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.