Clement was puzzled, and said nothing. "Who was that hatless and hugely-whiskered rider?" said Toney to the Professor. "It is a mystery yet to be solved," said the Professor, as he took Toney's arm and walked with him to the latter's office. CHAPTER XXXI. "What may be the subject of your meditations?" said Toney to the Professor on the following morning, as he dodged aside to avoid coming in collision with the latter, who was walking with his gaze apparently fixed on the toes of his boots. "I beg pardon!" said the Professor, with a look of surprise. "I had no intention of converting myself into a battering-ram. I am in no belligerent mood, I assure you. To tell the truth, Toney, I am very sad." "What may be the cause of your melancholy?" "Disappointment in my fondest wishes." "In love?" "No, not in love. I was once disappointed in love, and I know what that is. It is a sore trial, but nothing to the affliction which I now endure." "I cannot imagine the nature of your trouble. From what does it proceed?" "Breach of promise." "What?" "Breach of promise unadvisedly made to five respectable maiden ladies." "To all five? Why, you must be a Turk!" "What am I to do?" said the Professor, with a look of despondency. "I cannot fulfill my promise." "I should think not, unless you emigrate to Salt Lake." "I wish Tom Seddon were here. He could assist me." "Do you suppose he would abandon Ida?" "Toney, my dear fellow, you can help me." "By taking one of the respectable maiden ladies off your hands? I beg to be excused. There is but one woman in the world I would marry, and that I would do quickly enough if I had a hundred thousand dollars." "I was not speaking of marriage." "Did you not say that you had promised five respectable maiden ladies?" "Not to conduct them to the altar." "What, then?" "To unravel the great mystery which is now agitating the minds of the entire population of this town, and more especially of the female portion." "What is that?" "Who was the bare-headed rider on the Woolly Horse? Toney, can you tell? If I do not discover this secret, what will become of me when I return to my boarding-house where the five respectable maiden ladies are waiting to receive the information, which I have solemnly promised to obtain and impart? Toney, do you know who was the man on the Woolly Horse?" "I do not." "Have you been to the Widow Wild's house since the apparition dashed through the street on yesterday?" "I was at the widow's house last night." "What did you discover?" "Nothing?" "Did you allude to M. T. Pate?" "I did." "What did the widow say?" "She said he was a very smart lawyer, and then changed the topic of conversation." "That woman is a mystery I cannot solve. She will drive me mad! But what did Rosabel say when Pate's name was mentioned?" "She and her cousin, the widow's niece, tittered." "Well?" "The widow sharply rebuked them for their levity." "What then?"