have lots of
fun out of the game, anyways, and wait till the wedding day, when all the
people should be in the church, and then--in the midst of his
triumph--pull him down and disgrace him before all the world.

"Lord, we didn't mean to wait for the last minnit, when the ceremony was
over, but to stop it at the very beginning, where the parson asks, 'if any
one knows just cause,' you know. But that consarned beast of an old mule
of Miss Sibby's wouldn't make time. There, that's all!"

At this moment a note was brought in and handed to Mrs. Force.

She opened it, and read:

"Notwithstanding all seeming proof, I solemnly swear to you that I
never was married to the woman Wright; that I was free to contract
matrimony when I married your daughter, and that she is my lawful wife.
I must see you alone, when I will prove this to your satisfaction.

A. A."

CHAPTER XXV

THE GUEST SHOCKS HER HOST

Mrs. Force turned pale as death while she read the note. When she finished
it, she stooped forward and dropped it into the red heart of the coal
fire.

Then, averting her head, that no one might see the blanching of her face,
she said, in a tone of enforced calmness, to the waiting servant:

"Tell the messenger that there is no answer."

The servant bowed and withdrew.

"What is it, dear?" inquired Abel Force.

"Nothing that needs attention to-night," she replied, with assumed
indifference.

And Abel Force, thinking it to be some little domestic matter that might
not be discussed before a stranger, and perfectly unsuspicious of anything
secret or serious--thinking no evil--dropped the subject then and there,
and forgot.

"Ah-h-h! Yaw-w-w! I never was so tired and sleepy in all my life before!"
cried Mrs. Anglesea, throwing herself back in her chair, and stretching
her mouth and limbs with a tremendous yawn.

"No doubt you are, madam. You have had a most fatiguing day. Permit me!"
said Mr. Force, and he lighted a wax taper and put it in her hand.

"And what on earth am I to do with this, old man?" she demanded, between
two gapes.

"It is to light you to your room," said Mrs. Force, answering for her
dismayed husband. "Can you find your way, or shall I see you to the
door?"

"Is it that fine room fixed up with maple wood and blue calico, where the
gals took me to take off my bonnet and wash my face and hands?"

"Yes, it is the same. S