"Let's get to business," said Sawyer.
"All right," Lyman agreed. "But you don't expect me to state the object of your visit."
"No, sir. We can do that easy enough," said McElwin. Then he thrust his hand into his pocket and drew forth a paper. "Mr. Lyman, we have here a petition to the Chancery Court, asking for the setting aside of a ridiculous marriage, the laughing-stock of all matrimonial ceremonies. The entrapped lady's name has been affixed, and we now ask, sir, that you append your signature."
He stepped forward to the table near which Lyman was sitting, and spread out the paper. Lyman smiled and shook his head. "This is so sudden," he remarked, and Warren tittered.
"Sudden, sir?"
"Yes, not unexpected, but sudden. I must have time to think."
"To think? How long, sir?"
"Well, say about six months."
"There's no use wasting words with this fellow," said Sawyer. "We'll make him sign it."
Lyman looked at him. "I understand that you are a buyer and seller of mules," he remarked. "That may account for your impulsiveness. But at present you are not in the mule market, that is, not as a buyer."