
whom I gave the marriage certificate, signed by myself and two
witnesses. Those witnesses can be produced when wanted," answered the
Rev. Mr. Borden, with much assurance.
"These witnesses are not needed just now. But I wish you to examine this
certificate, Mr. Borden," said Mr. Desmond, putting a folded paper in
the hands of the minister.
The reverend gentleman adjusted his spectacles and scrutinized it.
"Is that the certificate of marriage that you gave Mrs. Mary Lytton, the
wife of Mr. Alden Lytton, on the day that you united them?" inquired Mr.
Desmond.
"Yes, sir, it is," answered the minister.
"Are you quite sure?"
"Quite sure, sir. Why, I know the paper and the printed form, as well as
my own autograph and the signatures of the two witnesses," declared the
minister.
"That will do. You may sit down, sir," said Mr. Desmond.
"I beg your pardon. I would like to ask that witness a few questions
before he retires," said Mr. Lytton.
"Of course that is your right, sir," said the magistrate.
Alden Lytton arose and confronted the witness, looking him full in the
face.
"You are a minister of the gospel, I believe, Mr. Borden?" he inquired.
"Yes, sir. I am rector of Saint Blank's Episcopal Church in
Philadelphia, as you yourself know very well, having there received my
ministry on the day that you then declared to be 'the happiest of your
life,'" replied the minister.
"As Heaven is my witness, I never saw your face before I met you in this
office! Now then, reverend sir, please to look me in the eyes while you
answer my next questions. Being upon your oath, you declare that on a
certain day, in the month of last September, in your parish church, in
the city of Philadelphia, you performed the marriage ceremony between
Alden Lytton and Mary Grey?"
"I do most solemnly declare, upon my sacred oath, that I did so,"
answered Mr. Borden, meeting the searching gaze of the questioner
without flinching.
"This is the most astounding effrontery! But attend further, sir, if
you please. Being on your oath, you declare that I am the man and that
female is the woman whom you joined in marriage, under the names of
Alden Lytton and Mary Grey?"
"On my sacred oath I most solemnly declare that you are the man and she
is the woman I then and there united together," unflinchingly replied
the minister.
For a moment Alden Lytton was mute with amazement; and then he said:
"Let me look at that paper that is said to be a certificate of this
marriage."
Mr. Desmond handed over the document.
Alden Lytton read it, and then recommenced his cross-examination of the
minister.
"And this is the certificate you gave the pretended bride?" he inquired.
"That is the certificate I gave your wife, sir."
"And you persist in declaring, under oath, that you solemnized a
marriage between myself, Alden Lytton, and this woman, Mary Grey, here
present?"
"I do, most solemnly."
"Then, sir," said Alden Lytton, flushing to his temples with fierce
indignation, "all I have further to say is this--that you have basely
perjured yourself to assist and support an infamous conspiracy!"
"Sir--sir--Mr. Lytton!" said the magistrate, in trepidation. "This
gentleman is a most highly respected preacher of the gospel, quite
incapable of such a thing!"
"I do not care whether he be priest, bishop, pope or apostle! He has
basely perjured himself in support of an infamous conspiracy!"
"Mr. Lytton--Mr. Lytton," said the magistrate, "if you have anything to
bring forward to disprove this strange charge we shall be glad to hear
it. But vituperation is not testimony."
"I know it," said Alden Lytton, trying hard to control his raging
passion. "I know it, and I beg pardon of the magistrate. But this is a
foul conspiracy against my peace, honor and liberty--and oh, great
Heaven, against the honor of my dear, noble young wife! But this vile
conspiracy shall surely be exposed, and when it is, by all my hopes of
heaven, no charity, no mercy, no consideration in the universe shall
prevent me from prosecuting and pursuing these conspirators to
punishment with the utmost rigor of the law!"
"Mr. Lytton, have you anything to bring forward in disproof of the
charges made against you?" inquired the magistrate.
"No, sir; not now, nor here. I must have time to look this monstrous
falsehood in the face and prepare for its total destruction."
"Then, Mr. Lytton, I shall have to send your case to court for trial.
Have you bail?"
"Yes, sir," spoke up Joseph Brent, coming forward before Alden Lytton
could speak, "he has bail. I will enter into bonds for my esteemed young
friend, Alden Lytton, to any amount you may please to name."
"The charge is one of the gravest; the position of the parties involved
in it is high in the social scale; the evidence already elicited is of
the most convincing and convicting character; every circumstance would
seem to point to the expediency of evading the trial by flight, or any
other means. In view of all the circumstances of the case I feel it my
duty to demand a very heavy bail. I fix the bail, therefore, at the sum
of twenty thousand dollars," said the magistrate.
"It might be twenty times twenty thousand dollars, and I would enter it
for him. A man of honor, like Mr. Lytton, falsely accused of a base
crime, does not fly from trial. On the contrary he demands it for his
own vindication," said Joseph Brent, earnestly.
Alden Lytton turned and grasped his hand in silent acknowledgment of his
noble friendship. Then, addressing the magistrate, he said:
"I am ready to enter into a recognizance with my esteemed friend here
for my appearance at court to answer this charge--this charge as
ridiculous as it is monstrous."
The magistrate nodded and directed his clerk to fill out the proper
forms.
When these were completed and signed the accused was discharged from
custody.
He bowed to the magistrate, and even to the others, and was about to
leave the office, followed by Mr. Lyle and Mr. Brent, when Mary Grey
darted swiftly and silently to his side and hissed in his ear:
"I swore that I would take you in the hour of your greatest triumph and
strike you down to the dust in dishonor! I have done so! I will send you
to the penitentiary yet--felon!"
"I think that you will find yourself there, madam, before many months
have passed over your head. There are severe laws against forgery,
perjury and conspiracy," answered Alden Lytton.
Outside of the office the three gentlemen consulted their watches. It
was now six o'clock in the afternoon.
Then they looked about them.
They had come to Wendover in the deputy-sheriff's carriage. That had
gone. And there was no conveyance waiting to take them to Blue Cliff
Hall.
"We must go to the old Reindeer and hire their hack," said Mr. Lyle.
"Excuse me, Lyle; let us walk to your parsonage first. You must give me
house-room there for a few weeks, for I do not wish to stop at the hotel
to be stared at, and--I shall not return to Blue Cliffs, or enter the
presence of my pure and noble young wife, until I shall be cleared from
this foul charge," said Alden Lytton, firmly.
"Not return to Blue Cliffs? Why, Lytton, you will break your wife's
heart if you keep her from you in this your day of sorrow!" exclaimed
Mr. Lyle.
"Her heart is too heroic to be easily broken. And a little reflection
will convince you that, under the peculiar circumstances of this
accusation, it is expedient that I should absent myself from her and
from her dwelling until I shall be cleared. Now if the charge against me
were that of murder, or anything else but what it is, my wife might be
by my side. But being what it is, you must see that I best consult her
dignity and delicacy by abstaining from seeing her until after my
acquittal. No, I shall neither see, speak, nor write to her while I
suffer under this charge."
"I see now that you are perfectly right," said Mr. Lyle.
"Yes, that you are," added Mr. Brent, as the three walked out toward the
minister's cottage.
"I only wish you to install me, Lyle, by explaining to your good old
housekeeper that I am to be an inmate of the parsonage during your
absence, so that she may not take my presence as an unjustifiable
intrusion," said Alden Lytton.
"She would never do that in any case," answered Stephen Lyle.
"And when you have installed me I wish you and Brent to return to Blue
Cliffs and rejoin your brides at once. And you, Lyle, must break this
matter to my dear Emma as delicately and tenderly as you can. She does
not need to be told that I am entirely guiltless of the crime that is
laid to my charge; for she knows that I am incapable of committing such
an one. Nor does she require to be assured of my undying love and faith.
She is assured of that. But tell her to be of good cheer, to bear this
temporary separation patiently, and to wait hopefully our speedy
meeting in happier days. Will you do this, my friend?"
"Most faithfully," answered Mr. Lyle.
"And then I wish you to start at once upon your wedding tours. They must
not be further delayed on my account."
"Look here, Lytton," said Stephen Lyle, earnestly. "I speak for myself
and also for Brent, who feels just as I do. We start upon no bridal
tours until you are out of this trouble. We could not leave you in your
trouble. And our girls, I am sure, would not leave your wife in her
sorrow. So that is all over. What I have to propose is this: That I
bring our Laura home here to-morrow. And that we remain here to keep you
company, while Victor--I mean Brent--and Electra stay for the present at
Blue Cliffs as the guests of Mrs. Alden Lytton."
"I hope you approve the plan. We talked it over and settled it all while
we were in the magistrate's office attending the examination," added
Joseph Brent.
They had by this time reached the gates of the pretty cottage.
Alden Lytton stopped, turned around and grasped a hand of each faithful
friend. For a moment he could not speak for the strong emotion that
choked him.
"God bless you!" he said, at length, in a half suffocated voice. "God
bless you both! I have surely found one 'precious jewel' in the head of
this 'toad'--the priceless jewel of your friendship!"