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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Hidden Hand, by Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte
+Southworth
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Hidden Hand
+
+
+Author: Emma Dorothy Eliza Nevitte Southworth
+
+
+
+Release Date: August 30, 2009  [eBook #29866]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HIDDEN HAND***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project
+Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+HIDDEN HAND
+
+by
+
+MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH
+
+Author of THE CURSE OF CLIFTON
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+New York
+Hurst & Company
+Publishers
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+       I. The Nocturnal Visit
+
+      II. The Masks
+
+     III. The Quest
+
+      IV. Capitola
+
+       V. The Discovery
+
+      VI. A Short, Sad Story
+
+     VII. Metamorphosis of the Newsboy
+
+    VIII. Herbert Greyson
+
+      IX. Marah Rocke
+
+       X. The Room of the Trap-Door
+
+      XI. A Mystery and a Storm at Hurricane Hall
+
+     XII. Marah's Dream
+
+    XIII. Marah's Memories
+
+     XIV. The Wasting Heart
+
+      XV. Cap's Country Capers
+
+     XVI. Cap's Fearful Adventure
+
+    XVII. Another Storm at Hurricane Hall
+
+   XVIII. The Doctor's Daughter
+
+     XIX. The Resigned Soul
+
+      XX. The Outlaw's Rendezvous
+
+     XXI. Gabriel LeNoir
+
+    XXII. The Smuggler and Capitola
+
+   XXIII. The Boy's Love
+
+    XXIV. Capitola's Mother
+
+     XXV. Cap's Tricks and Perils
+
+    XXVI. The Peril and the Pluck of Cap
+
+   XXVII. Seeking his Fortune
+
+   XVIII. A Panic in the Outlaw's Den
+
+    XXIX. The Victory Over Death
+
+     XXX. The Orphan
+
+
+
+
+THE HIDDEN HAND.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE NOCTURNAL VISIT.
+
+    * * * Whence is that knocking?
+    How is't with me when every sound appals me?
+    * * * I hear a knocking
+    In the south entry! Hark!--More knocking!
+                                       --Shakespeare.
+
+
+Hurricane Hall is a large old family mansion, built of dark-red
+sandstone, in one of the loneliest and wildest of the mountain regions
+of Virginia.
+
+The estate is surrounded on three sides by a range of steep, gray rocks,
+spiked with clumps of dark evergreens, and called, from its horseshoe
+form, the Devil's Hoof.
+
+On the fourth side the ground gradually descends in broken, rock and
+barren soil to the edge of the wild mountain stream known as the Devil's
+Run.
+
+When storms and floods were high the loud roaring of the wind through
+the wild mountain gorges and the terrific raging of the torrent over its
+rocky course gave to this savage locality its ill-omened names of
+Devil's Hoof, Devil's Run and Hurricane Hall.
+
+Major Ira Warfield, the lonely proprietor of the Hall, was a veteran
+officer, who, in disgust at what he supposed to be ill-requited
+services, had retired from public life to spend the evening of his
+vigorous age on this his patrimonial estate. Here he lived in seclusion,
+with his old-fashioned housekeeper, Mrs. Condiment, and his old family
+servants and his favorite dogs and horses. Here his mornings were
+usually spent in the chase, in which he excelled, and his afternoons and
+evenings were occupied in small convivial suppers among his few chosen
+companions of the chase or the bottle.
+
+In person Major Warfield was tall and strongly built, reminding one of
+some old iron-limbed Douglas of the olden time. His features were large
+and harsh; his complexion dark red, as that of one bronzed by long
+exposure and flushed with strong drink. His fierce, dark gray eyes were
+surmounted by thick, heavy black brows that, when gathered into a frown,
+reminded one of a thunder cloud, as the flashing orbs beneath them did
+of lightning. His hard, harsh face was surrounded by a thick growth of
+iron-gray hair and beard that met beneath his chin. His usual habit was
+a black cloth coat, crimson vest, black leather breeches, long, black
+yarn stockings, fastened at the knees, and morocco slippers with silver
+buttons.
+
+In character Major Warfield was arrogant, domineering and
+violent--equally loved and feared by his faithful old family servants at
+home--disliked and dreaded by his neighbors and acquaintances abroad,
+who, partly from his house and partly from his character, fixed upon him
+the appropriate nickname of Old Hurricane.
+
+There was, however, other ground of dislike besides that of his arrogant
+mind, violent temper and domineering habits. Old Hurricane was said to
+be an old bachelor, yet rumor whispered that there was in some obscure
+part of the world, hidden away from human sight, a deserted wife and
+child, poor, forlorn and heart-broken. It was further whispered that the
+elder brother of Ira Warfield had mysteriously disappeared, and not
+without some suspicion of foul play on the part of the only person in
+the world who had a strong interest in his "taking off." However these
+things might be, it was known for a certainty that Old Hurricane had an
+only sister, widowed, sick and poor, who, with her son, dragged on a
+wretched life of ill-requited toil, severe privation and painful
+infirmity in a distant city, unaided, unsought and uncared for by her
+cruel brother.
+
+It was the night of the last day of October, eighteen hundred and
+forty-five. The evening had closed in very dark and gloomy. About dusk
+the wind arose in the northwest, driving up masses of leaden-hued
+clouds, and in a few minutes the ground was covered deep with snow and
+the air was filled with driving sleet.
+
+As this was All Hallow Eve, the dreadful inclemency of the weather did
+not prevent the negroes of Hurricane Hall from availing themselves of
+their capricious old master's permission and going off in a body to a
+banjo breakdown held in the negro quarters of their next neighbor.
+
+Upon this evening, then, there was left at Hurricane Hall only Major
+Warfield, Mrs. Condiment, his little housekeeper, and Wool, his body
+servant.
+
+Early in the evening the old hall was shut up closely to keep out as
+much as possible the sound of the storm that roared through the mountain
+chasms and cannonaded the walls of the house as if determined to force
+an entrance. As soon as she had seen that all was safe, Mrs. Condiment
+went to bed and went to sleep.
+
+It was about ten o'clock that night that Old Hurricane, well wrapped up
+in his quilted flannel dressing-gown, sat in his well-padded easy-chair
+before a warm and bright fire, taking his comfort in his own most
+comfortable bedroom. This was the hour of the coziest enjoyment to the
+self-indulgent old Sybarite, who dearly loved his own ease. And, indeed,
+every means and appliance of bodily comfort was at hand. Strong oaken
+shutters and thick, heavy curtains at the windows kept out every draft
+of air, and so deadened the sound of the wind that its subdued moaning
+was just sufficient to remind one of the stormy weather without in
+contrast to the bright warmth within. Old Hurricane, as I said, sat well
+wrapped up in his wadded dressing-gown, and reclining in his padded
+easy-chair, with his head thrown back and his feet upon the fire irons,
+toasting his shins and sipping his punch. On his right stood a little
+table with a lighted candle, a stack of clay pipes, a jug of punch,
+lemons, sugar, Holland gin, etc., while on the hearth sat a kettle of
+boiling water to help replenish the jug, if needful.
+
+On his left hand stood his cozy bedstead, with its warm crimson curtains
+festooned back, revealing the luxurious swell of the full feather bed
+and pillows, with their snow-white linen and lamb's-wool blankets,
+inviting repose. Between this bedstead and the corner of the fireplace
+stood Old Hurricane's ancient body servant Wool, engaged in warming a
+crimson cloth nightcap.
+
+"Fools!" muttered Old Hurricane, over his punch--"jacks! they'll all get
+the pleurisy except those that get drunk! Did they all go, Wool?"
+
+"Ebery man, 'oman and chile, sar!--'cept 'tis me and coachman, sar!"
+
+"More fools they! And I shouldn't wonder if you, you old scarecrow,
+didn't want to go too!"
+
+"No, Marse----"
+
+"I know better, sir! Don't contradict me! Well, as soon as I'm in bed,
+and that won't be long now, you may go--so that you get back in time to
+wait on me to-morrow morning."
+
+"Thanky, marse."
+
+"Hold your tongue! You're as big a fool as the rest."
+
+"I take this," said Old Hurricane, as he sipped his punch and smacked
+his lips--"I take this to be the very quintessence of human
+enjoyment--sitting here in my soft, warm chair before the fire, toasting
+my legs, sipping my punch, listening on the one hand to the storm
+without and glancing on the other hand at my comfortable bed waiting
+there to receive my sleepy head. If there is anything better than this
+in this world I wish somebody would let me know it."
+
+"It's all werry comformable indeed, marse," said the obsequious Wool.
+
+"I wonder, now, if there is anything on the face of the earth that would
+tempt me to leave my cozy fireside and go abroad to-night? I wonder how
+large a promise of pleasure or profit or glory it would take now?"
+
+"Much as ebber Congress itse'f could give, if it give you a penance for
+all your sarvins," suggested Wool.
+
+"Yes, and more; for I wouldn't leave my home comforts to-night to insure
+not only the pension but the thanks of Congress!" said the old man,
+replenishing his glass with steaming punch and drinking it off
+leisurely.
+
+The clock struck eleven. The old man again replenished his glass, and,
+while sipping its contents, said:
+
+"You may fill the warming-pan and warm my bed, Wool. The fumes of this
+fragrant punch are beginning to rise to my head and make me sleepy."
+
+The servant filled the warming-pan with glowing embers, shut down the
+lid and thrust it between the sheets to warm the couch of this luxurious
+Old Hurricane. The old man continued to toast his feet, sip his punch
+and smack his lips. He finished his glass, set it down, and was just in
+the act of drawing on his woolen nightcap, preparatory to stepping into
+his well-warmed bed when he was suddenly startled by a loud ringing of
+the hall-door bell.
+
+"What the foul fiend can that mean at this time of night?" exclaimed
+Old Hurricane, dropping his nightcap and turning sharply around toward
+Wool, who, warming-pan in hand, stood staring with astonishment. "What
+does that mean, I ask you?"
+
+"'Deed, I dunno, sar, less it's some benighted traveler in search o'
+shelter outen de storm!"
+
+"Humph! and in search of supper, too, of course, and everybody gone away
+or gone to bed but you and me!"
+
+At this moment the ringing was followed by a loud knocking.
+
+"Marse, don't less you and me listen to it, and then we ain't 'bliged to
+'sturb ourselves with answering of it!" suggested Wool.
+
+"'Sdeath, sir! Do you think that I am going to turn a deaf ear to a
+stranger that comes to my house for shelter on such a night as this? Go
+and answer the bell directly."
+
+"Yes, sar."
+
+"But stop--look here, sirrah--mind I am not to be disturbed. If it is a
+traveler, ask him in, set refreshments before him and show him to bed.
+I'm not going to leave my warm room to welcome anybody to-night, please
+the Lord. Do you hear?"
+
+"Yes, sar," said the darkey, retreating.
+
+As Wool took a shaded taper and opened the door leading from his
+master's chamber, the wind was heard howling through the long passages,
+ready to burst into the cozy bedroom.
+
+"Shut that door, you scoundrel!" roared the old man, folding the skirt
+of his warm dressing-gown across his knees, and hovering closer to the
+fire.
+
+Wool quickly obeyed, and was heard retreating down the steps.
+
+"Whew!" said the old man, spreading his hands over the blaze with a look
+of comfortable appreciation. "What would induce me to go abroad on such
+a night as this? Wind blowing great guns from the northwest--snow
+falling fast from the heavens and rising just as fast before the wind
+from the ground--cold as Lapland, dark as Erebus! No telling the earth
+from the sky. Whew!" and to comfort the cold thought, Old Hurricane
+poured out another glass of smoking punch and began to sip it.
+
+"How I thank the Lord that I am not a doctor! If I were a doctor, now,
+the sound of that bell at this hour of night would frighten me; I should
+think some old woman had been taken with the pleurisy, and wanted me to
+get up and go out in the storm; to turn out of my warm bed to ride ten
+miles through the snow to prescribe for her. A doctor never can feel
+sure, even in the worst of weathers, of a good night's rest. But, thank
+Heaven, I am free from all such annoyances, and if I am sure of anything
+in this world it is of my comfortable night's sleep," said Old
+Hurricane, as he sipped his punch, smacked his lips and toasted his
+feet.
+
+At this moment Wool reappeared.
+
+"Shut the door, you villain! Do you intend to stand there holding it
+open on me all night?" vociferated the old man.
+
+Wool hastily closed the offending portals and hurried to his master's
+side.
+
+"Well, sir, who was it rung the bell?"
+
+"Please, marster, sir, it wer' de Reverend Mr. Parson Goodwin."
+
+"Goodwin? Been to make a sick-call, I suppose, and got caught in the
+snow-storm. I declare it is as bad to be a parson as it is to be a
+doctor. Thank the Lord I am not a parson, either; if I were, now, I
+might be called away from my cozy armchair and fireside to ride twelve
+miles to comfort some old man dying of quinsy. Well, here--help me into
+bed, pile on more comforters, tuck me up warm, put a bottle of hot water
+at my feet, and then go and attend to the parson," said the old man,
+getting up and moving toward his inviting couch.
+
+"Sar! sar! stop, sar, if you please!" cried Wool, going after him.
+
+"Why, what does the old fool mean?" exclaimed Old Hurricane, angrily.
+
+"Sar, de Reverend Mr. Parson Goodwin say how he must see you yourself,
+personable, alone!"
+
+"See me, you villain! Didn't you tell him that I had retired?"
+
+"Yes, marse; I tell him how you wer' gone to bed and asleep more'n an
+hour ago, and he ordered me to come wake you up, and say how it were a
+matter o' life and death!"
+
+"Life and death? What have I to do with life and death? I won't stir! If
+the parson wants to see me he will have to come up here and see me in
+bed," exclaimed Old Hurricane, suiting the action to the word by jumping
+into bed and drawing all the comforters and blankets up around his head
+and shoulders.
+
+"Mus' I fetch him reverence up, sar?"
+
+"Yes; I wouldn't get up and go down to see--Washington. Shut the door,
+you rascal, or I'll throw the bootjack at your wooden head."
+
+Wool obeyed with alacrity and in time to escape the threatened missile.
+
+After an absence of a few minutes he was heard returning, attending upon
+the footsteps of another. And the next minute he entered, ushering in
+the Rev. Mr. Goodwin, the parish minister of Bethlehem, St. Mary's.
+
+"How do you do? How do you do? Glad to see you, sir; glad to see you,
+though obliged to receive you in bed. Fact is, I caught a cold with this
+severe change of weather, and took a warm negus and went to bed to sweat
+it off. You'll excuse me. Wool, draw that easy-chair up to my bedside
+for worthy Mr. Goodwin, and bring him a glass of warm negus. It will do
+him good after his cold ride."
+
+"I thank you, Major Warfield. I will take the seat but not the negus, if
+you please, to-night."
+
+"Not the negus? Oh, come now, you are joking. Why, it will keep you from
+catching cold and be a most comfortable nightcap, disposing you to sleep
+and sweat like a baby. Of course, you spend the night with us?"
+
+"I thank you, no. I must take the road again in a few minutes."
+
+"Take the road again to-night! Why, man alive! it is midnight, and the
+snow driving like all Lapland!"
+
+"Sir, I am sorry to refuse your proffered hospitality and leave your
+comfortable roof to-night, and sorrier still to have to take you with
+me," said the pastor, gravely.
+
+"Take me with you! No, no, my good sir!--no, no, that is too good a
+joke--ha! ha!"
+
+"Sir, I fear that you will find it a very serious one. Your servant told
+you that my errand was one of imminent urgency?"
+
+"Yes; something like life and death----"
+
+"Exactly; down in the cabin near the Punch Bowl there is an old woman
+dying----"
+
+"There! I knew it! I was just saying there might be an old woman dying!
+But, my dear sir, what's that to me? What can I do?"
+
+"Humanity, sir, would prompt you."
+
+"But, my dear sir, how can I help her? I am not a physician to
+prescribe----"
+
+"She is far past a physician's help."
+
+"Nor am I a priest to hear her confession----"
+
+"Her confession God has already received."
+
+"Well, and I'm not a lawyer to draw up her will."
+
+"No, sir; but you are recently appointed one of the justices of the
+peace for Alleghany."
+
+"Yes. Well, what of that? That does not comprise the duty of getting up
+out of my warm bed and going through a snow-storm to see an old woman
+expire."
+
+"I regret to inconvenience you, sir; but in this instance your duty
+demands your attendance at the bedside of this dying woman----"
+
+"I tell you I can't go, and I won't! Anything in reason I'll do.
+Anything I can send she shall have. Here, Wool, look in my breeches
+pocket and take out my purse and hand it. And then go and wake up Mrs.
+Condiment, and ask her to fill a large basket full of everything a poor
+old dying woman might want, and you shall carry it."
+
+"Spare your pains, sir. The poor woman is already past all earthly,
+selfish wants. She only asks your presence at her dying bed."
+
+"But I can't go! I! The idea of turning out of my warm bed and exposing
+myself to a snow-storm this time of night!"
+
+"Excuse me for insisting, sir; but this is an official duty," said the
+parson mildly but firmly.
+
+"I'll--I'll throw up my commission to-morrow," growled the old man.
+
+"To-morrow you may do that; but meanwhile, to-night, being still in the
+commission of the peace, you are bound to get up and go with me to this
+woman's bedside."
+
+"And what the demon is wanted of me there?"
+
+"To receive her dying deposition."
+
+"To receive a dying deposition! Good Heaven! was she murdered, then?"
+exclaimed the old man in alarm, as he started out of bed and began to
+draw on his nether garments.
+
+"Be composed; she was not murdered," said the pastor.
+
+"Well, then, what is it? Dying deposition! It must concern a crime,"
+exclaimed the old man, hastily drawing on his coat.
+
+"It does concern a crime."
+
+"What crime, for the love of Heaven?"
+
+"I am not at liberty to tell you. She will do that."
+
+"Wool, go down and rouse up Jehu, and tell him to put Parson Goodwin's
+mule in the stable for the night. And tell him to put the black draught
+horses to the close carriage, and light both of the front lanterns--for
+we shall have a dark, stormy road----Shut the door, you infernal----I
+beg your pardon, parson, but that villain always leaves the door ajar
+after him."
+
+The good pastor bowed gravely, and the major completed his toilet by the
+time the servant returned and reported the carriage ready.
+
+It was dark as pitch when they emerged from the hall door out into the
+front portico, before which nothing could be seen but two red
+bull's-eyes of the carriage lanterns, and nothing heard but the
+dissatisfied whinnying and pawing of the horses.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE MASKS.
+
+    "What are these,
+    So withered and so wild in their attire
+    That look not like th' inhabitants of earth
+    And yet are on't?"
+                                       --Macbeth.
+
+
+"To the Devil's Punch Bowl," was the order given by Old Hurricane as he
+followed the minister into the carriage. "And now, sir," he continued,
+addressing his companion, "I think you had better repeat that part of
+the church litany that prays to be delivered from 'battle, murder and
+sudden death,' for if we should be so lucky as to escape Black Donald
+and his gang, we shall have at least an equal chance of being upset in
+the darkness of these dreadful mountains."
+
+"A pair of saddle mules would have been a safer conveyance, certainly,"
+said the minister.
+
+Old Hurricane knew that, but, though a great sensualist, he was a brave
+man, and so he had rather risk his life in a close carriage than suffer
+cold upon a sure-footed mule's back.
+
+Only by previous knowledge of the route could any one have told the way
+the carriage went. Old Hurricane and the minister both knew that they
+drove, lumbering, over the rough road leading by serpentine windings
+down that rugged fall of ground to the river's bank, and that then,
+turning to the left by a short bend, they passed in behind that range of
+horseshoe rocks that sheltered Hurricane Hall--thus, as it were doubling
+their own road. Beneath that range of rocks, and between it and another
+range, there was an awful abyss or chasm of cleft, torn and jagged rocks
+opening, as it were, from the bowels of the earth, in the shape of a
+mammoth bowl, in the bottom of which, almost invisible from its great
+depth, seethed and boiled a mass of dark water of what seemed to be a
+lost river or a subterranean spring. This terrific phenomenon was called
+the Devil's Punch Bowl.
+
+Not far from the brink of this awful abyss, and close behind the
+horseshoe range of rocks, stood a humble log-cabin, occupied by an old
+free negress, who picked up a scanty living by telling fortunes and
+showing the way to the Punch Bowl. Her cabin went by the name of the
+Witch's Hut, or Old Hat's Cabin. A short distance from Hat's cabin the
+road became impassable, and the travelers got out, and, preceded by the
+coachman bearing the lantern, struggled along on foot through the
+drifted snow and against the buffeting wind and sleet to where a faint
+light guided them to the house.
+
+The pastor knocked. The door was immediately opened by a negro, whose
+sex from the strange anomalous costume it was difficult to guess. The
+tall form was rigged out first in a long, red, cloth petticoat, above
+which was buttoned a blue cloth surtout. A man's old black beaver hat
+sat upon the strange head and completed this odd attire.
+
+"Well, Hat, how is your patient?" inquired the pastor, as he entered
+preceding the magistrate.
+
+"You will see, sir," replied the old woman.
+
+The two visitors looked around the dimly-lighted, miserable room, in one
+corner of which stood a low bed, upon which lay extended the form of an
+old, feeble and gray-haired woman.
+
+"How are you, my poor soul, and what can I do for you now I am here?"
+inquired Old Hurricane, who in the actual presence of suffering was not
+utterly without pity.
+
+"You are a magistrate?" inquired the dying woman.
+
+"Yes, my poor soul."
+
+"And qualified to administer an oath and take your deposition," said the
+minister.
+
+"Will it be legal--will it be evidence in a court of law?" asked the
+woman, lifting her dim eyes to the major.
+
+"Certainly, my poor soul--certainly," said the latter, who, by the way,
+would have said anything to soothe her.
+
+"Send every one but yourself from the room."
+
+"What, my good soul, send the parson out in the storm? That will never
+do! Won't it be just as well to let him go up in the corner yonder?"
+
+"No! You will repent it unless this communication is strictly private."
+
+"But, my good soul, if it is to be used in a court of law?"
+
+"That will be according to your own discretion!"
+
+"My dear parson," said Old Hurricane, going to the minister, "would you
+be so good as to retire?"
+
+"There is a fire in the woodshed, master," said Hat, leading the way.
+
+"Now, my good soul, now! You want first to be put upon your oath?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+The old man drew from his great-coat pocket a miniature copy of the
+Scriptures, and with the usual formalities administered the oath.
+
+"Now, then, my good soul, begin--'the truth, the whole truth, and
+nothing but the truth,' you know. But first, your name?"
+
+"Is it possible you don't know me, master?"
+
+"Not I, in faith."
+
+"For the love of heaven, look at me, and try to recollect me, sir! It is
+necessary some one in authority should be able to know me," said the
+woman, raising her haggard eyes to the face of her visitor.
+
+The old man adjusted his spectacles and gave her a scrutinizing look,
+exclaiming at intervals:
+
+"Lord bless my soul, it is! it ain't! it must! it can't be! Granny
+Grewell, the--the--the--midwife that disappeared from here some twelve
+or thirteen years ago!"
+
+"Yes, master, I am Nancy Grewell, the ladies' nurse, who vanished from
+sight so mysteriously some thirteen years ago," replied the woman.
+
+"Heaven help our hearts! And for what crime was it you ran away?
+Come--make a clean breast of it, woman! You have nothing to fear in
+doing so, for you are past the arm of earthly law now!"
+
+"I know it, master."
+
+"And the best way to prepare to meet the Divine Judge is to make all the
+reparation that you can by a full confession!"
+
+"I know it, sir--if I had committed a crime; but I have committed no
+crime; neither did I run away."
+
+"What? what? what? What was it, then? Remember, witness, you are on your
+oath."
+
+"I know that, sir, and I will tell the truth; but it must be in my own
+way."
+
+At this moment a violent blast of wind and hail roared down the mountain
+side and rattled against the walls, shaking the witch's hut, as if it
+would have shaken it about their ears.
+
+It was a proper overture to the tale that was about to be told.
+Conversation was impossible until the storm raved past and was heard
+dying in deep, reverberating echoes from the depths of the Devil's Punch
+Bowl.
+
+"It is some thirteen years ago," began Granny Grewell, "upon just such a
+night of storm as this, that I was mounted on my old mule Molly, with my
+saddlebags full of dried yarbs and 'stilled waters and sich, as I allus
+carried when I was out 'tendin' on the sick. I was on my way a-going to
+see a lady as I was sent for to 'tend.
+
+"Well, master, I'm not 'shamed to say, as I never was afraid of man,
+beast, nor sperrit, and never stopped at going out all hours of the
+night, through the most lonesome roads, if so be I was called upon to do
+so. Still I must say that jest as me and Molly, my mule, got into that
+deep, thick, lonesome woods as stands round the old Hidden House in the
+hollow I did feel queerish; 'case it was the dead hour of the night, and
+it was said how strange things were seen and hearn, yes, and done, too,
+in that dark, deep, lonesome place! I seen how even my mule Molly felt
+queer, too, by the way she stuck up her ears, stiff as quills. So,
+partly to keep up my own spirits, and partly to 'courage her, says I,
+'Molly,' says I, 'what are ye afeared on? Be a man, Molly!' But Molly
+stepped out cautious and pricked up her long ears all the same.
+
+"Well, master, it was so dark I couldn't see a yard past Molly's ears,
+and the path was so narrow and the bushes so thick we could hardly get
+along; and just as we came to the little creek, as they calls the Spout,
+'cause the water jumps and jets along it till it empties into the Punch
+Bowl, and just as Molly was cautiously putting her fore foot into the
+water, out starts two men from the bushes and seized poor Molly's
+bridle!"
+
+"Good Heaven!" exclaimed Major Warfield.
+
+"Well, master, before I could cry out, one of them willains seized me by
+the scruff of my neck, and, with his other hand upon my mouth, he says:
+
+"'Be silent, you old fool, or I'll blow your brains out!'
+
+"And then, master, I saw for the first time that their faces were
+covered over with black crape. I couldn't a-screamed if they'd let me!
+for my breath was gone and my senses were going along with it from the
+fear that was on me.
+
+"'Don't struggle; come along quietly, and you shall not be hurt,' says
+the man as had spoke before.
+
+"Struggle! I couldn't a-struggled to a-saved my soul! I couldn't speak!
+I couldn't breathe! I liked to have a-dropped right offen Molly's back.
+One on 'em says, says he:
+
+"'Give her some brandy!' And t'other takes out a flask and puts it to my
+lips and says, says he:
+
+"'Here, drink this.'
+
+"Well, master, as he had me still by the scruff o' my neck I couldn't do
+no other ways but open my mouth and drink it. And as soon as I took a
+swallow my breath came back and my speech.
+
+"'And oh, gentlemen,' says I, 'ef it's "your money or your life" you
+mean, I hain't it about me! 'Deed, 'clare to the Lord-a-mighty, I
+hain't! It's wrapped up in an old cotton glove in a hole in the
+plastering in the chimney corner at home, and ef you'll spare my life
+you can go there and get it,' says I.
+
+"'You old blockhead!' says they, 'we want neither one nor t'other! Come
+along quietly and you shall receive no harm. But at the first cry, or
+attempt to escape--this shall stop you!" And with that the willain held
+the mizzle of a pistil so nigh to my nose that I smelt brimstone, while
+t'other one bound a silk hankercher round my eyes, and then took poor
+Molly's bridle and led her along. I couldn't see, in course, and I
+dassint breathe for fear o' the pistil. But I said my prayers to myself
+all the time.
+
+"Well, master, they led the mule on down the path until we comed to a
+place wide enough to turn, when they turned us round and led us back
+outen the wood, and then 'round and round, and up and down, and
+crossways and lengthways, as ef they didn't want me to find where they
+were taking me.
+
+"Well, sir, when they'd walked about in this 'fused way, leadin' of the
+mule about a mile, I knew we was in the woods again--the very same woods
+and the very same path--I, knowed by the feel of the place and the sound
+of the bushes as we hit up against them each side, and also by the
+rumbling of the Spout as it rumbled along toward the Punch Bowl. We went
+down and down and down, and lower and lower and lower until we got right
+down in the bottom of that hollow.
+
+"Then we stopped. A gate was opened. I put up my hand to raise the
+hankerchief and see where I was; but just at that minute I felt the
+mizzle o' the pistol like a ring of ice right agin my temple, and the
+willain growling into my ear:
+
+"'If you do----!'
+
+"But I didn't--I dropped my hand down as if I had been shot, and afore I
+had seen anything, either. So we went through the gate and up a gravelly
+walk--I knew it by the crackling of the gravel under Molly's feet--and
+stopped at a horse-block, where one o' them willains lifted me off. I
+put up my hand agin.
+
+"'Do if you dare!' says t'other one, with the mizzle o' the pistol at my
+head.
+
+"I dropped my hand like lead. So they led me on a little way, and then
+up some steps. I counted them to myself as I went along. They were six.
+You see, master, I took all this pains to know the house agin. Then they
+opened a door that opened in the middle. Then they went along a passage
+and up more stairs--there was ten and a turn, and then ten more. Then
+along another passage, and up another flight of stairs just like the
+first. Then along another passage and up a third flight of stairs. They
+was alike.
+
+"Well, sir, here we was at the top o' the house. One o' them willains
+opened a door on the left side, and t'other said:
+
+"'There--go in and do your duty!' and pushed me through the door and
+shut and locked it on me. Good gracious, sir, how scared I was! I
+slipped off the silk handkercher, and, 'feared as I was, I didn't forget
+to put it in my bosom.
+
+"Then I looked about me. Right afore me on the hearth was a little weeny
+taper burning, that showed I was in a great big garret with sloping
+walls. At one end two deep dormer windows and a black walnut bureau
+standing between them. At t'other end a great tester bedstead with dark
+curtains. There was a dark carpet on the floor. And with all there were
+so many dark objects and so many shadows, and the little taper burned so
+dimly that I could hardly tell t'other from which, or keep from breaking
+my nose against things as I groped about.
+
+"And what was I in this room for to do? I couldn't even form an idee.
+But presently my blood ran cold to hear a groan from behind the
+curtains! then another! and another! then a cry as of some child in
+mortal agony, saying:
+
+"'For the love of Heaven, save me!'
+
+"I ran to the bed and dropped the curtains and liked to have fainted at
+what I saw!"
+
+"And what did you see?" asked the magistrate.
+
+"Master, behind those dark curtains I saw a young creature tossing about
+on the bed, flinging her hair and beautiful arms about and tearing
+wildly at the fine lace that trimmed her night-dress. But, master, that
+wasn't what almost made me faint--it was that her right hand was sewed
+up in black crape, and her whole face and head completely covered with
+black crape drawn down and fastened securely around her throat, leaving
+only a small slit at the lips and nose to breathe through!"
+
+"What! Take care, woman! Remember that you are upon your oath!" said the
+magistrate.
+
+"I know it, master. And as I hope to be forgiven, I am telling you the
+truth!"
+
+"Go on, then."
+
+"Well, sir, she was a young creature, scarcely past childhood, if one
+might judge by her small size and soft, rosy skin. I asked her to let me
+take that black crape from her face and head, but she threw up her hands
+and exclaimed:
+
+"'Oh, no; no, no! for my life, no!'
+
+"Well, master, I hardly know how to tell you what followed," said the
+old woman, hesitating in embarrassment.
+
+"Go right straight on like a car of Juggernaut, woman! Remember--the
+whole truth!"
+
+"Well, master, in the next two hours there were twins born in that
+room--a boy and a girl; the boy was dead, the girl living. And all the
+time I heard the measured tramping of one of them willains up and down
+the passage outside of that room. Presently the steps stopped, and there
+was a rap at the door. I went and listened, but did not open it.
+
+"'Is it all over?' the voice asked.
+
+"Before I could answer a cry from the bed caused me to look round. There
+was the poor, masked mother stretching out her white arms toward me in
+the most imploring way. I hastened back to her.
+
+"'Tell him--no--no,' she said.
+
+"'Have you got through?' asked the man at the door, rapping impatiently.
+
+"'No, no,' said I, as directed.
+
+"He resumed his tramping up and down, and I went back to my patient. She
+beckoned me to come close, and whispered:
+
+"'Save my child! The living one, I mean! Hide her! oh, hide her from
+him! When he demands the babe, give him the poor little dead one--he
+cannot hurt that! And he will not know there was another. Oh! hide and
+save my child!'
+
+"Master, I was used to queer doings, but this was a little the queerest.
+But if I was to conceal that second child in order to save it, it was
+necessary to stop its mouth, for it was squalling like a wild cat. So I
+took a vial of paregoric from my pocket and give it a drop and it went
+off to sleep like an angel. I wrapped it up warm and lay it along with
+my shawl and bonnet in a dark corner. Just then the man rapped again.
+
+"'Come in, master,' said I.
+
+"'No, bring me the babe,' he said.
+
+"I took up the dead infant. Its mother kissed its brow and dropped tears
+upon its little cold face. And I carried it to the man outside.
+
+"'Is it asleep?' the willain asked me.
+
+"'Yes, master,' said I as I put it, well wrapped up, in his arms; 'very
+sound aslep.'
+
+"'So much the better,' said the knave, walking away.
+
+"I bolted the door and went back to my patient. With her free hand she
+seized mine and pressed it to her lips and then, holding up her left
+hand, pointed to the wedding ring upon her third finger.
+
+"'Draw it off and keep it,' she said; 'conceal the child under your
+shawl and take her with you when you go! Save her and your fortune shall
+be made.'
+
+"I declare, master, I hadn't time to think, before I heard one of them
+wretches rap at the door.
+
+"'Come! Get ready to go,' he said.
+
+"She also beckoned me. I hastened to her. With eager whispers and
+imploring gestures she prayed me to take her ring and save her child.
+
+"'But you,' said I, 'who is to attend to you?'
+
+"'I do not know or care! Save her!'
+
+"The rapping continued. I ran to the corner where I had left my things.
+I put on my bonnet, made a sort of sling around my neck of the silk
+handkercher, opened the large part of it like a hammock and laid the
+little sleeping babe there. Then I folded my big shawl around my breast
+and nobody any the wiser. The rapping was very impatient.
+
+"'I am coming,' said I.
+
+"'Remember!' whispered the poor girl.
+
+"'I will,' said I, and went out and opened the door. There stood t'other
+willain with his head covered with black crape. I dreamt of nothing but
+black-headed demons for six months afterward.
+
+"'Are you ready?' says he.
+
+"'Yes, your worship,' says I.
+
+"'Come along, then.'
+
+"And, binding another silk hankercher round my eyes, he led me along.
+
+"Instead of my mule, a carriage stood near the horse-block.
+
+"'Get in,' says he, holding the pistil to my ears by way of an argument.
+
+"I got in. He jumped up upon the driver's seat and we drove like the
+wind. In another direction from that in which we come, in course, for
+there was no carriage road there. The carriage whirled along at such a
+rate it made me quite giddy. At last it stopped again. The man in the
+mask got down and opened the door.
+
+"'Where are you taking me?' says I.
+
+"'Be quiet,' says he, 'or'----And with that he put the pistil to my
+cheek, ordered me to get out, take the bandage from my eyes and walk
+before him. I did so and saw dimly that we were in a part of the country
+that I was never at before. We were in a dark road through a thick
+forest. On the left side of the road in a clearing stood an old house; a
+dim light was burning in a lower window.
+
+"'Go on in there,' said the willain, putting the pistil to the back of
+my head. As the door stood ajar I went in, to a narrow, dark passage,
+the man all the time at my back. He opened a door on the left side and
+made me go into a dark room. Just then the unfortunate child that had
+been moving restlessly began to wail. Well it might, poor, starved
+thing!
+
+"'What's that?' says the miscreant under his breath and stopping short.
+
+"'It ain't nothing, sir,' says I, and 'Hush-h-h' to the baby. But the
+poor little wretch raised a squall.
+
+"'What is the meaning of this? 'says he. 'Where did that child come
+from? Why the demon don't you speak?' And with that he seized me again
+by the scruff of the neck and shook me.
+
+"'Oh, master, for the love of Heaven don't!' says I. 'This is only a
+poor unfortnet infant as its parents wanted to get outen the way, and
+hired me to take care on. And I have had it wrapped up under my shawl
+all the time 'cept when I was in your house, when I put it to sleep in
+the corner.'
+
+"'Humph--and you had that child concealed under your shawl when I first
+stopped you in the woods?'
+
+"'In course, master,' says I.
+
+"'Whose is it?'
+
+"'Master,' says I, 'it's--it's a dead secret!' for I hadn't another lie
+ready.
+
+"He broke out into a rude, scornful laugh, and seemed not half to
+believe me and yet not to care about questioning me too closely. He made
+me sit down then in the dark, and went out and turned the key on me. I
+wet my finger with the paregoric and put it to the baby's lips to quiet
+its pains of hunger. Then I heard a whispering in the next room. Now my
+eyesight never was good, but to make up for it I believe I had the
+sharpest ears that ever was, and I don't think anybody could have heard
+that whispering but me. I saw a little glimmer of light through the
+chinks that showed me where the door was, and so I creeped up to it and
+put my ear to the key-hole. Still they whispered so low that no ears
+could o' heard them but my sharp ones. The first words I heard good was
+a grumbling voice asking:
+
+"'How old?'
+
+"'Fifty--more or less, but strong, active, a good nurse and a very light
+mulatto,' says my willain's voice.
+
+"'Hum--too old,' says the other.
+
+"'But I will throw the child in.'
+
+"A low, crackling laugh the only answer.
+
+"'You mean that would be only a bother. Well, I want to get rid of the
+pair of them,' said my willain, 'so name the price you are willing to
+give.'
+
+"'Cap'n, you and me have had too many transactions together to make any
+flummery about this. You want to get shet o' them pair. I hain't no
+objections to turning an honest penny. So jest make out the papers--bill
+o' sale o' the 'oman Kate, or whatsoever her name may be, and the child,
+with any price you please, so it is only a make-believe price, and I'll
+engage to take her away and make the most I can of them in the
+South--that won't be much, seeing it's only an old 'oman and
+child--scarcely a fair profit on the expense o' takin' of her out. Now,
+as money's no object to you, Cap'n----'
+
+"'Very well; have your own way; only don't let that woman escape and
+return, for if you do----'
+
+"'I understand, Cap'n; but I reckon you needn't threaten, for if you
+could blow me--why, I would return you the same favor,' said the other,
+raising his voice and laughing aloud.
+
+"'Be quiet, fool, or come away farther--here.' And the two willains
+moved out of even my hearing.
+
+"' I should o' been uneasy, master, if it hadn't been the 'oman they
+were talking about was named Kate, and that wasn't my name, which were
+well beknown to be Nancy.'
+
+"Presently I heard the carriage drive away. And almost 'mediately after
+the door was unlocked, and a great, big, black-bearded and black-headed
+beast of a ruffian came in, and says he:
+
+"'Well, my woman, have you had any supper?'
+
+"'No,' said I, 'I hain't; and ef I'm to stay here any length of time I'd
+be obleeged to you to let me have some hot water and milk to make pap
+for this perishing baby.'
+
+"'Follow me,' says he.
+
+"And he took me into the kitchen at the back of the house, where there
+was a fire in the fireplace and a cupboard with all that I needed. Well,
+sir, not to tire you, I made a nursing-bottle for the baby and fed it.
+And then I got something for my own supper, or, rather, breakfast, for
+it was now near the dawn of day. Well, sir, I thought I would try to get
+out and look about myself to see what the neighborhood looked like by
+daylight, but when I tried the door I found myself locked up a close
+prisoner. I looked out of the window and saw nothing but a little back
+yard, closed in by the woods. I tried to raise the sash, but it was
+nailed down. The black-headed monster came in just about that minute,
+and seeing what I was a-doing of, says he:
+
+"'Stop that!'
+
+"'What am I stopped here for?' says I; 'a free 'oman,' says I, a-'vented
+of going about her own business?' says I.
+
+"But he only laughed a loud, crackling, scornful laugh, and went out,
+turning the key after him.
+
+"A little after sunrise an old, dried-up, spiteful looking hag of a
+woman came in and began to get breakfast.
+
+"'What am I kept here for?' says I to her.
+
+"But she took no notice at all; nor could I get so much as a single word
+outen her. In fact, master, the little 'oman was deaf an' dumb.
+
+"Well, sir, to be short, I was kept in that place all day long, and when
+night come I was druv into a shay at the point of the pistil, and
+rattled along as fast as the horses could gallop over a road as I knew
+nothing of. We changed horses wunst or twict, and just about the dawn of
+day we come to a broad river with a vessel laying to, not far from the
+shore.
+
+"As soon as the shay druv down on the sands, the willain as had run away
+with me puts a pipe to his willainous mouth and blows like mad. Somebody
+else blowed back from the wessel. Then a boat was put off and rowed
+ashore. I was forced to get into it, and was follered by the willain. We
+was rowed to the wessel, and I was druv up the ladder on to the decks.
+And there, master, right afore my own looking eyes, me and the baby was
+traded off to the captain! It was no use for me to 'splain or
+'spostulate. I wasn't b'lieved. The willain as had stole me got back
+into the boat and went ashore, and I saw him get into the shay and drive
+away. It was no use for me to howl and cry, though I did both, for I
+couldn't even hear myself for the swearing of the captain and the noise
+of the crew, as they was a gettin' of the wessel under way. Well, sir,
+we sailed down that river and out to sea.
+
+"Now, sir, come a strange providence, which the very thoughts of it
+might convert a heathen! We had been to sea about five days when a
+dreadful storm riz. Oh, marster! the inky blackness of the sky, the
+roaring of the wind, the raging of the sea, the leaping of the waves and
+the rocking of that wessel--and every once in a while sea and ship all
+ablaze with the blinding lightning--was a thing to see, not to hear tell
+of! I tell you, marster, that looked like the wrath of God! And then the
+cursing and swearing and bawling of the captain and the crew, as they
+were a-takin' in of sail, was enough to raise one's hair on their head!
+I hugged the baby to my breast, and went to praying as hard as ever I
+could pray.
+
+"Presently I felt an awful shock, as if heaven an' earth had come
+together, and then everybody screaming, 'She's struck! She's struck!' I
+felt the wessel trembling like a live creetur, and the water a-pouring
+in everywhere. I hugged the babe and scrambled up the companionway to
+the deck. It was pitch dark, and I heard every man rushing toward one
+side of the wessel.
+
+"A flash of lightning that made everything as bright as day again showed
+me that they were all taking to the boat. I rushed after, calling to
+them to save me and the baby. But no one seemed to hear me; they were
+all too busy trying to save themselves and keep others out of the boat,
+and cursing and swearing and hollering that there was no more room, that
+the boat would be swamped, and so on. The end was, that all who could
+crowd into the boat did so. And me and the baby and a poor sailor lad
+and the black cook were left behind to perish.
+
+"But, marster, as it turned out, we as was left to die were the only
+ones saved. We watched after that boat with longing eyes, though we
+could only see it when the lightning flashed. And every time we saw it
+it was farther off. At last, marster, a flash of lightning showed us the
+boat as far off as ever we could see her, capsized and beaten hither and
+thither by the wild waves--its crew had perished.
+
+"Marster, as soon as the sea had swallowed up that wicked captain and
+crew the wind died away, the waves fell and the storm lulled--just as if
+it had done what it was sent to do and was satisfied. The wreck--where
+we poor forlorn ones stood--the wreck that had shivered and trembled
+with every wave that struck it,--until we had feared it would break up
+every minute, became still and firm on its sand-bar, as a house on dry
+land.
+
+"Daylight came at last. And a little after sunrise we saw a sail bearing
+down upon us. We could not signal the sail, but by the mercy of
+Providence, she saw us and lay to, and sent off a boat and picked us up
+and took us on board--me and the baby and the cook and the sailor lad.
+
+"It was a foreign wessel, and we could not understand a word they said,
+nor they us. All we could do was by signs. But they were very good to
+us--dried our clothes and gave us breakfast and made us lie down and
+rest, and then put about and continued their course. The sailor
+lad--Herbert Greyson--soon found out and told me they were bound for New
+York. And, in fact, marster, in about ten days we made that port.
+
+"When the ship anchored below the Battery, the officers and passengers
+made me up a little bundle of clothes and a little purse of money and
+put me ashore, and there I was in a strange city, so bewildered I didn't
+know which way to turn. While I was a-standing there, in danger of being
+run over by the omnibuses, the sailor boy came to my side and told me
+that he and the cook was gwine to engage on board of another 'Merican
+wessel, and axed me what I was gwine to do. I told him how I didn't know
+nothing at all 'bout sea sarvice, and so I didn't know what I should do.
+Then he said he'd show me where I could go and stay all night, and so he
+took me into a little by-street, to a poor-looking house, where the
+people took lodgers, and there he left me to go aboard the ship. As he
+went away he advised me to take care of my money and try to get a
+servant's place.
+
+"Well, marster, I ain't a gwine to bother you with telling you of how I
+toiled and struggled along in that great city--first living out as a
+servant, and afterward renting a room and taking in washing and
+ironing--ay! how I toiled and struggled--for--ten--long--years, hoping
+for the time to come when I should be able to return to this
+neighborhood, where I was known, and expose the evil deeds of them
+willains. And for this cause I lived on, toiling and struggling and
+laying up money penny by penny. Sometimes I was fool enough to tell my
+story in the hopes of getting pity and help--but telling my story always
+made it worse for me! some thought me crazy and others thought me
+deceitful, which is not to be wondered at, for I was a stranger and my
+adventures were, indeed, beyond belief.
+
+"No one ever helped me but the lad Herbert Greyson. W'enver he came from
+sea he sought me out and made a little present to me or Cap.
+
+"Cap, marster, was Capitola, the child. The reason I gave her that name
+was because on that ring I had drawn from the masked mother's hand were
+the two names--Eugene--Capitola.
+
+"Well, marster, the last time Herbert Greyson came home he gave me five
+dollars, and that, with what I had saved, was enough to pay my passage
+to Norfolk.
+
+"I left my little Cap in the care of the people of the house--she was
+big enough to pay for her keep in work--and I took passage for Norfolk.
+When I got there I fell ill, spent all my money, and was at last taken
+to the poor-house. Six months passed away before I was discharged, and
+then six months more before I had earned and saved money enough to pay
+my way on here.
+
+"I reached here three days ago and found a wheat field growing where my
+cottage fire used to burn, and all my old cronies dead, all except Old
+Hat, who has received and given me shelter. Sir, my story is done--make
+what you can of it," said the invalid, sinking down in her bed as if
+utterly exhausted.
+
+Old Hurricane, whose countenance had expressed emotions as powerful as
+they were various while listening to this tale, now arose, stepped
+cautiously to the door, drew the bolt, and, coming back, bent his head
+and asked:
+
+"What more of the child?"
+
+"Cap, sir? I have not heard a word of Cap since I left her to try to
+find out her friends. But any one interested in her might inquire for
+her at Mrs. Simmons', laundress, No. 8 Rag Alley."
+
+"You say the names upon that ring were Eugene--Capitola?"
+
+"Yes, sir, they were."
+
+"Have you that ring about you?"
+
+"No, marster. I thought it was best in case of accidents to leave it
+with the child."
+
+"Have you told her any part of this strange history?"
+
+"No, marster, nor hinted at it; she was too young for such a
+confidence."
+
+"You were right. Had she any mark about her person by which she could be
+identified?"
+
+"Yes, marster, a very strange one. In the middle of her left palm was
+the perfect image of a crimson hand, about half an inch in length. There
+was also another. Henry Greyson, to please me, marked upon her forearm,
+in India ink, her name and birthday--'Capitola, Oct. 31st, 1832.'"
+
+"Right! Now tell me, my good soul, do you know, from what you were able
+to observe, what house that was where Capitola was born?"
+
+"I am on my oath! No, sir; I do not know, but----"
+
+"You suspect?"
+
+The woman nodded.
+
+"It was----" said old Hurricane, stooping and whispering a name that was
+heard by no one but the sick woman.
+
+She nodded again, with a look of intense meaning.
+
+"Does your old hostess here, Hat, know or suspect anything of this
+story?" inquired Major Warfield.
+
+"Not a word! No soul but yourself has heard it!"
+
+"That is right! Still be discreet! If you would have the wicked punished
+and the innocent protected, be silent and wary. Have no anxiety about
+the girl. What man can do for her will I do and quickly! And now, good
+creature, day is actually dawning. You must seek repose. And I must call
+the parson in and return home. I will send Mrs. Condiment over with
+food, wine, medicine, clothing and every comfort that your condition
+requires," said Old Hurricane, rising and calling in the clergyman, with
+whom he soon after left the hut for home.
+
+They reached Hurricane Hall in time for an early breakfast, which the
+astonished housekeeper had prepared, and for which their night's
+adventures had certainly given them a good appetite.
+
+Major Warfield kept his word, and as soon as breakfast was over he
+dispatched Mrs. Condiment with a carriage filled with provisions for the
+sick woman. But they were not needed. In a couple of hours the
+housekeeper returned with the intelligence that the old nurse was dead.
+The false strength of mental excitement that had enabled her to tell so
+long and dreadful a tale had been the last flaring up of the flame of
+life that almost immediately went out.
+
+"I am not sorry, upon the whole, for now I shall have the game in my own
+hands!" muttered Old Hurricane to himself. "Ah! Gabrielle Le Noir,
+better you had cast yourself down from the highest rock of this range
+and been dashed to pieces below, than have thus fallen into my power!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+THE QUEST.
+
+    Then did Sir Knight abandon dwelling
+    And out he rode.
+                                       --Hudibras.
+
+
+Pursuant to the orders of Major Warfield, the corpse of the old midwife
+was the next day after her decease brought over and quietly interred in
+the family graveyard of Hurricane Hall.
+
+And then Major Warfield astonished his household by giving orders to his
+housekeeper and his body-servant to prepare his wardrobe and pack his
+trunks for a long journey to the north.
+
+"What can the major be thinking of, to be setting out for the north at
+this time of the year?" exclaimed good little Mrs. Condiment, as she
+picked over her employer's shirts, selecting the newest and warmest to
+be done up for the occasion.
+
+"Lord A'mighty o'ny knows; but 'pears to me marster's never been right
+in his headpiece since Hollow-eve night, when he took that ride to the
+Witch's Hut," replied Wool, who, with brush and sponge, was engaged in
+rejuvenating his master's outer garments.
+
+But, let his family wonder as they would, Old Hurricane kept his own
+counsel--only just as he was going away, lest mystery should lead to
+investigation, and that to discovery, the old man gave out that he was
+going north to invest capital in bank stock, and so, quite unattended,
+he departed.
+
+His servant Wool, indeed, accompanied him as far as Tip-Top, the little
+hamlet on the mountain at which he was to meet the eastern stage; but
+there having seen his master comfortably deposited in the inside of the
+coach, and the luggage safely stowed in the boot, Wool was ordered to
+return with the carriage. And Major Warfield proceeded on his journey
+alone. This also caused much speculation in the family.
+
+"Who's gwine to make his punch and warm his bed and put his slippers on
+the hearth and hang his gown to de fire?--that what I want to know!"
+cried the grieved and indignant Wool.
+
+"Oh, the waiters at the taverns where he stops can do that for him,"
+said Mrs. Condiment.
+
+"No, they can't, nuther; they don't know his ways! they don't know
+nuffin' 'bout him! I 'clare, I think our ole marse done gone clean
+crazy! I shouldn't be s'prised he'd gone off to de norf to get married,
+and was to bring home a young wife to we dem!"
+
+"Tut! tut! tut! such talk! That will never do!" exclaimed the deeply
+shocked Mrs. Condiment.
+
+"Werry well! All I say is, 'Dem as libs longest will see most!'" said
+Wool, shaking his white head. After which undeniable apothegm the
+conversation came to a stand.
+
+Meanwhile, Old Hurricane pursued his journey--a lumbering, old-fashioned
+stage-coach ride--across the mountains, creeping at a snail's crawl up
+one side of the precipice and clattering thunderously down the other at
+a headlong speed that pitched the back-seat passengers into the bosoms
+of the front ones and threatened even to cast the coach over the heads
+of the horses. Three days and nights of such rugged riding brought the
+traveler to Washington City, where he rested one night and then took the
+cars for New York. He rested another night in Philadelphia, resumed his
+journey by the first train in the morning and reached New York about
+noon.
+
+The crowd, the noise, the hurry and confusion at the wharf almost drove
+this irascible old gentleman mad.
+
+"No, confound you!"
+
+"I'll see your neck stretched first, you villain!"
+
+"Out of my way, or I'll break your head, sirrah!" were some of his
+responses to the solicitous attentions of cabmen and porters. At length,
+taking up his heavy carpet-bag in both hands, Old Hurricane began to lay
+about him, with such effect that he speedily cleared a passage for
+himself through the crowd. Then addressing a cabman who had not offended
+by speaking first, he said:
+
+"Here, sir! Here are my checks! Go get my luggage and take it to the
+Astor House. Hand the clerk this card, and tell him I want a good room,
+well warmed. I shall take a walk around the city before going. And, hark
+ye! If one of my trunks is missing I'll have you hanged, you rogue!"
+
+"Breach of trust isn't a hanging matter in New York, your honor,"
+laughed the cabman, as he touched his hat and hurried off toward the
+crowd collected around the baggage car.
+
+Old Hurricane made a step or two as if he would have pursued and
+punished the flippancy of the man, but finally thought better of it,
+picked up his portmanteau and walked up the street slowly, with frequent
+pauses and bewildered looks, as though he had forgotten his directions
+or lost his way, and yet hesitated to inquire of any one for the obscure
+little alley in which he had been told to look for his treasure.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+CAPITOLA.
+
+    Her sex a page's dress belied,
+    Obscured her charms but could not hide.
+                                       --Scott.
+
+
+"Please, sir, do you want your carpet-bag carried?" asked a voice near.
+
+Old Hurricane looked around him with a puzzled air, for he thought that
+a young girl had made this offer, so soft and clear were the notes of
+the voice that spoke.
+
+"It was I, sir! Here I am, at yours and everybody's service, sir!" said
+the same voice.
+
+And turning, Old Hurricane saw sitting astride a pile of boxes at the
+corner store, a very ragged lad some thirteen years of age.
+
+"Good gracious!" thought Old Hurricane, as he gazed upon the boy, "this
+must be crown prince and heir apparent to the 'king of shreds and
+patches!'"
+
+"Well, old gent! you'll know me next time, that's certain," said the
+lad, returning the look with interest.
+
+It is probable Old Hurricane did not hear this irreverent speech, for he
+continued to gaze with pity and dismay upon the ragamuffin before him.
+He was a handsome boy, too, notwithstanding the deplorable state of his
+wardrobe. Thick, clustering curls of jet-black hair fell in tangled
+disorder around a forehead broad, white and smooth as that of a girl;
+slender and quaintly arched black eyebrows played above a pair of
+mischievous, dark-gray eyes that sparkled beneath the shade of long,
+thick, black lashes; a little turned-up nose, and red, pouting lips
+completed the character of a countenance full of fun, frolic, spirit and
+courage.
+
+"Well, governor, if you've looked long enough, maybe you'll take me into
+service," said the lad, winking to a group of his fellow-newsboys that
+had gathered at the corner.
+
+"Dear! dear! dear! he looks as if he had never in his life seen soap and
+water or a suit of whole clothes!" ejaculated the old gentleman, adding,
+kindly: "Yes, I reckon I will give you the job, my son!"
+
+"His son! Oh, crikey! do you hear that, fellows? His son? Oh, Lor'! my
+governor's turned up at last. I'm his son! oh, gemini! But what did I
+tell you! I always had a sort of impression that I must have had a
+father in some former period of my life; and, behold, here he is! Who
+knows but I might have had a mother also? But that isn't likely. Still,
+I'll ask him. How's the old woman, sir?" said the newsboy, jumping off
+the boxes and taking the carpet-bag in his hand.
+
+"What are you talking about, you infatuated tatterdemalion? Come along!
+If it weren't for pity I'd have you put in the pillory!" exclaimed Old
+Hurricane, shaking his cane at the offender.
+
+"Thanky, sir! I've not had a pillow under my head for a long time."
+
+"Silence, ragamuffin!"
+
+"Just so, sir! 'a dumb devil is better than a talking one!'" answered
+the lad, demurely following his employer.
+
+They went on some distance, Old Hurricane diligently reading the names
+of the streets at the corners. Presently he stopped again, bewildered,
+and after gazing around himself for a few minutes, said:
+
+"Boy!"
+
+"Yes, sir!"
+
+"Do you know such a place as Rag Alley in Manillo Street?"
+
+"Rag Alley, sir?"
+
+"Yes; a sort of narrow, dark, musty place, with a row of old,
+tumble-down tenements each side, where poor wretches live all huddled up
+together, fifty in a house, eh? I was told I couldn't drive up it in a
+carriage, so I had to walk. Do you know such a place?"
+
+"Do I know such a place! Do I know Rag Alley? Oh, my eye! Oh, he! he!
+he! he!"
+
+"What are you laughing at now, you miscellaneous assortment of
+variegated pieces?"
+
+"Oh! oh, dear! I was laughing to think how well I knew Rag Alley!"
+
+"Humph! you do look as if you were born and bred there."
+
+"But, sir, I wasn't!"
+
+"Humph! How did you get into life, then?"
+
+"I don't know, governor, unless I was raked up from the gutter by some
+old woman in the rag-picking line!" said the newsboy, demurely.
+
+"Humph. I think that quite likely! But now, do you say that you know
+where that alley is?"
+
+"Oh, don't set me off again! Oh, he! he! he! Yes, sir, I know."
+
+"Well, then, show me the way and don't be a fool!"
+
+"I'd scorn to be it, sir. This is the way!" said the lad, taking the
+lead.
+
+They walked on several squares, and then the boy stopped, and pointing
+down a cross-street, said:
+
+"There, governor; there you are."
+
+"There! Where? Why that's a handsome street!" said Old Hurricane, gazing
+up in admiration at the opposite blocks of stately brown-stone mansions.
+
+"That's it, hows'ever! That's Rag Alley. 'Tain't called Rag Alley now,
+though! It's called Hifalutin Terrace! Them tenements you talk of were
+pulled down more'n a year ago and these houses put up in their place,"
+said the newsboy.
+
+"Dear! dear! dear! what changes! And what became of the poor tenants?"
+asked Old Hurricane, gazing in dismay at the inroads of improvement.
+
+"The tenants? poor wretches! how do I know? Carted away, blown away,
+thrown away, with the other rubbish. What became of the tenants?
+
+    "'Ask of the winds that far around
+    With fragments strewed the sea-ty!'
+
+I heard that spouted at a school exhibition once, governor!" said the
+lad, demurely.
+
+"Humph! well, well well! the trace is lost! What shall I do?--put
+advertisements in all the daily papers--apply at the chief police
+office? Yes, I'll do both," muttered Old Hurricane to himself; then,
+speaking out, he called:
+
+"Boy!"
+
+"Yes, sir?"
+
+"Call me a cab!"
+
+"Yes, sir!" And the lad was off like an arrow to do his bidding.
+
+In a few moments the cab drove up. The newsboy, who was sitting beside
+the driver, jumped down and said:
+
+"Here it is, sir!"
+
+"Thank you, my son; here is your fee," said Old Hurricane, putting a
+silver dollar into the lad's hand.
+
+"What! Lor', it can't be I but it is! He must have made a mistake! What
+if he did, I don't care! Yes, I do, too! 'Honor bright!'" exclaimed the
+newsboy, looking in wonder and desire and sore temptation upon the
+largest piece of money he had ever touched in his life. "Governor!"
+
+"Well, boy?" said the old gentleman, with his feet upon the steps of the
+cab.
+
+"You've been and done and gone and give me a whole dollar by mistake!"
+
+"And why should you think it a mistake, you impertinent monkey?"
+
+"Your honor didn't mean it?"
+
+"Why not, you young rascal? Of course I did. Take it and be off with
+you!" said Old Hurricane, beginning to ascend the steps.
+
+"I'm a great mind to," said the newsboy, still gazing on the coin with
+satisfaction and desire--"I'm a great mind to; but I won't! 'tain't
+fair! Governor, I say!"
+
+"What now, you troublesome fellow?"
+
+"Do stop a minute! Don't tempt me too hard, 'cause, you see, I ain't
+sure I could keep honest if I was tempted too hard."
+
+"What do you mean now, you ridiculous little ape?"
+
+"I mean I know you're from the country, and don't know no better, and I
+mus'n't impose upon your ignorance."
+
+"My ignorance, you impudent villain!" exclaimed the old man, with rising
+wrath.
+
+"Yes, governor; you hain't cut your eye-teeth yet! you hain't up to
+snuff! you don't know nothing! Why, this is too much for toting a
+carpet-bag a half a dozen squares; and it's very well you fell in with a
+honest lad like me, that wouldn't impose on your innocence. Bless you,
+the usual price isn't more'n a dime, or, if you're rich and generous, a
+shillin'; but----"
+
+"What the deuce do I care for the usual price, you--you--you perfect
+prodigy of patches? There, for the Lord's sake, go get yourself a decent
+suit of clothes! Drive on, cabman!" roared Old Hurricane, flinging an
+eagle upon the sidewalk and rolling off in his cab.
+
+"Poor dear, old gentleman! I wonder where his keeper is? How could he
+have got loose? Maybe I'd better go and tell the police! But then I
+don't know who he is, or where he's gone! But he is very crazy, and I'm
+afraid he'll fling away every cent of his money before his friends can
+catch him. I know what I'll do. I'll go to the stand and watch for the
+cab to come back and ask the driver what he has done with the poor, dear
+old fellow!" said the newsboy, picking up the gold coin and putting it
+into his pocket. And then he started, but with an eye to business,
+singing out:
+
+"Herald! Triebune! Express! last account of the orful
+accident--steamer," etc., etc., etc., selling his papers as he went on
+to the cab-stand. He found the cabman already there. And to his anxious
+inquiries as to the sanity of the old gentleman, that Jehu replied:
+
+"Oh, bless your soul, crazy? No; no more'n you or I. He's a real nob--a
+real Virginian, F. F. V., with money like the sands on the seashore!
+Keep the tin, lad; he knowed what he was a-doin' on."
+
+"Oh, it a'most scares me to have so much money!" exclaimed the boy, half
+in delight, half in dismay; "but to-night I'll have a warm supper and
+sleep in a bed once more! And to-morrow a new suit of clothes! So here
+goes--Herald! Express!--full account--the horrible murder--Bell
+Street--Ledgee-ee-ee," etc., etc., etc., crying his papers until he was
+out of hearing.
+
+Never in his life had the newsboy felt so prosperous and happy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE DISCOVERY.
+
+    "And at the magistrate's command,
+    And next undid the leathern band
+      That bound her tresses there,
+    And raised her felt hat from her head,
+    And down her slender form there spread
+      Black ringlets rich and rare."
+
+
+Old Hurricane meanwhile dined at the public table at the Astor, and
+afterward went to his room to rest, smoke and ruminate. And he finished
+the evening by supping and retiring to bed.
+
+In the morning, after an early breakfast, he wrote a dozen
+advertisements and called a cab and rode around to leave them with the
+various daily papers for immediate publication. Then, to lose no time,
+he rode up to the Recorder's office to set the police upon the search.
+
+As he was about to enter the front portal he observed the doorway and
+passage blocked up with even a larger crowd than usual.
+
+And seeing the cabman who had waited upon him the preceding day, he
+inquired of him:
+
+"What is the matter here?"
+
+"Nothing, your honor, 'cept a boy tuk up for wearing girl's clothes, or
+a girl tuk up for wearing boy's, I dunno which," said the man, touching
+his hat.
+
+"Let me pass, then; I must speak to the chief of police," said Old
+Hurricane, shoving his way into the Recorder's room.
+
+"This is not the office of the chief, sir; you will find him on the
+other side of the hall," said a bystander.
+
+But before Old Hurricane had gathered the sense of these words, a sight
+within the office drew his steps thither. Up before the Recorder stood a
+lad of about thirteen years, who, despite his smart, new suit of gray
+casinet, his long, rolling, black ringlets and his downcast and blushing
+face, Old Hurricane immediately recognized as his acquaintance, of the
+preceding day, the saucy young tatterdemalion.
+
+Feeling sorry for the friendless boy, the old man impulsively went up to
+him and patted him on the shoulder, saying:
+
+"What! In trouble, my lad? Never mind; never look down! I'll warrant ye
+an honest lad from what I've seen myself. Come! come! pluck up a spirit!
+I'll see you through, my lad."
+
+"'Lad!' Lord bless your soul, sir, he's no more a lad than you or I! The
+young rascal is a girl in boy's clothes, sir!" said the officer who had
+the culprit in custody.
+
+"What--what--what!" exclaimed Old Hurricane, gazing in consternation
+from the young prisoner to the accuser; "what--what! my newsboy, my
+saucy little prince of patches, a girl in boy's clothes?"
+
+"Yes, sir--a young scoundrel! I actually twigged him selling papers at
+the Fulton Ferry this morning! A little rascal!"
+
+"A girl in boy's clothes! A girl!" exclaimed Old Hurricane, with his
+eyes nearly starting out of his head.
+
+Just then the young culprit looked up in his face with an expression
+half melancholy, half mischievous, that appealed to the rugged heart of
+the old man. Turning around to the policeman, he startled the whole
+office by roaring out:
+
+"Girl, is she, sir? Then, demmy, sir, whether a girl in boy's clothes,
+or men's clothes, or soldier's clothes, or sailor's clothes, or any
+clothes, or no clothes, sir, treat her with the delicacy due to
+womanhood, sir! ay, and the tenderness owed to childhood! for she is but
+a bit of a poor, friendless, motherless, fatherless child, lost and
+wandering in your great Babylon! No more hard words to her, sir--or by
+the ever-lasting----"
+
+"Order!" put in the calm and dignified Recorder.
+
+Old Hurricane, though his face was still purple, his veins swollen and
+his eyeballs glaring with anger, immediately recovered himself, turned
+and bowed to the Recorder and said:
+
+"Yes, sir, I will keep order, if you'll make that brute of a policeman
+reform his language!"
+
+And so saying Old Hurricane subsided into a seat immediately behind the
+child, to watch the examination.
+
+"What'll they do with her, do you think?" he inquired of a bystander.
+
+"Send her down, in course."
+
+"Down! Where?"
+
+"To Blackwell's Island--to the work'us, in course."
+
+"To the workhouse--her, that child?--the wretches! Um-m-m-me! Oh-h-h!"
+groaned Old Hurricane, stooping and burying his shaggy gray head in his
+great hands.
+
+He felt his shoulder touched, and, looking up, saw that the little
+prisoner had turned around, and was about to speak to him.
+
+"Governor," said the same clear voice that he had even at first supposed
+to belong to a girl--"Governor, don't you keep on letting out that way!
+You don't know nothing! You're in the Recorder's Court! If you don't
+mind your eye they'll commit you for contempt!"
+
+"Will they? Then they'll do well, my lad! Lass, I mean. I plead guilty
+to contempt. Send a child like you to the----! They shan't do it!
+Simply, they shan't do it! I, Major Warfield of Virginia, tell you so,
+my boy--girl, I mean!"
+
+"But, you innocent old lion, instead of freeing me, you'll find yourself
+shut up between four walls! and very narrow ones at that, I tell you!
+You'll think yourself in your coffin! Governor, they call it The Tombs!"
+whispered the child.
+
+"Attention!" said the clerk.
+
+The little prisoner turned and faced the court. And the "old lion"
+buried his shaggy, gray head and beard in his hands and groaned aloud.
+
+"Now, then, what is your name, my lad--my girl, I should say?" inquired
+the clerk.
+
+"Capitola, sir."
+
+Old Hurricane pricked up his ears and raised his head, muttering to
+himself: "Cap-it-o-la! That's a very odd name! Can't surely be two in
+the world of the same! Cap-it-ola!--if it should be my Capitola, after
+all! I shouldn't wonder at all! I'll listen and say nothing." And with
+this wise resolution, Old Hurricane again dropped his head upon his
+hands.
+
+"You say your name is Capitola--Capitola what?" inquired the clerk,
+continuing the examination.
+
+"Nothing sir."
+
+"Nothing! What do you mean?"
+
+"I have no name but Capitola, sir."
+
+"Who is your father?"
+
+"Never had any that I know, sir."
+
+"Your mother?"
+
+"Never had a mother either, sir, as ever I heard."
+
+"Where do you live?"
+
+"About in spots in the city, sir."
+
+"Oh--oh--oh!" groaned old Hurricane within his hands.
+
+"What is your calling?" inquired the clerk.
+
+"Selling newspapers, carrying portmanteaus and packages sweeping before
+doors, clearing off snow, blacking boots and so on."
+
+"Little odd jobs in general, eh?"
+
+"Yes, sir, anything that I can turn my hand to and get to do."
+
+"Boy--girl, I should say--what tempted you to put yourself into male
+attire?"
+
+"Sir?"
+
+"In boy's clothes, then?"
+
+"Oh, yes; want, sir--and--and--danger, sir!" cried the little prisoner,
+putting her hands to a face crimson with blushes and for the first time
+since her arrest upon the eve of sobbing.
+
+"Oh--oh--oh!" groaned Old Hurricane from his chair.
+
+"Want? Danger? How is that?" continued the clerk.
+
+"Your honor mightn't like to know."
+
+"By all means! It is, in fact, necessary that you should give an account
+of yourself," said the clerk.
+
+Old Hurricane once more raised his head, opened his ears and gave close
+attention.
+
+One circumstance he had particularly remarked--the language used by the
+poor child during her examination was much superior to the slang she had
+previously affected, to support her assumed character of newsboy.
+
+"Well, well--why do you pause? Go on--go on, my good boy--girl, I mean
+I" said the Recorder, in a tone of kind encouragement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+A SHORT, SAD STORY.
+
+    "Ah! poverty is a weary thing!
+      It burdeneth the brain,
+    It maketh even the little child
+      To murmur and complain."
+
+
+"It is not much I have to tell," began Capitola. "I was brought up in
+Rag Alley and its neighborhood by an old woman named Nancy Grewell."
+
+"Ah!" ejaculated Old Hurricane.
+
+"She was a washwoman, and rented one scantily furnished room from a poor
+family named Simmons."
+
+"Oh!" cried Old Hurricane.
+
+"Granny, as I called her, was very good to me, and I never suffered cold
+nor hunger until about eighteen months ago, when Granny took it into her
+head to go down to Virginia."
+
+"Umph!" exclaimed Old Hurricane.
+
+"When Granny went away she left me a little money and some good clothes
+and told me to be sure to stay with the people where she left me, for
+that she would be back in about a month. But, your honor, that was the
+last I ever saw or heard of poor Granny! She never came back again. And
+by that I know she must have died."
+
+"Ah-h-h!" breathed the old man, puffing fast.
+
+"The first month or two after Granny left I did well enough. And then,
+when the little money was all gone, I eat with the Simmonses and did
+little odd jobs for my food. But by and by Mr. Simmons got out of work,
+and the family fell into want, and they wished me to go out and beg for
+them. I just couldn't do that, and so they told me I should look out for
+myself."
+
+"Were there no customers of your grandmother that you could have applied
+to for employment?" asked the Recorder.
+
+"No, sir. My Granny's customers were mostly boarders at the small
+taverns, and they were always changing. I did apply to two or three
+houses where the landladies knew Granny; but they didn't want me."
+
+"Oh-h-h!" groaned Major Warfield, in the tone of one in great pain.
+
+"I wouldn't have that old fellow's conscience for a good deal,"
+whispered a spectator, "for, as sure as shooting, that gal's his
+unlawful child!"
+
+"Well, go on! What next?" asked the clerk.
+
+"Well, sir, though the Simmonses had nothing to give me except a crust
+now and then, they still let me sleep in the house, for the little jobs
+I could do for them. But at last Simmons he got work on the railroad
+away off somewhere, and they all moved away from the city."
+
+"And you were left alone?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I was left alone in the empty, unfurnished house. Still it
+was a shelter, and I was glad of it, and I dreaded the time when it
+would be rented by another tenant, and I should be turned into the
+street."
+
+"Oh! oh! oh, Lord!" groaned the major.
+
+"But it was never rented again, for the word went around that the whole
+row was to be pulled down, and so I thought I had leave to stay at least
+as long as the rats did!" continued Capitola, with somewhat of her
+natural roguish humor twinkling in her dark-gray eyes.
+
+"But how did you get your bread?" inquired the Recorder.
+
+"Did not get it at all, sir. Bread was too dear! I sold my clothes,
+piece by piece, to the old Jew over the way and bought corn-meal and
+picked up trash to make a fire and cooked a little mush every day in an
+old tin can that had been left behind. And so I lived on for two or
+three weeks. And then when my clothes were all gone except the suit I
+had upon my back, and my meal was almost out, instead of making mush
+every day I economized and made gruel."
+
+"But, my boy--my good girl, I mean--before you became so destitute you
+should have found something or other to do," said the Recorder.
+
+"Sir, I was trying to get jobs every hour in the day. I'd have done
+anything honest. I went around to all the houses Granny knew, but they
+didn't want a girl. Some of the good-natured landlords said if I was a
+boy, now, they could keep me opening oysters; but as I was a girl they
+had no work for me. I even went to the offices to get papers to sell;
+but they told me that crying papers was not proper work for a girl. I
+even went down to the ferry-boats and watched for the passengers coming
+ashore, and ran and offered to carry their carpet-bags or portmanteaus;
+but some growled at me, and others laughed at me, and one old gentleman
+asked me if I thought he was a North American Indian to strut up
+Broadway with a female behind him carrying his pack. And so, sir, while
+all the ragged boys I knew could get little jobs to earn bread, I,
+because I was a girl, was not allowed to carry a gentleman's parcel or
+black his boots, or shovel the snow off a shopkeeper's pavement, or put
+in coal, or do anything that I could do just as well as they. And so
+because I was a girl there seemed to be nothing but starvation or
+beggary before me!"
+
+"Oh, Lord! oh, Lord! that such things should be!" cried Old Hurricane.
+
+"That was bad, sir; but there was worse behind! There came a day when my
+meal, even the last dust of it, was gone. Then I kept life in me by
+drinking water and by sleeping all I could. At first I could not sleep
+for the gnawing--gnawing--in my stomach; but afterwards I slept deeply,
+from exhaustion, and then I'd dream of feasts and the richest sort of
+food, and of eating such quantities; and, really, sir, I seemed to taste
+it and enjoy it and get the good of it, almost as much as if it was all
+true! One morning after such a dream I was waked up by a great noise
+outside. I staggered upon my feet and crept to the window, and there,
+sir, were the workmen all outside a-pulling down the house over my
+head!"
+
+"Good Heaven!" ejaculated Old Hurricane, who seemed to constitute
+himself the chorus of this drama.
+
+"Sir, they didn't know that I or any one was in the empty house! Fright
+gave me strength to run down-stairs and run out. Then I stopped. Oh! I
+stopped and looked up and down the street. What should I do? The last
+shelter was gone away from me--the house where I had lived so many
+years, and that seemed like a friend to me, was falling before my eyes!
+I thought I'd just go and pitch myself into the river and end it all!"
+
+"That was a very wicked thought," said the Recorder.
+
+"Yes, sir, I know it was, and, besides, I was dreadfully afraid of being
+suffocated in the dirty water around the wharf!" said Capitola, with a
+sparkle of that irrepressible humor that effervesced even through all
+her trouble. "Well, sir, the hand that feeds young ravens kept me from
+dying that day. I found a five-cent piece in the street and resolved not
+to smother myself in the river mud as long as it lasted. So I bought a
+muffin, ate it, and went down to the wharf to look for a job. I looked
+all day but found none, and when night came I went into a lumber yard
+and hid myself behind a pile of planks that kept the wind off me, and I
+went to sleep and dreamed a beautiful dream of living in a handsome
+house, with friends all around me and everything good to eat and drink
+and wear!"
+
+"Poor, poor child; but your dream may come true yet!" muttered Old
+Hurricane to himself.
+
+"Well, your honor, next day I spent another penny out of my half-dime
+and looked in vain for work all day and slept at night in a broken-down
+omnibus that had happened to be left on the stand. And so, not to tire
+your patience, a whole week passed away. I lived on my half-dime,
+spending a penny a day for a muffin, until the last penny was gone, and
+sleeping at night wherever I could--sometimes under the front stoop of a
+house, sometimes in an old broken carriage and sometimes behind a pile
+of boxes on the sidewalk."
+
+"That was a dreadful exposure for a young girl," said the Recorder.
+
+A burning blush flamed up over the young creature's cheek as she
+answered:
+
+"Yes, sir, that was the worst of all; that finally drove me to putting
+on boy's clothes."
+
+"Let us hear all about it."
+
+"Oh, sir, I can't--I--How can I? Well, being always exposed, sleeping
+outdoors, I was often in danger from bad boys and bad men," said
+Capitola, and, dropping her head upon her breast and covering her
+crimson cheeks with her hands, for the first time she burst into tears
+and sobbed aloud.
+
+"Come, come, my little man--my good little woman, I mean! don't take it
+so to heart. You couldn't help it!" said Old Hurricane, with raindrops
+glittering even in his own stormy eyes.
+
+Capitola looked up, with her whole countenance flashing with spirit, and
+exclaimed: "Oh! but I took care of myself, sir! I did, indeed, your
+honor! You mustn't, either you or the old gentleman, dare to think but
+what I did!"
+
+"Oh, of course! of course!" said a bystander, laughing.
+
+Old Hurricane sprang up, bringing his feet down upon the floor with a
+resound that made the great hall ring again, exclaiming:
+
+"What do you mean by 'of course! of course!' you villain? Demmy! I'll
+swear she took care of herself, you varlet; and if any man dares to hint
+otherwise, I'll ram his falsehood down his throat with the point of my
+walking stick and make him swallow both!"
+
+"Order! order!" said the clerk.
+
+Old Hurricane immediately wheeled to the right about faced and saluted
+the bench in military fashion, and then said:
+
+"Yes, sir! I'll regard order! but in the meanwhile, if the court does
+not protect this child from insult I must, order or no order!" and with
+that the old gentleman once more subsided into his seat.
+
+"Governor, don't you be so noisy! You'll get yourself stopped up into a
+jug next! Why, you remind me of an uproarious old fellow poor Granny
+used to talk about, that they called Old Hurricane, because he was so
+stormy!" whispered Capitola, turning toward him.
+
+"Humph! she's heard of me, then!" muttered the old gentleman to himself.
+
+"Well, sir--I mean, miss--go on!" said the clerk, addressing Capitola.
+
+"Yes, sir. Well, your honor, at the end of five days, being a certain
+Thursday morning, when I couldn't get a job of work for love nor money,
+when my last penny was spent for my last roll, and my last roll was
+eaten up, and I was dreading the gnawing hunger by day and the horrid
+perils of the night, I thought to myself if I were only a boy I might
+carry packages and shovel in coal, and do lots of jobs by day, and sleep
+without terror by night. And then I felt bitter against Fate for not
+making me a boy. And so, thinking and thinking and thinking I wandered
+on until I found myself in Rag Alley, where I used to live, standing
+right between the pile of broken bricks, plaster and lumber that used to
+be my home, and the old Jew's shop where I sold my clothes for meal. And
+then all of a sudden a bright thought struck me? and I made up my mind
+to be a boy!"
+
+"Made up your mind to be a boy?"
+
+"Yes, sir, for it was so easy! I wondered how I came to be so stupid as
+not to have thought of it before. I just ran across to the old Jew's
+shop and offered to swap my suit of girl's clothes, that was good,
+though dirty, for any, even the raggedest suit of boy's clothes he had,
+whether they'd fit me or not, so they would only stay on me. The old
+fellow put his finger to his nose as if he thought I'd been stealing and
+wanted to dodge the police. So he took down an old, not very ragged,
+suit that he said would fit me, and opened a door and told me to go in
+his daughter's room and put 'em on.
+
+"Well, not to tire your honors, I went into that little back parlor a
+girl and I came out a boy, with a suit of pants and jacket, with my hair
+cut short and a cap on my head! The Jew gave me a penny roll and a
+sixpence for my black ringlets."
+
+"All seemed grist that came to his mill!" said Old Hurricane.
+
+"Yes, Governor, he was a dealer in general. Well, the first thing I did
+was to hire myself to the Jew, at a sixpence a day and find myself, to
+shovel in his coal. That didn't take me but a day. So at night the Jew
+paid me, and I slept in peace behind a stack of boxes. Next morning I
+was up before the sun and down to the office of the little penny paper,
+the 'Morning Star.' I bought two dozen of 'em and ran as fast as I could
+to the ferry-boats to sell to the early passengers. Well, sir, in an
+hour's time I had sold out and pocketed just two shillings, and felt
+myself on the highroad to fortune!"
+
+"And so that was the way by which you came to put yourself in male
+attire?"
+
+"Yes, sir, and the only thing that made me feel sorry was to see what a
+fool I had been not to turn to a boy before, when it was so easy! And
+from that day forth I was happy and prosperous! I found plenty to do! I
+carried carpet-bags, held horses, put in coal, cleaned sidewalks,
+blacked gentlemen's boots and did everything an honest lad could turn
+his hand to. And so for more'n a year I was as happy as a king, and
+should have kept on so, only I forgot and let my hair grow; and instead
+of cutting it off, just tucked it up under my cap; and so this morning
+on the ferry-boat, in a high breeze, the wind blowed off my cap and the
+policeman blowed on me!"
+
+"'Twasn't altogether her long hair, your honor, for I had seen her
+before, having known her when she lived with old Mrs. Grewell in Rag
+Alley," interrupted the officer.
+
+"You may sit down, my child," said the Recorder, in a tone of
+encouragement.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+METAMORPHOSIS OF THE NEWSBOY.
+
+    With caution judge of probability,
+    Things deemed unlikely, e'en impossible,
+    Experience oft hath proven to be true.
+                                       --Shakespeare.
+
+
+"What shall we do with her?" inquired the Recorder, sotto voce, of a
+brother magistrate who appeared to be associated with him on the bench.
+
+"Send her to the Refuge," replied the other, in the same tone.
+
+"What are they consulting about?" asked Old Hurricane, whose ears were
+not of the best.
+
+"They are talking of sending her to the Refuge," answered a bystander.
+
+"Refuge? Is there a refuge for destitute children in New York? Then
+Babylon is not so bad as I thought it. What is this Refuge?"
+
+"It is a prison where juvenile delinquents are trained to habits of----"
+
+"A prison! Send her to a prison? Never!" burst forth Old Hurricane,
+rising and marching up to the Recorder; he stood, hat in hand, before
+him and said:
+
+"Your honor, if a proper legal guardian appears to claim this young
+person and holds himself in all respects responsible for her, may she
+not be at once delivered into his hands?"
+
+"Assuredly," answered the magistrate, with the manner of one glad to be
+rid of the charge.
+
+"Then, sir, I, Ira Warfield, of Hurricane Hall, in Virginia, present
+myself as the guardian of this girl, Capitola Black, whom I claim as my
+ward. And I will enter into a recognizance for any sum to appear and
+prove my right if it should be disputed. For my personal responsibility,
+sir, I refer you to the proprietors of the Astor, who have known me many
+years."
+
+"It is not necessary, Major Warfield; we assume the fact of your
+responsibility and deliver up the young girl to your charge."
+
+"I thank you, sir," said Old Hurricane, bowing low. Then hurrying across
+the room where sat the reporters for the press he said:
+
+"Gentlemen, I have a favor to ask of you; it is that you will altogether
+drop this case of the boy in girl's clothes--I mean the girl in girl's
+clothes--I declare I don't know what I mean; nor I shan't, neither,
+until I see the creature in its proper dress, but this I wish to request
+of you, gentlemen, that you will drop that item from your report, or if
+you must mention it, treat it with delicacy, as the good name of a young
+lady is involved."
+
+The reporters, with sidelong glances, winks and smiles, gave him the
+required promise, and Old Hurricane returned to the side of his
+protegee.
+
+"Capitola, are you willing to go with me?"
+
+"Jolly willing, governor."
+
+"Then come along; my cab is waiting," said Old Hurricane, and, bowing to
+the court, he took the hand of his charge and led her forth, amid the
+ill-suppressed jibes of the crowd.
+
+"There's a hoary-headed old sinner!" said one.
+
+"She's as like him as two peas," quoth another.
+
+"Wonder if there's any more belonging to him of the same sort?" inquired
+a third.
+
+Leaving all the sarcasm behind him, Old Hurricane handed his protegee
+into the cab, took the seat beside her and gave orders to be driven out
+toward Harlem.
+
+As soon as they were seated in the cab the old man turned to his charge
+and said:
+
+"Capitola, I shall have to trust to your girl's wit to get yourself into
+your proper clothes again without exciting further notice."
+
+"Yes, governor."
+
+"My boy--girl, I mean--I am not the governor of Virginia, though if
+every one had his rights I don't know but I should be. However, I am
+only Major Warfield," said the old man, naively, for he had not the most
+distant idea that the title bestowed on him by Capitola was a mere
+remnant of her newsboys "slang."
+
+"Now, my lad--pshaw! my lass, I mean--how shall we get you metamorphosed
+again?"
+
+"I know, gov--major, I mean. There is a shop of ready-made clothing at
+the Needle Woman's Aid, corner of the next square. I can get out there
+and buy a full suit."
+
+"Very well. Stop at the next corner, driver," called Old Hurricane.
+
+The next minute the cab drew up before a warehouse of ready-made
+garments.
+
+Old Hurricane jumped out, and, leading his charge, entered the shop.
+
+Luckily, there was behind the counter only one person--a staid, elderly,
+kind-looking woman.
+
+"Here, madam," said Old Hurricane, stooping confidentially to her ear,
+"I am in a little embarrassment that I hope you will be willing to help
+me out of for a consideration. I came to New York in pursuit of my
+ward--this young girl here--whom I found in boy's clothes. I now wish to
+restore her to her proper dress, before presenting her to my friends, of
+course. Therefore, I wish you to furnish her with a half dozen complete
+suits of female attire, of the very best you have that will fit her. And
+also to give her the use of a room and of your own aid in changing her
+dress. I will pay you liberally."
+
+Half suspicious and half scandalized, the worthy woman gazed with
+scrutiny first into the face of the guardian and then into that of the
+ward; but finding in the extreme youth of the one and the advanced age
+of the other, and in the honest expression of both, something to allay
+her fears, if not to inspire her confidence, she said:
+
+"Very well, sir. Come after me, young gentleman--young lady, I should
+say." And, calling a boy to mind the shop, she conducted Capitola to an
+inner apartment.
+
+Old Hurricane went out and dismissed his cab. When it was entirely out
+of sight he hailed another that was passing by empty, and engaged it to
+take himself and a young lady to the Washington House.
+
+When he re-entered the shop he found the shop woman and Capitola
+returned and waiting for him.
+
+Capitola was indeed transfigured. Her bright black hair, parted in the
+middle, fell in ringlets each side her blushing cheeks; her dark-gray
+eyes were cast down in modesty at the very same instant that her ripe
+red lips were puckered up with mischief. She was well and properly
+attired in a gray silk dress, crimson merino shawl and a black velvet
+bonnet.
+
+The other clothing that had been purchased was done up in packages and
+put into the cab.
+
+And after paying the shop woman handsomely, Old Hurricane took the hand
+of his ward, handed her into the cab and gave the order:
+
+"To the Washington House."
+
+The ride was performed in silence.
+
+Capitola sat deeply blushing at the recollection of her male attire, and
+profoundly cogitating as to what could be the relationship between
+herself and the gray old man whose claim the Recorder had so promptly
+admitted. There seemed but one way of accounting for the great interest
+he took in her fate. Capitola came to the conclusion that the grim old
+lion before her was no more nor less than--her own father! for alas!
+poor Cap had been too long tossed about New York not to know more of
+life than at her age she should have known. She had indeed the innocence
+of youth, but not its simplicity.
+
+Old Hurricane, on his part, sat with his thick cane grasped in his two
+knobby hands, standing between his knees, his grizzled chin resting upon
+it and his eyes cast down as in deep thought.
+
+And so in silence they reached the Washington House.
+
+Major Warfield then conducted his ward into the ladies' parlor, and went
+and entered his own and her name upon the books as "Major Warfield and
+his ward, Miss Black," for whom he engaged two bedrooms and a private
+parlor.
+
+Then, leaving Capitola to be shown to her apartment by a chambermaid, he
+went out and ordered her luggage up to her room and dismissed the cab.
+
+Next he walked to the Astor House, paid his bill, collected his baggage,
+took another carriage and drove back to the Washington Hotel.
+
+All this trouble Old Hurricane took to break the links of his action and
+prevent scandal. This filled up a long forenoon.
+
+He dined alone with his ward in their private parlor.
+
+Such a dinner poor Cap had never even smelled before. How immensely she
+enjoyed it, with all its surroundings--the comfortable room, the glowing
+fire, the clean table, the rich food, the obsequious attendance, her own
+genteel and becoming dress, the company of a highly respectable
+guardian--all, all so different from anything she had ever been
+accustomed to, and so highly appreciated.
+
+How happy she felt! How much happier from the contrast of her previous
+wretchedness, to be suddenly freed from want, toil, fear and all the
+evils of destitute orphanage, and to find herself blessed with wealth,
+leisure and safety, under the care of a rich, good and kind father (or
+as such Capitola continued to believe her guardian to be). It was an
+incredible thing! It was like a fairy tale!
+
+Something of what was passing in her mind was perceived by Old
+Hurricane, who frequently burst into uproarious fits of laughter as he
+watched her.
+
+At last, when the dinner and the dessert were removed, and the nuts,
+raisins and wine placed upon the table, and the waiters had retired from
+the room and left them alone, sitting one on each side of the fire, with
+the table and its luxuries between them, Major Warfield suddenly looked
+up and asked:
+
+"Capitola, whom do you think that I am?"
+
+"Old Hurricane, to be sure. I knew you from Granny's description, the
+moment you broke out so in the police office," answered Cap.
+
+"Humph! Yes, you're right; and it was your Granny that bequeathed you to
+me, Capitola."
+
+"Then she is really dead?"
+
+"Yes. There--don't cry about her. She was very old, and she died happy.
+Now, Capitola, if you please me I mean to adopt you as my own daughter."
+
+"Yes, father."
+
+"No, no; you needn't call me father, you know, because it isn't true.
+Call me uncle, uncle, uncle."
+
+"Is that true, sir?" asked Cap, demurely.
+
+"No, no, no; but it will do, it will do. Now, Cap, how much do you know?
+Anything? Ignorant as a horse, I am afraid."
+
+"Yes, sir; even as a colt."
+
+"Can you read at all?"
+
+"Yes, sir; I learned to read at Sunday-school."
+
+"Cast accounts and write?"
+
+"I can keep your books at a pinch, sir."
+
+"Humph! Who taught you these accomplishments?"
+
+"Herbert Greyson, sir."
+
+"Herbert Greyson! I've heard that name before; here it is again. Who is
+that Herbert Greyson?"
+
+"He's second mate on the Susan, sir, that is expected in every day."
+
+"Umph! umph! Take a glass of wine, Capitola."
+
+"No, sir; I never touch a single drop."
+
+"Why? Why? Good wine after dinner, my child, is a good thing, let me
+tell you."
+
+"Ah, sir, my life has shown me too much misery that has come of drinking
+wine."
+
+"Well, well, as you please. Why, where has the girl run off to!"
+exclaimed the old man, breaking off, and looking with amazement at
+Capitola, who had suddenly started up and rushed out of the room.
+
+In an instant she rushed in again, exclaiming:
+
+"Oh, he's come! he's come! I heard his voice!"
+
+"Whose come, you madcap?" inquired the old man.
+
+"Oh, Herbert Greyson! Herbert Greyson! His ship is in, and he has come
+here! He always comes here--most of the sea officers do," exclaimed Cap,
+dancing around until all her black ringlets flew up and down. Then
+suddenly pausing, she came quietly to his side and said, solemnly:
+
+"Uncle, Herbert has been at sea three years; he knows nothing of my past
+misery and destitution, nor of my ever wearing boy's clothes. Uncle,
+please don't tell him, especially of the boy's clothes." And in the
+earnestness of her appeal Capitola clasped her hands and raised her eyes
+to the old man's face. How soft those gray eyes looked when praying! But
+for all that, the very spirit of mischief still lurked about the corners
+of the plump, arched lips.
+
+"Of course I shall tell no one! I am not so proud of your masquerading
+as to publish it. And as for this young fellow, I shall probably never
+see him!" exclaimed Old Hurricane.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+HERBERT GREYSON.
+
+    A kind, true heart, a spirit high,
+      That cannot fear and will not bow,
+    Is flashing in his manly eye
+      And stamped upon his brow.
+                                       --Halleck.
+
+
+In a few minutes Capitola came bounding up the stairs again, exclaiming
+joyously:
+
+"Here he is, uncle! Here is Herbert Greyson! Come along, Herbert; you
+must come in and see my new uncle!" And she broke into the room,
+dragging before her astonished guardian a handsome, dark-eyed young
+sailor, who bowed and then stood blushing at his enforced intrusion.
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir," he said, "for bursting in upon you in this
+way; but----"
+
+"I dragged him here willy-nilly," said Capitola.
+
+"Still, if I had had time to think I should not have intruded."
+
+"Oh, say no more, sir. You are heartily welcome," exclaimed the old man,
+thrusting out his rugged hand and seizing the bronzed one of the youth.
+"Sit down, sir, sit down. Good Lord, how like!" he added, mentally.
+
+Then, seeing the young sailor still standing, blushing and hesitating,
+he struck his cane upon the floor and roared out:
+
+"Demmy, sit down, sir! When Ira Warfield says sit down, he means sit
+down!"
+
+"Ira Warfield!" exclaimed the young man, starting back in
+astonishment--one might almost say in consternation.
+
+"Ay, sir; Ira Warfield! That's my name. Never heard any ill of it, did
+you?"
+
+The young man did not answer, but continued gazing in amazement upon the
+speaker.
+
+"Nor any good of it either, perhaps--eh, uncle?" archly put in Capitola.
+
+"Silence, you monkey! Well, young man, well, what is the meaning of all
+this?" exclaimed old Hurricane, impatiently.
+
+"Oh, your pardon, sir; this was sudden. But you must know I had once a
+relative of that name--an uncle."
+
+"And have still, Herbert; and have still, lad. Come, come, boy; I am not
+sentimental, nor romantic, nor melodramatic, nor nothing of that sort. I
+don't know how to strike an attitude and exclaim, 'Come to my bosom,
+sole remaining offspring of a dear departed sister' or any of the like
+stage playing. But I tell you, lad, that I like your looks; and I like
+what I have heard of you from this girl, and another old woman, now
+dead; and so--But sit down, sit down! demmy, sir, sit down, and we'll
+talk over the walnuts and the wine. Capitola, take your seat, too,"
+ordered the old man, throwing himself into his chair. Herbert also drew
+his chair up.
+
+Capitola resumed her seat, saying to herself:
+
+"Well, well, I am determined not to be surprised at anything that
+happens, being perfectly clear in my own mind that this is all nothing
+but a dream. But how pleasant it is to dream that I have found a rich
+uncle and he has found a nephew, and that nephew is Herbert Greyson! I
+do believe that I had rather die in my sleep than wake from this dream!"
+
+"Herbert," said old Hurricane, as soon as they were gathered around the
+table--"Herbert, this is my ward, Miss Black, the daughter of a deceased
+friend. Capitola, this is the only son of my departed sister."
+
+"Hem-m-m! We have had the pleasure of being acquainted with each other
+before," said Cap, pinching up her lip and looking demure.
+
+"But not of really knowing who 'each other' was, you monkey. Herbert,
+fill your glass. Here's to our better acquaintance."
+
+"I thank you, sir. I never touch wine," said the young man.
+
+"Never touch wine! Here's another; here's a young prig! I don't believe
+you--yes, I do, too! Demmy, sir, if you never touch wine it's because
+you prefer brandy! Waiter!"
+
+"I thank you, sir. Order no brandy for me. If I never use intoxicating
+liquors it is because I gave a promise to that effect to my dying
+mother."
+
+"Say no more--say no more, lad. Drink water, if you like. It won't hurt
+you!" exclaimed the old man, filling and quaffing a glass of champagne.
+Then he said:
+
+"I quarreled with your mother, Herbert, for marrying a man that I
+hated--yes, hated, Herbert, for he differed with me about the tariff
+and--the Trinity! Oh, how I hated him, boy, until he died! And then I
+wondered in my soul, as I wonder even now, how I ever could have been so
+infuriated against a poor fellow now cold in his grave, as I shall be in
+time. I wrote to my sister and expressed my feelings; but, somehow or
+other, Herbert, we never came to a right understanding again. She
+answered my letter affectionately enough, but she refused to accept a
+home for herself and child under my roof, saying that she thanked me for
+my offer, but that the house which had been closed against her husband
+ought never to become the refuge of his widow. After that we never
+corresponded, and I have no doubt, Herbert, that she, naturally enough,
+taught you to dislike me."
+
+"Not so, sir; indeed, you wrong her. She might have been loyal to my
+father's memory without being resentful toward you. She said that you
+had a noble nature, but it was often obscured by violent passions. On
+her dead-bed she bade me, should I ever meet you, to say that she
+repented her refusal of your offered kindness."
+
+"And consented that it should be transferred to her orphan boy?" added
+Old Hurricane, with the tears like raindrops in his stormy eyes.
+
+"No, sir, she said not so."
+
+"But yet she would not have disapproved a service offered to her son."
+
+"Uncle--since you permit me to call you so--I want nothing. I have a
+good berth in the Susan and a kind friend in her captain."
+
+"You have all your dear mother's pride, Herbert."
+
+"And all his uncle's!" put in Cap.
+
+"Hush, Magpie! But is the merchant service agreeable to you, Herbert?"
+
+"Not perfectly, sir; but one must be content."
+
+"Demmy, sir, my sister's son need not be content unless he has a mind
+to! And if you prefer the navy----"
+
+"No, sir. I like the navy even less than the merchant service."
+
+"Then what would suit you, lad? Come, you have betrayed the fact that
+you are not altogether satisfied."
+
+"On the contrary, sir, I told you distinctly that I really wanted
+nothing, and that I must be satisfied."
+
+"And I say, demmy, sir! you sha'n't be satisfied unless you like to!
+Come, if you don't like the navy, what do you say to the army, eh?"
+
+"It is a proud, aspiring profession, sir," said the young man, as his
+face lighted up with enthusiasm.
+
+"Then, demmy, if you like the army, sir, you shall enter it! Yes, sir!
+Demmy, the administration, confound them, has not done me justice, but
+they'll scarcely dare to refuse to send my nephew to West Point when I
+demand it."
+
+"To West Point!" exclaimed Herbert, in delight.
+
+"Ay, youngster, to West Point. I shall see to it when I pass through
+Washington on my way to Virginia. We start in the early train to-morrow
+morning. In the meantime, young man, you take leave of your captain,
+pack up your traps and join us. You must go with me and make Hurricane
+Hall your home until you go to West Point."
+
+"Oh, what a capital old governor our uncle is!" exclaimed Cap, jumping
+up and clapping her hands.
+
+"Sir, indeed you overwhelm me with this most unexpected kindness! I do
+not know as yet how much of it I ought to accept. But accident will make
+me, whether or no, your traveling companion for a great part of the way,
+as I also start for Virginia to-morrow, to visit dear friends there,
+whose house was always my mother's home and mine, and who, since my
+bereavement, have been to me like a dear mother and brother. I have not
+seen them for years, and before I go anywhere else, even to your kind
+roof, I must go there," said Herbert, gravely.
+
+"And who are those dear friends of yours, Hebert, and where do they
+live? If I can serve them they shall be rewarded for their kindness unto
+you, my boy."
+
+"Oh, sir, yes; you can indeed serve them. They are a poor widow and her
+only son. She has seen better days, but now takes in sewing to support
+herself and boy. When my mother was living, during the last years of her
+life, when she also was a poor widow with an only son, they joined their
+slender means and took a house and lived together. When my mother died,
+leaving me a boy of ten years old, this poor woman still sheltered and
+worked for me as for her own son until, ashamed of being a burden to
+her, I ran away and went to sea."
+
+"Noble, woman! I will make her fortune!" exclaimed Old Hurricane,
+jumping up and walking up and down the floor.
+
+"Oh, do, sir! Oh, do, dear uncle! I don't wish you to expend either
+money or influence upon my fortunes; but, oh, do educate Traverse! He is
+such a gifted lad--so intellectual! Even his Sunday-school teacher says
+that he is sure to work his way to distinction, although now he is
+altogether dependent on his Sunday-school for his learning. Oh, sir, if
+you would only educate the son he'd make a fortune for his mother."
+
+"Generous boy, to plead for your friends rather than for yourself. But I
+am strong enough, thank God, to help you all. You shall go to West
+Point. Your friend shall go to school and then to college," said Old
+Hurricane, with a burst of honest enthusiasm.
+
+"And where shall I go, sir?" inquired Cap.
+
+"To the insane asylum, you imp!" exclaimed the old man; then, turning to
+Herbert, he continued: "Yes, lad; I will do as I say; and as for the
+poor but noble-hearted widow----"
+
+"You'll marry her yourself, as a reward; won't you, uncle?" asked the
+incorrigible Cap.
+
+"Perhaps I will, you monkey, if it is only to bring somebody home to
+keep you in order," said Old Hurricane; then, turning again to Herbert,
+he resumed: "As to the widow, Herbert, I will place her above want."
+
+"Over my head," cried Cap.
+
+"And now, Herbert, I will trouble you to ring for coffee, and after we
+have had that I think we had better separate and prepare for our journey
+to-morrow."
+
+Herbert obeyed, and, after the required refreshment had been served and
+partaken of, the little circle broke up for the evening and soon after
+retired to rest.
+
+Early the next morning, after a hasty breakfast, the three took their
+seats in the express train for Washington, where they arrived upon the
+evening of the same day. They put up for the night at Brown's, and the
+next day Major Warfield, leaving his party at their hotel, called upon
+the President, the Secretary of the Navy and other high official
+dignitaries, and put affairs in such a train that he had little doubt of
+the ultimate appointment of his nephew to a cadetship at West Point.
+
+The same evening, wishing to avoid the stage route over the mountains,
+he took, with his party, the night boat for Richmond, where, in due
+time, they arrived, and whence they took the valley line of coaches that
+passed through Tip-Top, which they reached upon the morning of the
+fourth day of their long journey. Here they found Major Warfield's
+carriage waiting for him, and here they were to separate--Major Warfield
+and Capitola to turn off to Hurricane Hall and Herbert Greyson to keep
+on the route to the town of Staunton.
+
+It was as the three sat in the parlor of the little hotel where the
+stage stopped to change horses that their adieus were made.
+
+"Remember, Herbert, that I am willing to go to the utmost extent of my
+power to benefit the good widow and her son who were so kind to my
+nephew in his need. Remember that! I hold it a sacred debt that I owe
+them. Tell them so. And mind, Herbert, I shall expect you back in a week
+at furthest."
+
+"I shall be punctual, sir. God bless you, my dear uncle. You have made
+me very happy in being the bearer of such glad tidings to the widow and
+the fatherless. And now I hear the horn blowing--good-by, uncle;
+good-by, Capitola. I am going to carry them great joy--such great joy,
+uncle, as you, who have everything you want, can scarcely imagine." And,
+shaking hands heartily with his companions, Herbert ran through the door
+and jumped aboard the coach just as the impatient driver was about to
+leave him behind.
+
+As soon as the coach had rolled out of sight Major Warfield handed
+Capitola into his carriage that had long been waiting, and took the seat
+by her side, much to the scandalization of Wool, who muttered to his
+horses:
+
+"There, I told you so! I said how he'd go and bring home a young wife,
+and behold he's gone and done it!"
+
+"Uncle," said Capitola as the carriage rolled lazily along--"uncle, do
+you know you never once asked Herbert the name of the widow you are
+going to befriend, and that he never told you?"
+
+"By George, that is true! How strange! Yet I did not seem to miss the
+name. How did it ever happen, Capitola? Did he omit it on purpose, do
+you think?"
+
+"Why, no, uncle. He, boylike, always spoke of them as 'Traverse' and
+'Traverse's mother'; and you, like yourself, called her nothing but the
+'poor widow' and the 'struggling mother' and the 'noble woman,' and so
+on, and her son as the 'boy,' the 'youth,' 'young Traverse,' Herbert's
+'friend,' etc. I, for my part, had some curiosity to see whether you and
+Herbert would go on talking of them forever without having to use their
+surnames. And, behold, he even went away without naming them!"
+
+"By George! and so he did. It was the strangest over-sight. But I'll
+write as soon as I get home and ask him."
+
+"No, uncle; just for the fun of the thing, wait until he comes back, and
+see how long it will be and how much he will talk of them without
+mentioning their names."
+
+"Ha, ha, ha! So I will, Cap, so I will! Besides whatever their names
+are, it's nothing to me. 'A rose by any other name would smell as
+sweet,' you know. And if she is 'Mrs. Tagfoot Waddle' I shall still
+think so good a woman exalted as a Montmorencie. Mind there, Wool; this
+road is getting rough."
+
+"Over it now, marster," said Wool, after a few heavy jolts. "Over it
+now, missus; and de rest of de way is perfectly delightful."
+
+Cap looked out of the window and saw before her a beautiful piece of
+scenery--first, just below them, the wild mountain stream of the Demon's
+Run, and beyond it the wild dell dented into the side of the mountain,
+like the deep print of an enormous horse's hoof, in the midst of which,
+gleaming redly among its richly-tinted autumn woods, stood Hurricane
+Hall.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+MARAH ROCKE.
+
+    "There sits upon her matron face
+    A tender and a thoughtful grace,
+    Though very still,--for great distress
+    Hath left this patient mournfulness."
+
+
+Beside an old rocky road leading from the town of Staunton out to the
+forest-crowned hills beyond, stood alone a little, gray stone cottage,
+in the midst of a garden inclosed by a low, moldering stone wall. A few
+gnarled and twisted fruit trees, long past bearing, stood around the
+house that their leafless branches could not be said to shade. A little
+wooden gate led up an old paved walk to the front door, on each side of
+which were large windows.
+
+In this poor cottage, remote from other neighbors, dwelt the friends of
+Herbert Greyson--the widow Rocke and her son Traverse.
+
+No one knew who she was, or whence or why she came. Some fifteen years
+before she had appeared in town, clothed in rusty mourning and
+accompanied by a boy of about two years of age. She had rented that
+cottage, furnished it poorly and had settled there, supporting herself
+and child by needlework.
+
+At the time that Doctor Greyson died and his widow and son were left
+perfectly destitute, and it became necessary for Mrs. Greyson to look
+out for a humble lodging where she could find the united advantages of
+cheapness, cleanliness and pure air, she was providentially led to
+inquire at the cottage of the widow Rocke, whom she found only too glad
+to increase her meager income by letting half her little house to such
+unexceptionable tenants as the widow Greyson and her son.
+
+And thus commenced between the two poor young women and the two boys an
+acquaintance that ripened into friendship, and thence into that devoted
+love so seldom seen in this world.
+
+Their households became united. One fire, one candle and one table
+served the little family, and thus considerable expense was saved as
+well as much social comfort gained. And when the lads grew too old to
+sleep with their mothers, one bed held the two boys and the other
+accommodated the two women. And, despite toil, want, care--the sorrow
+for the dead and the neglect of the living--this was a loving, contented
+and cheerful little household. How much of their private history these
+women might have confided to each other was not known, but it was
+certain that they continued fast friends up to the time of the death of
+Mrs. Greyson, after which the widow Rocke assumed a double burden, and
+became a second mother to the orphan boy, until Herbert himself, ashamed
+of taxing her small means, ran away, as he had said, and went to sea.
+
+Every year had Herbert written to his kind foster mother and his dear
+brother, as he called Traverse. And at the end of every prosperous
+voyage, when he had a little money, he had sent them funds; but not
+always did these letters or remittances reach the widow's cottage, and
+long seasons of intense anxiety would be suffered by her for the fate of
+her sailor boy, as she always called Herbert. Only three times in all
+these years had Herbert found time and means to come down and see them,
+and that was long ago. It was many months over two years since they had
+even received a letter from him. And now the poor widow and her son were
+almost tempted to think that their sailor boy had quite forsaken them.
+
+It is near the close of a late autumnal evening that I shall introduce
+you, reader, into the interior of the widow's cottage.
+
+You enter by the little wooden gate, pass up the moldering paved walk,
+between the old, leafless lilac bushes, and pass through the front door
+right into a large, clean but poor-looking sitting-room and kitchen.
+
+Everything was old, though neatly and comfortably arranged about this
+room. A faded home-made carpet covered the floor, a threadbare crimson
+curtain hung before the window, a rickety walnut table, dark with age,
+sat under the window against the wall; old walnut chairs were placed
+each side of it; old plated candlesticks, with the silver all worn off,
+graced the mantelpiece; a good fire--a cheap comfort in that well-wooded
+country--blazed upon the hearth; on the right side of the fireplace a
+few shelves contained some well-worn books, a flute, a few minerals and
+other little treasures belonging to Traverse; on the left hand there was
+a dresser containing the little delfware, tea service and plates and
+dishes of the small family.
+
+Before the fire, with her knitting in her hand, sat Marah Rocke,
+watching the kettle as it hung singing over the blaze and the oven of
+biscuits that sat baking upon the hearth.
+
+Marah Rocke was at this time about thirty-five years of age, and of a
+singularly refined and delicate aspect for one of her supposed rank; her
+little form, slight and flexible as that of a young girl, was clothed in
+a poor but neat black dress, relieved by a pure-white collar around her
+throat; her jet-black hair was parted plainly over her "low, sweet
+brow," brought down each side her thin cheeks and gathered into a bunch
+at the back of her shapely little head; her face was oval, with regular
+features and pale olive complexion; serious lips, closed in pensive
+thought, and soft, dark-brown eyes, full of tender affection and
+sorrowful memories, and too often cast down in meditation beneath the
+heavy shadows of their long, thick eyelashes, completed the melancholy
+beauty of a countenance not often seen among the hard-working children
+of toil.
+
+Marah Rocke was a very hard-working woman, sewing all day long and
+knitting through the twilight, and then again resuming her needle by
+candle-light and sewing until midnight--and yet Marah Rocke made but a
+poor and precarious living for herself and son. Needlework, so ill-paid
+in large cities, is even worse paid in the country towns, and, though
+the cottage hearth was never cold, the widow's meals were often scant.
+Lately her son, Traverse, who occasionally earned a trifle of money by
+doing "with all his might whatever his hand could find to do," had been
+engaged by a grocer in the town to deliver his goods to his customers
+during the illness of the regular porter; for which, as he was only a
+substitute, he received the very moderate sum of twenty-five cents a
+day.
+
+This occupation took Traverse from home at daybreak in the morning, and
+kept him absent until eight o'clock at night. Nevertheless, the widow
+always gave him a hot breakfast before he went out in the morning and
+kept a comfortable supper waiting for him at night.
+
+It was during this last social meal that the youth would tell his mother
+all that had occurred in his world outside the home that day, and all
+that he expected to come to pass the next, for Traverse was wonderfully
+hopeful and sanguine.
+
+And after supper the evening was generally spent by Traverse in hard
+study beside his mother's sewing-stand.
+
+Upon this evening, when the widow sat waiting for her son, he seemed to
+be detained longer than usual. She almost feared that the biscuits would
+be burned, or, if taken from the oven, be cold before he would come to
+enjoy them; but, just as she had looked for the twentieth time at the
+little black walnut clock that stood between those old plated
+candlesticks on the mantelpiece, the sound of quick, light, joyous
+footsteps was heard resounding along the stony street, the gate was
+opened, a hand laid upon the door-latch, and the next instant entered a
+youth some seventeen years of age, clad in a home-spun suit, whose
+coarse material and clumsy make could not disguise his noble form or
+graceful air.
+
+He was like his mother, with the same oval face, regular features and
+pale olive complexion, with the same full, serious lips, the same dark,
+tender brown eyes, shaded by long, black lashes, and the same wavy,
+jet-black hair--but there was a difference in the character of their
+faces; where hers showed refinement and melancholy, his exhibited
+strength and cheerfulness--his loving brown eyes, instead of drooping
+sadly under the shadow of their lashes, looked you brightly and
+confidently full in the face; and, lastly, his black hair curled crisply
+around a broad, high forehead, royal with intellect. Such was the boy
+that entered the room and came joyously forward to his mother, clasping
+his arm around her neck, saluting her on both cheeks, and then
+laughingly claiming his childish privilege of kissing "the pretty little
+black mole on her throat."
+
+"Will you never have outgrown your babyhood, Traverse?" asked his
+mother, smiling at his affectionate ardor.
+
+"Yes, dear little mother; in everything but the privilege of fondling
+you; that feature of babyhood I never shall outgrow," exclaimed the
+youth, kissing her again with all the ardor of his true and affectionate
+heart, and starting up to help her set the table.
+
+He dragged the table out from under the window, spread the cloth and
+placed the cups and saucers upon it, while his mother took the biscuits
+from the oven and made the tea; so that in ten minutes from the moment
+in which he entered the room, mother and son were seated at their frugal
+supper.
+
+"I suppose, to-morrow being Saturday, you will have to get up earlier
+than usual to go to the store?" said his mother.
+
+"No, ma'am," replied the boy, looking up brightly, as if he were telling
+a piece of good news; "I am not wanted any longer. Mr. Spicer's own man
+has got well again and returned to work."
+
+"So you are discharged?" said Mrs. Rocke, sadly.
+
+"Yes, ma'am; but just think how fortunate that is, for I shall have a
+chance to-morrow of mending the fence and nailing up the gate and sawing
+wood enough to last you a week, besides doing all the other little odd
+jobs that have been waiting for me so long; and then on Monday I shall
+get more work."
+
+"I wish I were sure of it," said the widow, whose hopes had long since
+been too deeply crushed to permit her ever to be sanguine.
+
+When their supper was over and the humble service cleared away, the
+youth took his books and applied himself to study on the opposite side
+of the table at which his mother sat busied with her needlework. And
+there fell a perfect silence between them.
+
+The widow's mind was anxious and her heart heavy; many cares never
+communicated to cloud the bright sunshine of her boy's soul oppressed
+hers. The rent had fallen fearfully behindhand, and the landlord
+threatened, unless the money could be raised to pay him, to seize their
+furniture and eject them from the premises. And how this money was to be
+raised she could not see at all. True, this meek Christian had often in
+her sad experience proved God's special providence at her utmost need,
+and now she believed in His ultimate interference, but in what manner He
+would now interpose she could not imagine, and her faith grew dim and
+her hope dark and her love cold.
+
+While she was revolving these sad thoughts in her mind, Traverse
+suddenly thrust aside his books, and, with a deep sigh, turned to his
+mother and said:
+
+"Mother, what do you think has ever become of Herbert?"
+
+"I do not know; I dread to conjecture. It has now been nearly three
+years since we heard from him," exclaimed the widow, with the tears
+welling up in her brown eyes.
+
+"You think he has been lost at sea, mother, but I don't. I simply think
+his letters have been lost. And, somehow, to-night I can't fix my mind
+on my lesson or keep it off Herbert. He is running in my head all the
+time. If I were fanciful, now, I should believe that Herbert was dead
+and his spirit was about me. Good heavens, mother, whose step is that?"
+suddenly exclaimed the youth, starting up and assuming an attitude of
+intense listening, as a firm and ringing step, attended by a peculiar
+whistling, approached up the street and entered the gate.
+
+"It is Herbert! it is Herbert!" cried Traverse, starting across the room
+and tearing open the door with a suddenness that threw the entering
+guest forward upon his own bosom; but his arms were soon around the
+newcomer, clasping him closely there, while he breathlessly exclaimed:
+
+"Oh, Herbert, I am so glad to see you! Oh, Herbert, why didn't you come
+or write all this long time? Oh, Herbert, how long have you been ashore?
+I was just talking about you."
+
+"Dear fellow! dear fellow! I have come to make you glad at last, and to
+repay all your great kindness; but now let me speak to my second
+mother," said Herbert, returning Traverse's embrace and then gently
+extricating himself and going to where Mrs. Rocke stood up, pale,
+trembling and incredulous; she had not yet recovered from the great
+shock of his unexpected appearance.
+
+"Dear mother, won't you welcome me?" asked Herbert, going up to her. His
+words dissolved the spell that bound her. Throwing her arms around his
+neck and bursting into tears, she exclaimed:
+
+"Oh, my son! my son! my sailor boy! my other child! how glad I am to
+have you back once more! Welcome! To be sure you are welcome! Is my own
+circulating blood welcome back to my heart? But sit you down and rest by
+the fire; I will get your supper directly."
+
+"Sweet mother, do not take the trouble. I supped twenty miles back,
+where the stage stopped."
+
+"And will you take nothing at all?"
+
+"Nothing, dear mother, but your kind hand to kiss again and again!" said
+the youth, pressing that hand to his lips and then allowing the widow to
+put him into a chair right in front of the fire.
+
+Traverse sat on one side of him and his mother on the other, each
+holding a hand of his and gazing on him with mingled incredulity,
+surprise and delight, as if, indeed, they could not realize his presence
+except by devouring him with their eyes.
+
+And for the next half hour all their talk was as wild and incoherent as
+the conversation of long-parted friends suddenly brought together is apt
+to be.
+
+It was all made up of hasty questions, hurried one upon another, so as
+to leave but little chance to have any of them answered, and wild
+exclamations and disjointed sketches of travel, interrupted by frequent
+ejaculations; yet through all the widow and her son, perhaps through the
+quickness of their love as well as of their intellect, managed to get
+some knowledge of the past three years of their "sailor boy's" life and
+adventures, and they entirely vindicated his constancy when they learned
+how frequently and regularly he had written, though they had never
+received his letters.
+
+"And now," said Herbert, looking from side to side from mother to son,
+"I have told you all my adventures, I am dying to tell you something
+that concerns yourselves."
+
+"That concerns us?" exclaimed mother and son in a breath.
+
+"Yes, ma'am; yes, sir; that concerns you both eminently. But, first of
+all, let me ask how you are getting on at the present time."
+
+"Oh, as usual," said the widow, smiling, for she did not wish to dampen
+the spirits of her sailor boy; "as usual, of course. Traverse has not
+been able to accomplish his darling purpose of entering the Seminary
+yet; but----"
+
+"But I'm getting on quite well with my education, for all that,"
+interrupted Traverse; "for I belong to Dr. Day's Bible class in the
+Sabbath school, which is a class of young men, you know, and the doctor
+is so good as to think that I have some mental gifts worth cultivating,
+so he does not confine his instructions to me to the Bible class alone,
+but permits me to come to him in his library at Willow Heights for an
+hour twice a week, when he examines me in Latin and algebra, and sets me
+new exercises, which I study and write out at night; so that you see I
+am doing very well."
+
+"Indeed, the doctor, who is a great scholar, and one of the trustees and
+examiners of the Seminary, says that he does not know any young man
+there, with all the advantages of the institution around him, who is
+getting along so fast as Traverse is, with all the difficulties he has
+to encounter. The doctor says it is all because Traverse is profoundly
+in earnest, and that one of these days he will be----"
+
+"There, mother, don't repeat all the doctor's kind speeches. He only
+says such things to encourage a poor boy in the pursuit of knowledge
+under difficulties," said Traverse, blushing and laughing.
+
+"'--Will be an honor to his kindred, country and race!'" said Herbert,
+finishing the widow's incomplete quotation.
+
+"It was something like that, indeed," she said, nodding and smiling.
+
+"You do me proud!" said Traverse, touching his forelock with comic
+gravity. "But," inquired he, suddenly changing his tone and becoming
+serious, "was it not--is it not--noble in the doctor to give up an hour
+of his precious time twice a week for no other cause than to help a
+poor, struggling fellow like me up the ladder of learning?"
+
+"I should think it was! But he is not the first noble heart I ever heard
+of!" said Herbert, with an affectionate glance that directed the
+compliment. "Nor is his the last that you will meet with. I must tell
+you the good news now."
+
+"Oh, tell it, tell it! Have you got a ship of your own, Herbert?"
+
+"No; nor is it about myself that I am anxious to tell you. Mrs. Rocke,
+you may have heard that I had a rich uncle whom I had never seen,
+because, from the time of my dear mother's marriage to that of her
+death, she and her brother--this very uncle--had been estranged?"
+
+"Yes," said the widow, speaking in a very low tone and bending her head
+over her work; "yes, I have heard so; but your mother and myself seldom
+alluded to the subject."
+
+"Exactly; mother never was fond of talking of him. Well, when I came
+ashore and went, as usual, up to the old Washington House, who should I
+meet with, all of a sudden, but this rich uncle. He had come to New York
+to claim a little girl whom I happened to know, and who happened to
+recognize me and name me to him. Well, I knew him only by his name; but
+he knew me both by my name and by my likeness to his sister, and
+received me with wonderful kindness, offered me a home under his roof,
+and promised to get for me an appointment to West Point. Are you not
+glad?--say, are you not glad?" he exclaimed, jocosely clapping his hand
+upon Traverse's knee, and then turning around and looking at his mother.
+
+"Oh, yes, indeed, I am very glad, Herbert," exclaimed Traverse, heartily
+grasping and squeezing his friend's hand.
+
+"Yes, yes; I am indeed sincerely glad of your good fortune, dear boy,"
+said the widow; but her voice was very faint and her head bent still
+lower over her work.
+
+"Ha! ha! ha! I knew you'd be glad for me; but now I require you to be
+glad for yourselves. Now listen! When I told my honest old uncle--for he
+is honest, with all his eccentricities--when I told him of what friends
+you had been to me----"
+
+"Oh, no; you did not--you did not mention us to him?" cried the widow,
+suddenly starting up and clasping her hands together, while she gazed in
+an agony of entreaty into the face of the speaker.
+
+"Why not? Why in the world not? Was there anything improper in doing
+so?" inquired Herbert in astonishment, while Traverse himself gazed in
+amazement at the excessive and unaccountable agitation of his mother.
+
+"Why, mother? Why shouldn't he have mentioned us? Was there anything
+strange or wrong in that?" inquired Traverse.
+
+"No; oh no; certainly not; I forgot, it was so sudden," said the widow,
+sinking back in her chair and struggling for self-control.
+
+"Why, mother, what in the world is the meaning of this?" asked her son.
+
+"Nothing, nothing, boy; only we are poor folks, and should not be forced
+upon the attention of a wealthy gentleman," she said with a cold,
+unnatural smile, putting her hand to her brow and striving to gain
+composure. Then, as Herbert continued silent and amazed, she said to
+him:
+
+"Go on, go on--you were saying something about my--about Major
+Warfield's kindness to you--go on." And she took up her work and tried
+to sew, but she was as pale as death and trembling all over at the same
+time that every nerve was acute with attention to catch every word that
+might fall from the lips of Herbert.
+
+"Well," recommenced the young sailor, "I was just saying that when I
+mentioned you and Traverse to my uncle, and told him how kind and
+disinterested you had been to me--you being like a mother and Traverse
+like a brother--he was really moved almost to tears. Yes, I declare I
+saw the raindrops glittering in his tempestuous old orbs as he walked
+the floor muttering to himself, 'Poor women--good, excellent woman.'"
+
+While Herbert spoke the widow dropped her work without seeming to know
+that she had done so; her fingers twitched so nervously that she had to
+hold both hands clasped together, and her eyes were fixed in intense
+anxiety upon the face of the youth as she repeated:
+
+"Go on--oh, go on. What more did he say when you talked of us?"
+
+"He said everything that was kind and good. He said that he could not do
+too much to compensate you for the past."
+
+"Oh, did he say that?" exclaimed the widow, breathlessly.
+
+"Yes, and a great deal more--that all that he could do for you or your
+son was but a sacred debt he owed you."
+
+"Oh, he acknowledged it--he acknowledged it! Thank Heaven! oh, thank
+Heaven! Go on, Herbert; go on."
+
+"He said that he would in future take the whole charge of the boy's
+advancement in life, and that he would place you above want forever:
+that he would, in fact, compensate for the past by doing you and yours
+full justice."
+
+"Thank Heaven! oh, thank Heaven!" exclaimed the widow, no longer
+concealing her agitation, but throwing down her work, and starting up
+and pacing the floor in excess of joy.
+
+"Mother," said Traverse, uneasily, going to her and taking her hand,
+"mother, what is the meaning of all this? Do come and sit down."
+
+She immediately turned and walked back to the fire, and, resting her
+hands upon the back of the chair, bent upon them a face radiant with
+youthful beauty. Her cheeks were brightly flushed, her eyes were
+sparkling with light, her whole countenance resplendent with joy--she
+scarcely seemed twenty years of age.
+
+"Mother, tell us what it is," pleaded Traverse, who feared for her
+sanity.
+
+"Oh, boys, I am so happy! At last! at last! after eighteen years of
+patient 'hoping against hope!' I shall go mad with joy!"
+
+"Mother," said Herbert, softly.
+
+"Children, I am not crazy! I know what I am saying, though I did not
+intend to say it! And you shall know, too! But first I must ask Herbert
+another question: Herbert, are you very sure that he--Major
+Warfield--knew who we were?"
+
+"Yes, indeed; didn't I tell him all about you--your troubles, your
+struggles, your disinterestedness and all your history since ever I knew
+you?" answered Herbert, who was totally unconscious that he had left
+Major Warfield in ignorance of one very important fact--her surname.
+
+"Then you are sure he knew who he was talking about?"
+
+"Of course he did."
+
+"He could not have failed to do so, indeed. But, Herbert, did he mention
+any other important fact that you have not yet communicated to us?"
+
+"No, ma'am."
+
+"Did he allude to any previous acquaintance with us?"
+
+"No, ma'am, unless it might have been in the words I repeated to
+you--there was nothing else--except that he bade me hurry to you and
+make you glad with his message, and return as soon as possible to let
+him know whether you accept his offers."
+
+"Accept them! accept them! Of course I do. I have waited for them for
+years. Oh, children, you gaze on me as if you thought me mad. I am not
+so; nor can I now explain myself, for, since he has not chosen to be
+confidential with Herbert, I cannot be so prematurely; but you will know
+all when Herbert shall have borne back my message to Major Warfield."
+
+It was indeed a mad evening in the cottage. And even when the little
+family had separated and retired to bed, the two youths, lying together
+as formerly, could not sleep for talking, while the widow on her lonely
+couch lay awake for joy.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+THE ROOM OF THE TRAP-DOOR.
+
+    If you have hitherto concealed this sight,
+    Let it be tenable, in your silence still;
+    And whatsoever else doth hap to-night,
+    Give it an understanding, but no tongue.
+                                       --Shakespeare.
+
+
+Capitola, meanwhile, in the care of the major, arrived at Hurricane
+Hall, much to the discomfiture of good Mrs. Condiment, who was quite
+unprepared to expect the new inmate; and when Major Warfield said:
+
+"Mrs. Condiment, this is your young lady; take her up to the best
+bedroom, where she can take off her bonnet and shawl," the worthy dame,
+thinking secretly, "The old fool has gone and married a young wife, sure
+enough; a mere chit of a child," made a very deep curtsy and a very
+queer cough and said:
+
+"I am mortified, madam, at the fire not being made in the best bedroom;
+but, then, I was not warned of your coming, madam."
+
+"Madam? Is the old woman crazed? This child is no 'madam.' She is Miss
+Black, my ward, the daughter of a deceased friend," sharply exclaimed
+Old Hurricane.
+
+"Excuse me, miss; I did not know; I was unprepared to receive a young
+lady. Shall I attend you, Miss Black?" said the old lady, in a mollified
+tone.
+
+"If you please," said Capitola, who arose to follow her.
+
+"Not expecting you, miss, I have no proper room prepared; most of them
+are not furnished, and in some the chimneys are foul; indeed, the only
+tolerable room I can put you in is the room with the trap-door--if you
+would not object to it," said Mrs. Condiment, as with a candle in her
+hand she preceded Capitola along the gloomy hall and then opened a door
+that led into a narrow passage.
+
+"A room with a trap-door? That's a curious thing; but why should I
+object to it? I don't at all. I think I should rather like it," said
+Capitola.
+
+"I will show it to you and tell you about it, and then if you like it,
+well and good. If not, I shall have to put you in a room that leaks and
+has swallows' nests in the chimney," answered Mrs. Condiment, as she led
+the way along the narrow passages and up and down dark back stairs and
+through bare and deserted rooms and along other passages until she
+reached a remote chamber, opened the door and invited her guest to
+enter.
+
+It was a large, shadowy room, through which the single candle shed such
+a faint, uncertain light that at first Capitola could see nothing but
+black masses looming through the darkness.
+
+But when Mrs. Condiment advanced and set the candle upon the
+chimney-piece, and Capitola's sight accommodated itself to the scene,
+she saw that upon the right of the chimney-piece stood a tall tester
+bedstead, curtained with very dark crimson serge; on the left hand,
+thick curtains of the same color draped the two windows. Between the
+windows, directly opposite the bed, stood a dark mahogany dressing
+bureau with a large looking-glass; a washstand in the left-hand corner
+of the chimney-piece, and a rocking-chair and two plain chairs completed
+the furniture of this room that I am particular in describing, as upon
+the simple accident of its arrangement depended, upon two occasions, the
+life and honor of its occupant. There was no carpet on the floor, with
+the exception of a large, old Turkey rug that was laid before the
+fireplace.
+
+"Here, my dear, this room is perfectly dry and comfortable, and we
+always keep kindlings built up in the fireplace ready to light in case a
+guest should come," said Mrs. Condiment, applying a match to the waste
+paper under the pine knots and logs that filled the chimney. Soon there
+arose a cheerful blaze that lighted up all the room, glowing on the
+crimson serge bed curtains and window curtains and flashing upon the
+large looking-glass between them.
+
+"There, my dear, sit down and make yourself comfortable," said Mrs.
+Condiment, drawing up the rocking-chair.
+
+Capitola threw herself into it, and looked around and around the room,
+and then into the face of the old lady saying:
+
+"But what about the trap-door? I see no trap-door."
+
+"Ah, yes--look!" said Mrs. Condiment, lifting up the rug and revealing a
+large drop, some four feet square, that was kept up in its place by a
+short iron bolt.
+
+"Now, my dear, take care of yourself, for this bolt slides very easily,
+and if, while you happened to be walking across this place, you were to
+push the bolt back, the trap-door would drop and you fall down--heaven
+knows where!"
+
+"Is there a cellar under there?" inquired Capitola, gazing with interest
+upon the door.
+
+"Lord knows, child; I don't. I did once make one of the nigger men let
+it down so I could look in it; but, Lord, child, I saw nothing but a
+great, black, deep vacuity, without bottom or sides. It put such a
+horror over me that I have never looked down there since, and never want
+to, I'm sure."
+
+"Ugh! for goodness' sake what was the horrid thing made for?" ejaculated
+Capitola, gazing as if fascinated by the trap.
+
+"The Lord only knows, my dear; for it was made long before ever the
+house came into the major's family. But they do say----" whispered Mrs.
+Condiment, mysteriously.
+
+"Ah! what do they say?" asked Capitola, eagerly, throwing off her bonnet
+and shawl and settling herself to hear some thrilling explanation.
+
+Mrs. Condiment slowly replaced the rug, drew another chair to the side
+of the young girl and said:
+
+"They do say it was--a trap for Indians!"
+
+"A trap for Indians?"
+
+"Yes, my dear. You must know that this room belongs to the oldest part
+of the house. It was all built as far back as the old French and Indian
+war; but this room belonged to the part that dates back to the first
+settlement of the country."
+
+"Then I shall like it better than any room in the house, for I dote on
+old places with stories to them. Go on, please."
+
+"Yes, my dear. Well, first of all, this place was a part of the grant of
+land given to the Le Noirs. And the first owner, old Henri Le Noir, was
+said to be one of the grandest villains that ever was heard of. Well,
+you see, he lived out here in his hunting lodge, which is this part of
+the house."
+
+"Oh, my! then this very room was a part of the old pioneer hunter's
+lodge?"
+
+"Yes, my dear; and they do say that he had this place made as a trap for
+the Indians! You see, they say he was on terms of friendship with the
+Succapoos, a little tribe of Indians that was nearly wasted away, though
+among the few that was left there were several braves. Well, he wanted
+to buy a certain large tract of land from this tribe, and they were all
+willing to sell it except those half a dozen warriors, who wanted it for
+camping ground. So what does this awful villain do but lay a snare for
+them. He makes a great feast in his lodge and invites his red brothers
+to come to it; and they come. Then he proposes that they stand upon his
+blanket and all swear eternal brotherhood, which he made the poor souls
+believe was the right way to do it. Then when they all six stood close
+together as they could stand, with hands held up touching above their
+heads, all of a sudden the black villain sprung the bolt, the trap fell
+and the six men went down--down, the Lord knows where!"
+
+"Oh! that is horrible! horrible!" cried Capitola; "but where do you
+think they fell to?"
+
+"I tell you the Lord only knows! They say that it is a bottomless abyss,
+with no outlet but one crooked one, miles long, that reaches to the
+Demon's Punch Bowl. But if there is a bottom to that abyss, that bottom
+is strewn with human bones!"
+
+"Oh! horrible! most horrible!" exclaimed Capitola.
+
+"Perhaps you are afraid to sleep here by yourself? If so, there's the
+damp room----"
+
+"Oh, no! oh, no! I am not afraid. I have been in too much deadly peril
+from the living ever to fear the dead! No, I like the room, with its
+strange legend; but tell me, did that human devil escape without
+punishment from the tribe of the murdered victims?"
+
+"Lord, child, how were they to know of what was done? There wasn't a man
+left to tell the tale. Besides, the tribe was now brought down to a few
+old men, women and children. So, when he showed a bill of sale for the
+land he wanted, signed by the six braves--'their marks,' in six
+blood-red arrows, there was none to contradict him."
+
+"How was his villainy found out?"
+
+"Well, it was said he married, had a family and prospered for a long
+while; but that the poor Succapoos always suspected him, and bore a long
+grudge, and that when the sons of the murdered warriors grew up to be
+powerful braves, one night they set upon the house and massacred the
+whole family except the eldest son, a lad of ten, who escaped and ran
+away and gave the alarm to the block-house, where there were soldiers
+stationed. It is said that after killing and scalping father, mother and
+children, the savages threw the dead bodies down that trap-door. And
+they had just set fire to the house and were dancing their wild dance
+around it, when the soldiers arrived and dispersed the party and put out
+the fire."
+
+"Oh, what bloody, bloody days!"
+
+"Yes, my dear, and as I told you before, if that horrible pit has any
+bottom, that bottom is strewn with human skeletons!"
+
+"It is an awful thought----"
+
+"As I said, my dear, if you feel at all afraid you can have another
+room."
+
+"Afraid! What of? Those skeletons, supposing them to be there, cannot
+hurt me! I am not afraid of the dead! I only dread the living, and not
+them much, either!" said Capitola.
+
+"Well, my dear, you will want a waiting-woman, anyhow; and I think I
+will send Pitapat to wait on you; she can sleep on a pallet in your
+room, and be some company."
+
+"And who is Pitapat, Mrs. Condiment?"
+
+"Pitapat? Lord, child, she is the youngest of the housemaids. I've
+called her Pitapat ever since she was a little one beginning to walk,
+when she used to steal away from her mother, Dorcas, the cook, and I
+would hear her little feet coming pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat, up the dark
+stairs up to my room. As it was often the only sound to be heard in the
+still house, I grew to call my little visitor Pitapat."
+
+"Then let me have Pitapat by all means. I like company, especially
+company that I can send away when I choose."
+
+"Very well, my dear; and now I think you'd better smooth your hair and
+come down with me to tea, for it is full time, and the major, as you may
+know, is not the most patient of men."
+
+Capitola took a brush from her traveling-bag, hastily arranged her black
+ringlets and announced herself ready.
+
+They left the room and traversed the same labyrinth of passages, stairs,
+empty rooms and halls back to the dining-room, where a comfortable fire
+burned and a substantial supper was spread.
+
+Old Hurricane took Capitola's hand with a hearty grasp, and placed her
+in a chair at the side, and then took his own seat at the foot of the
+table.
+
+Mrs. Condiment sat at the head and poured out the tea.
+
+"Uncle," said Capitola, suddenly, "what is under the trap-door in my
+room?"
+
+"What! Have they put you in that room?" exclaimed the old man, hastily
+looking up.
+
+"There was no other one prepared, sir," said the housekeeper.
+
+"Besides, I like it very well, uncle," said Capitola.
+
+"Humph! humph! humph!" grunted the old man, only half satisfied.
+
+"But, uncle, what is under the trap-door?" persisted Capitola; "what's
+under it?"
+
+"Oh, I don't know--an old cave that was once used as a dry cellar until
+an underground stream broke through and made it too damp, so it is said.
+I never explored it."
+
+"But, uncle, what about the----"
+
+Here Mrs. Condiment stretched out her foot and trod upon the toes of
+Capitola so sharply that it made her stop short, while she dexterously
+changed the conversation by asking the major if he would not send Wool
+to Tip-Top in the morning for another bag of coffee.
+
+Soon after supper was over Capitola, saying that she was tired, bade her
+uncle good night, and, attended by her little black maid Pitapat, whom
+Mrs. Condiment had called up for the purpose, retired to her distant
+chamber. There were already collected here three trunks, which the
+liberality of her uncle had filled.
+
+As soon as she had got in and locked the door she detached one of the
+strongest straps from her largest trunk and then turned up the rug and
+secured the end of the strap to the ring in the trap-door. Then she
+withdrew the bolt, and, holding on to one end of the strap, gently
+lowered the trap, and, kneeling, gazed down into an awful black
+void--without boundaries, without sight, without sounds, except a deep,
+faint, subterranean roaring as of water.
+
+"Bring the light, Pitapat, and hold it over this place, and take care
+you don't fall in," said Capitola. "Come, as I've got a 'pit' in my name
+and you've got a 'pit' in yours, we'll see if we can't make something of
+this third 'pit.'"
+
+"Deed, I'se 'fraid, Miss," said the poor little darkey.
+
+"Afraid! What of?"
+
+"Ghoses."
+
+"Nonsense. I'll agree to lay every ghost you see!"
+
+The little maid approached, candle in hand, but in such a gingerly sort
+of way, that Capitola seized the light from her hand, and, stooping,
+held it down as far as she could reach and gazed once more into the
+abyss. But this only made the horrible darkness "visible;" no object
+caught or reflected a single ray of light; all was black, hollow, void
+and silent except the faint, deep, distant, roaring as of subterraneous
+water!
+
+Capitola pushed the light as far down as she could possibly reach, and
+then, yielding to a strange fascination, dropped it into the abyss! It
+went down, down, down, down into the darkness, until far below it
+glimmered out of sight. Then with an awful shudder Capitola pulled up
+and fastened the trap-door, laid down the rug and said her prayers and
+went to bed by the firelight, with little Pitapat sleeping on a pallet.
+The last thought of Cap, before falling to sleep, was:
+
+"It is awful to go to bed over such a horrible mystery; but I will be a
+hero!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+A MYSTERY AND A STORM AT HURRICANE HALL.
+
+    Bid her address her prayers to Heaven!
+    Learn if she there may be forgiven;
+      Its mercy may absolve her yet!
+    But here upon this earth beneath
+      There is no spot where she and I
+    Together for an hour could breathe!
+                                       --Byron.
+
+
+Early the next morning Capitola arose, made her toilet and went out to
+explore the outer walls of her part of the old house, to discover, if
+possible, some external entrance into the unknown cavity under her room.
+It was a bright, cheerful, healthy autumnal morning, well adapted to
+dispel all clouds of mystery and superstition. Heaps of crimson and
+golden-hued leaves, glimmering with hoar frost, lay drifted against the
+old walls, and when these were brushed away by the busy hands of the
+young girl they revealed nothing but the old moldering foundation; not a
+vestige of a cellar-door or window was visible.
+
+Capitola abandoned the fruitless search, and turned to go into the
+house. And saying to herself--
+
+"I'll think no more of it! I dare say, after all, it is nothing but a
+very dark cellar without window and with a well, and the story of the
+murders and of the skeletons is all moonshine," she ran into the
+dining-room and took her seat at the breakfast table.
+
+Old Hurricane was just then storming away at his factotum Wool for some
+misdemeanor, the nature of which Capitola did not hear, for upon her
+appearance he suffered his wrath to subside in a few reverberating, low
+thunders, gave his ward a grumphy "Good morning" and sat down to his
+breakfast.
+
+After breakfast Old Hurricane took his great-coat and old cocked hat and
+stormed forth upon the plantation to blow up his lazy overseer, Mr. Will
+Ezy, and his idle negroes, who had loitered or frolicked away all the
+days of their master's absence.
+
+Mrs. Condiment went away to mix a plum pudding for dinner, and Cap was
+left alone.
+
+After wandering through the lower rooms of the house the stately,
+old-fashioned drawing-room, the family parlor, the dining-room, etc.,
+Cap found her way through all the narrow back passages and steep little
+staircases back to her own chamber.
+
+The chamber looked quite different by daylight--the cheerful wood fire
+burning in the chimney right before her, opposite the door by which she
+entered; the crimson draped windows, with the rich, old mahogany bureau
+and dressing-glass standing between them on her left; the polished, dark
+oak floor; the comfortable rocking chair; the new work-stand placed
+there for her use that morning and her own well-filled trunks standing
+in the corners, looked altogether too cheerful to associate with dark
+thoughts.
+
+Besides, Capitola had not the least particle of gloom, superstition or
+marvelousness in her disposition. She loved old houses and old legends
+well enough to enjoy them; but was not sufficiently credulous to
+believe, or cowardly to fear, them.
+
+She had, besides, a pleasant morning's occupation before her, in
+unpacking her three trunks and arranging her wardrobe and her
+possessions, which were all upon the most liberal scale, for Major
+Warfield at every city where they had stopped had given his poor little
+protegee a virtual _carte blanche_ for purchases, having said to her:
+
+"Capitola, I'm an old bachelor; I've not the least idea what a young
+girl requires; all I know is, that you have nothing but your clothes,
+and must want sewing and knitting needles and brushes and scissors and
+combs and boxes and smelling bottles and tooth powder and such. So come
+along with me to one of those Vanity Fairs they call fancy stores and
+get what you want; I'll foot the bill."
+
+And Capitola, who firmly believed that she had the most sacred of claims
+upon Major Warfield, whose resources she also supposed to be unlimited,
+did not fail to indulge her taste for rich and costly toys and supplied
+herself with a large ivory dressing-case, lined with velvet and
+furnished with ivory-handled combs and brushes, silver boxes and crystal
+bottles, a papier-mache work-box, with gold thimble, needle-case and
+perforator and gold-mounted scissors and winders; and an ebony
+writing-desk, with silver-mounted crystal standishes; each of
+these--boxes and desk--was filled with all things requisite in the
+several departments. And now as Capitola unpacked them and arranged them
+upon the top of her bureau, it was with no small degree of appreciation.
+The rest of the forenoon was spent in arranging the best articles of her
+wardrobe in her bureau drawers.
+
+Having locked the remainder in her trunks and carefully smoothed her
+hair, and dressed herself in a brown merino, she went down-stairs and
+sought out Mrs. Condiment, whom she found in the housekeeper's little
+room, and to whom she said:
+
+"Now, Mrs. Condiment, if uncle has any needlework wanted to be done, any
+buttons to be sewed on, or anything of that kind, just let me have it;
+I've got a beautiful work-box, and I'm just dying to use it."
+
+"My dear Miss Black----"
+
+"Please to call me Capitola, or even Cap. I never was called Miss Black
+in my life until I came here, and I don't like it at all!"
+
+"Well, then, my dear Miss Cap, I wish you would wait till to-morrow, for
+I just came in here in a great hurry to get a glass of brandy out of the
+cupboard to put in the sauce for the plum-pudding, as dinner will be on
+the table in ten minutes."
+
+With a shrug of her little shoulders, Capitola left the housekeeper's
+room and hurried through the central front hall and out at the front
+door, to look about and breathe the fresh air for a while.
+
+As she stepped upon the front piazza she saw Major Warfield walking up
+the steep lawn, followed by Wool, leading a pretty mottled iron-gray
+pony, with a side-saddle on his back.
+
+"Ah, I'm glad you're down, Cap! Come! look at this pretty pony! he is
+good for nothing as a working horse, and is too light to carry my
+weight, and so I intend to give him to you! You must learn to ride,"
+said the old man, coming up the steps.
+
+"Give him to me! I learn to ride! Oh, uncle! Oh, uncle! I shall go
+perfectly crazy with joy!" exclaimed Cap, dancing and clapping her hands
+with delight.
+
+"Oh, well, a tumble or two in learning will bring you back to your
+senses, I reckon!"
+
+"Oh, uncle! oh, uncle! When shall I begin?"
+
+"You shall take your first tumble immediately after dinner, when, being
+well filled, you will not be so brittle and apt to break in falling!"
+
+"Oh, uncle! I shall not fall! I feel I shan't! I feel I've a natural
+gift for holding on!"
+
+"Come, come; get in! get in! I want my dinner!" said Old Hurricane,
+driving his ward in before him to the dining-room, where the dinner was
+smoking upon the table.
+
+After dinner Cap, with Wool for a riding-master, took her first lesson
+in equestrianism. She had the four great requisites for forming a good
+rider--a well-adapted figure, a fondness for the exercise, perfect
+fearlessness and presence of mind. She was not once in danger of losing
+her seat, and during that single afternoon's exercise she made
+considerable progress in learning to manage her steed.
+
+Old Hurricane, whom the genial autumn afternoon had tempted out to smoke
+his pipe in his armchair on the porch, was a pleased spectator of her
+performances, and expressed his opinion that in time she would become
+the best rider in the neighborhood, and that she should have the best
+riding-dress and cap that could be made at Tip Top.
+
+Just now, in lack of an equestrian dress, poor Cap was parading around
+the lawn with her head bare and her hair flying and her merino skirt
+exhibiting more ankles than grace.
+
+It was while Old Hurricane still sat smoking his pipe and making his
+comments and Capitola still ambled around and around the lawn that a
+horseman suddenly appeared galloping as fast as the steep nature of the
+ground would admit up toward the house, and before they could form an
+idea who he was the horse was at the block, and the rider dismounted and
+standing before Major Warfield.
+
+"Why, Herbert, my boy, back so soon? We didn't expect you for a week to
+come. This is sudden, indeed! So much the better! so much the better!
+Glad to see you, lad!" exclaimed Old Hurricane, getting up and heartily
+shaking the hand of his nephew.
+
+Capitola came ambling up, and in the effort to spring nimbly from her
+saddle tumbled off, much to the delight of Wool, who grinned from ear to
+ear, and of Old Hurricane, who, with an "I said so," burst into a roar
+of laughter.
+
+Herbert Greyson sprang to assist her; but before he reached the spot Cap
+had picked herself up, straightened her disordered dress, and now she
+ran to meet and shake hands with him.
+
+There was such a sparkle of joy and glow of affection in the meeting
+between these two that Old Hurricane, who saw it, suddenly hushed his
+laugh and grunted to himself:
+
+"Humph! humph! humph! I like that; that's better than I could have
+planned myself; let that go on, and then, Gabe Le Noir, we'll see under
+what name and head the old divided manor will be held!"
+
+Before his mental soliloquy was concluded, Herbert and Capitola came up
+to him. He welcomed Herbert again with great cordiality, and then called
+to his man to put up the horses, and bade the young people to follow him
+into the house, as the air was getting chilly.
+
+"And how did you find your good friends, lad?" inquired Old Hurricane,
+when they had reached the sitting parlor.
+
+"Oh, very well, sir! and very grateful for your offered kindness; and,
+indeed, so anxious to express their gratitude--that--that I shortened my
+visit and came away immediately to tell you."
+
+"Right, lad, right! You come by the down coach?"
+
+"Yes, sir, and got off at Tip Top, where I hired a horse to bring me
+here. I must ask you to let one of your men take him back to Mr. Merry
+at the Antler's Inn to-morrow."
+
+"Surely, surely, lad! Wool shall do it!"
+
+"And so, Herbert, the poor woman was delighted at the prospect of better
+times?" said Old Hurricane, with a little glow of benevolent
+self-satisfaction.
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; delighted beyond all measure!"
+
+"Poor thing! poor thing! See, young folks, how easy it is for the
+wealthy, by sparing a little of their superfluous means, to make the
+poor and virtuous happy! And the boy, Herbert, the boy?"
+
+"Oh, sir! delighted for himself, but still more delighted for his
+mother; for her joy was such as to astonish and even alarm me! Before
+that I had thought Marah Rocke a proud woman, but----"
+
+"What!--say that again!" exclaimed Major Warfield. "I say that I thought
+she was a proud woman, but----"
+
+"Thought who was a proud woman, sir?" roared Old Hurricane.
+
+"Marah Rocke!" replied the young man, with wonder.
+
+Major Warfield started up, seized the chair upon which he had sat and
+struck it upon the ground with such force as to shatter it to pieces;
+then turning, he strode up and down the floor with such violence that
+the two young people gazed after him in consternation and fearful
+expectancy. Presently he turned suddenly, strode up to Herbert Greyson
+and stood before him.
+
+His face was purple, his veins swollen and they stood out upon his
+forehead like cords, his eyes were protruded and glaring, his mouth
+clenched until the grizzly gray mustache and beard were drawn in, his
+whole huge frame was quivering from head to foot. It was impossible to
+tell what passion--whether rage, grief or shame--the most possessed him,
+for all three seemed tearing his giant frame to pieces.
+
+For an instant he stood speechless, and Herbert feared that he would
+fall into a fit; but the old giant was too strong for that! For one
+short moment he stood thus, and in a terrible voice he asked:
+
+"Young man, did you--did you know--the shame that you dashed into my
+face with the name of that woman?"
+
+"Sir, I know nothing but that she is the best and dearest of her sex!"
+exclaimed Herbert, beyond all measure amazed at what he heard and saw.
+
+"Best and dearest!" thundered the old man. "Oh, idiot; is she still a
+siren, and are you a dupe? But that cannot be! No, sir! it is I whom you
+both would dupe! Ah, I see it all now! This is why you artfully
+concealed her name from me until you had won my promise! It shall not
+serve either you or her, sir! I break my promise thus!" bending and
+snapping his own cane and flinging the fragments behind his back.
+"There, sir! when you can make those ends of dry cedar grow together
+again and bear green leaves, you may hope to reconcile Ira Warfield and
+Marah Rocke! I break my promise, sir, as she broke----"
+
+The old man suddenly sank back into the nearest chair, dropped his
+shaggy head and face into his hands and remained trembling from head to
+foot, while the convulsive heaving of his chest and the rising and
+falling of his huge shoulders betrayed that his heart was nearly
+bursting with such suppressed sobs as only can be forced from manhood by
+the fiercest anguish.
+
+The young people looked on in wonder, awe and pity; and then their eyes
+met--those of Herbert silently inquired:
+
+"What can all this mean?" Those of Capitola mutely answered:
+
+"Heaven only knows!"
+
+In his deep pity for the old man's terrible anguish, Herbert could feel
+no shame or resentment for the false accusation made upon himself.
+Indeed, his noble and candid nature easily explained all as the ravings
+of some heartrending remembrance. Waiting, therefore, until the violent
+convulsions of the old man's frame had somewhat subsided, Herbert went
+to him, and with a low and respectful inflection of voice, said:
+
+"Uncle, if you think that there was any collusion between myself and
+Mrs. Rocke you wrong us both. You will remember that when I met you in
+New York I had not seen or heard from her for years, nor had I then any
+expectation of ever seeing you. The subject of the poor widow came up
+between us accidentally, and if it is true that I omitted to call her by
+name it must have been because we both then felt too tenderly by her to
+call her anything else but 'the poor widow, the poor mother, the good
+woman,' and so on--and all this she is still."
+
+The old man, without raising his head, held out one hand to his nephew,
+saying in a voice still trembling with emotion:
+
+"Herbert, I wronged you; forgive me."
+
+Herbert took and pressed that rugged and hairy old hand to his lips, and
+said:
+
+"Uncle, I do not in the least know what is the cause of your present
+emotion, but----"
+
+"Emotion! Demmy, sir, what do you mean by emotion? Am I a man to give
+way to emotion? Demmy, sir, mind what you say!" roared the old lion,
+getting up and shaking himself free of all weaknesses.
+
+"I merely meant to say, sir, that if I could possibly be of any service
+to you I am entirely at your orders."
+
+"Then go back to that woman and tell her never to dare to utter, or even
+to think of, my name again, if she values her life!"
+
+"Sir, you do not mean it! and as for Mrs. Rocke, she is a good woman I
+feel it my duty to uphold!"
+
+"Good! ugh! ugh! ugh! I'll command myself! I'll not give way again!
+Good! ah, lad, it is quite plain to me now that you are an innocent
+dupe. Tell me now, for instance, do you know anything of that woman's
+life before she came to reside at Staunton?"
+
+"Nothing; but from what I've seen of her since I'm sure she always was
+good."
+
+"Did she never mention her former life at all?"
+
+"Never; but, mind, I hold to my faith in her, and would stake my
+salvation on her integrity," said Herbert, warmly.
+
+"Then you'd lose it, lad, that's all; but I have an explanation to make
+to you, Herbert. You must give me a minute or two of your company alone,
+in the library, before tea."
+
+And so saying, Major Warfield arose and led the way across the hall to
+the library, that was immediately back of the back drawing-room.
+
+Throwing himself into a leathern chair beside the writing-table, he
+motioned for his companion to take the one on the opposite side. A low
+fire smoldering on the hearth before them so dimly lighted the room that
+the young man arose again to pull the bell rope; but the other
+interrupted with:
+
+"No, you need not ring for lights, Herbert! my story is one that should
+be told in the dark. Listen, lad; but drop your eyes the while."
+
+"I am all attention, sir!"
+
+"Herbert, the poet says that--
+
+    "'At thirty man suspects himself a fool,
+    Knows it at forty and reforms his rule.'
+
+"But, boy, at the ripe age of forty-five, I succeeded in achieving the
+most sublime folly of my life. I should have taken a degree in madness
+and been raised to a professor's chair in some college of lunacy!
+Herbert, at the age of forty-five I fell in love with and married a girl
+of sixteen out of a log cabin! merely, forsooth, because she had a
+pearly skin like the leaf of the white japonica, soft gray eyes like a
+timid fawn's and a voice like a cooing turtle dove's! because those
+delicate cheeks flushed and those soft eyes fell when I spoke to her,
+and the cooing voice trembled when she replied! because the delicate
+face brightened when I came and faded when I turned away! because--
+
+    "'She wept with delight when I gave her a smile,
+    And trembled with fear at my frown,' etc.;
+
+because she adored me as a sort of god, I loved her as an angel and
+married her--married her secretly, for fear of the ridicule of my
+brother officers, put her in a pastoral log cabin in the woods below the
+block-house and visited her there by stealth, like Numa did his nymph in
+the cave. But I was watched; my hidden treasure was discovered and
+coveted by a younger and prettier follow than myself. Perdition! I
+cannot tell this story in detail! One night I came home very late and
+quite unexpectedly and found--this man in my wife's cabin! I broke the
+man's head and ribs and left him for dead. I tore the woman out of my
+heart and cauterized its bleeding wounds. This man was Gabriel Le Noir!
+Satan burn him forever! This woman was Marah Rocke, God forgive her! I
+could have divorced the woman, but as I did not dream of ever marrying
+again, I did not care to drag my shame before a public tribunal. There!
+You know all! Let the subject sink forever!" said Old Hurricane, wiping
+great drops of sweat from his laboring brows.
+
+"Uncle, I have heard your story and believe you, of course. But I am
+bound to tell you that without even having heard your poor wife's
+defense, I believe and uphold her to be innocent! I think you have been
+as grossly deceived as she has been fearfully wronged and that time and
+Providence will prove this!" exclaimed Herbert, fervently.
+
+A horrible laugh of scorn was his only answer as Old Hurricane arose,
+shook himself and led the way back to the parlor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+MARAH'S DREAM.
+
+    And now her narrow kitchen walls
+    Stretched away into stately halls;
+    The weary wheel to a spinnet turned,
+    The tallow candle an astral burned;
+    A manly form at her side she saw,
+    And joy was duty and love was law.
+                                       --Whittier.
+
+
+On the same Saturday morning that Herbert Greyson hurried away from his
+friend's cottage, to travel post to Hurricane Hall, for the sole purpose
+of accelerating the coming of her good fortune, Marah Rocke walked about
+the house with a step so light, with eyes so bright and cheeks so
+blooming, that one might have thought that years had rolled backward in
+their course and made her a young girl again.
+
+Traverse gazed upon her in delight. Reversing the words of the text, he
+said:
+
+"We must call you no longer Marah (which is bitter), but we must call
+you Naomi (which is beautiful), mother!"
+
+"Young flatterer!" she answered, smiling and slightly flushing. "But
+tell me truly, Traverse, am I very much faded? Have care and toil and
+grief made me look old?"
+
+"You old?" exclaimed the boy, running his eyes over her beaming face and
+graceful form with a look of non-comprehension that might have satisfied
+her, but did not, for she immediately repeated:
+
+"Yes; do I look old? Indeed I do not ask from vanity, child? Ah, it
+little becomes me to be vain; but I do wish to look well in some one's
+eyes."
+
+"I wish there was a looking-glass in the house, mother, that it might
+tell you; you should be called Naomi instead of Marah."
+
+"Ah! that is just what he used to say to me in the old, happy time--the
+time in Paradise, before the serpent entered!"
+
+"What 'he,' mother?"
+
+"Your father, boy, of course."
+
+That was the first time she had ever mentioned his father to her son,
+and now she spoke of him with such a flush of joy and hope that even
+while her words referred darkly to the past, her eyes looked brightly to
+the future. All this, taken with the events of the preceding evening,
+greatly bewildered the mind of Traverse and agitated him with the
+wildest conjectures.
+
+"Mother, will you tell me about my father, and also what it is beyond
+this promised kindness of Major Warfield that has made you so happy?" he
+asked.
+
+"Not now, my boy; dear boy, not now. I must not--I cannot--I dare not
+yet! Wait a few days and you shall know all. Oh, it is hard to keep a
+secret from my boy! but then it is not only my secret, but another's!
+You do not think hard of me for withholding it now, do you, Traverse?"
+she asked, affectionately.
+
+"No, dear mother, of course I don't. I know you must be right, and I am
+glad to see you happy."
+
+"Happy! Oh, boy, you don't know how happy I am! I did not think any
+human being could ever feel so joyful in this erring world, much less
+me! One cause of this excess of joyful feeling must be from the
+contrast; else it were dreadful to be so happy."
+
+"Mother, I don't know what you mean," said Traverse uneasily, for he was
+too young to understand these paradoxes of feeling and thought, and
+there were moments when he feared for his mother's reason.
+
+"Oh, Traverse, think of it! eighteen long, long years of estrangement,
+sorrow and dreadful suspense! eighteen long, long, weary years of
+patience against anger and loving against hatred and hoping against
+despair! your young mind cannot grasp it! your very life is not so long!
+I was seventeen then; I am thirty-five now. And after wasting all my
+young years of womanhood in loving, hoping, longing--lo! the light of
+life has dawned at last!"
+
+"God save you, mother!" said the boy, fervently, for her wild, unnatural
+joy continued to augment his anxiety.
+
+"Ah, Traverse, I dare not tell you the secret now, and yet I am always
+letting it out, because my heart overflows from its fulness. Ah, boy!
+many, many weary nights have I lain awake from grief; but last night I
+lay awake from joy! Think of it!"
+
+The boy's only reply to this was a deep sigh. He was becoming seriously
+alarmed. "I never saw her so excited! I wish she would get calm," was
+his secret thought. Then, with the design of changing the current of her
+ideas, he took off his coat and said:
+
+"Mother, my pocket is half torn out, and though there's no danger of my
+losing a great deal out of it, still I'll get you, please, to sew it in
+while I mend the fence!"
+
+"Sew the pocket! mend the fence! Well!" smiled Mrs. Rocke; "we'll do so
+if it will amuse you. The mended fence will be a convenience to the next
+tenant, and the patched coat will do for some poor boy. Ah, Traverse, we
+must be very good to the poor, in more ways than in giving them what we
+do not ourselves need, for we shall know what it is to have been poor,"
+she concluded, in more serious tones than she had yet used.
+
+Traverse was glad of this, and went out to his work feeling somewhat
+better satisfied.
+
+The delirium of happiness lasted intermittently a whole week, during the
+last three days of which Mrs. Rocke was constantly going to the door and
+looking up the road, as if expecting some one. The mail came from
+Tip-Top to Staunton only once a week--on Saturday mornings. Therefore,
+when Saturday came again, she sent her son to the post-office, saying:
+
+"If they do not come to-day they will surely write."
+
+Traverse hastened with all his speed, and got there so soon that he had
+to wait for the mail to be opened.
+
+Meanwhile, at home the widow walked the floor in restless, joyous
+anticipation, or went to the door and strained her eyes up the road to
+watch for Traverse, and perhaps for some one else's coming. At last she
+discerned her son, who came down the road walking rapidly, smiling
+triumphantly and holding a letter up to view.
+
+She ran out of the gate to meet him, seized and kissed the letter, and
+then, with her face burning, her heart palpitating and her fingers
+trembling, she hastened into the house, threw herself into the little
+low chair by the fire and opened the letter. It was from Herbert, and
+read thus:
+
+     "Hurricane Hall, Nov. 30th, 1843.
+
+     "My Dearest and Best Mrs. Rocke--May God strengthen you to read the
+     few bitter lines I have to write. Most unhappily, Major Warfield
+     did not know exactly who you were when he promised so much. Upon
+     learning your name he withdrew all his promises. At night, in his
+     library, he told me all your early history. Having heard all, the
+     very worst, I believe you as pure as an angel. So I told him! So I
+     would uphold with my life and seal with my death! Trust yet in God,
+     and believe in the earnest respect and affection of your grateful
+     and attached son,
+
+     "Herbert Greyson.
+
+     "P.S.--For henceforth I shall call you mother."
+
+Quietly she finished reading, pressed the letter again to her lips,
+reached it to the fire, saw it like her hopes shrivel up to ashes, and
+then she arose, and with her trembling fingers clinging together, walked
+up and down the floor.
+
+There were no tears in her eyes, but, oh! such a look of unutterable woe
+on her pale, blank, despairing face!
+
+Traverse watched her and saw that something had gone frightfully wrong;
+that some awful revolution of fate or revulsion of feeling had passed
+over her in this dread hour!
+
+Cautiously he approached her, gently he laid his hand upon her shoulder,
+tenderly he whispered:
+
+"Mother!"
+
+She turned and looked strangely at him, then exclaiming:
+
+"Oh, Traverse, how happy I was this day week!" She burst into a flood of
+tears.
+
+Traverse threw his arm around his mother's waist and half coaxed and
+half bore her to her low chair and sat her in it and knelt by her side
+and, embracing her fondly, whispered:
+
+"Mother, don't weep so bitterly! You have me; am I nothing? Mother, I
+love you more than son ever loved his mother, or suitor his sweetheart,
+or husband his wife! Oh! is my love nothing, mother?"
+
+Only sobs answered him.
+
+"Mother," he pleaded, "you are all the world to me; let me be all the
+world to you! I can be it, mother; I can be it; try me! I will make
+every effort for my mother, and the Lord will bless us!"
+
+Still no answer but convulsive sobs.
+
+"Oh, mother, mother! I will try to do for you more than ever son did for
+mother or man for woman before! Dear mother, if you will not break my
+heart by weeping so!"
+
+The sobbing abated a little, partly from exhaustion and partly from the
+soothing influences of the boy's loving words.
+
+"Listen, dear mother, what I will do! In the olden times of chivalry,
+young knights bound themselves by sacred vows to the service of some
+lady, and labored long and perilously in her honor. For her, blood was
+spilled; for her, fields were won; but, mother, never yet toiled knight
+in the battlefield for his lady-love as I will in the battle of life for
+my dearest lady--my own mother!"
+
+She reached out her hand and silently pressed his.
+
+"Come, come," said Traverse; "lift up your head and smile! We are young
+yet--both you and I! for, after all, you are not much older than your
+son; and we two will journey up and down the hills of life together--all
+in all to each other; and when at last we are old, as we shall be when
+you are seventy-seven and I am sixty, we will leave all our fortune that
+we shall have made to found a home for widows and orphans, as we were,
+and we will pass out and go to heaven together."
+
+Now, indeed, this poor, modern Hagar looked up and smiled at the oddity
+of her Ishmael's far-reaching thought.
+
+In that poor household grief might not be indulged. Marah Rocke took
+down her work-basket and sat down to finish a lot of shirts, and
+Traverse went out with his horse and saw to look for a job at cutting
+wood for twenty-five cents a cord. Small beginnings of the fortune that
+was to found and endow asylums! but many a fortune has been commenced
+upon less!
+
+Marah Rocke had managed to dismiss her boy with a smile, but that was
+the last effort of nature; as soon as he was gone and she found herself
+alone, tear after tear welled up in her eyes and rolled down her pale
+cheeks; sigh after sigh heaved her bosom.
+
+Ah! the transitory joy of the past week had been but the lightning's
+arrowy course scathing where it illumined!
+
+She felt as if this last blow that had struck her down from the height
+of hope to the depth of despair had broken her heart, as if the power of
+reaction was gone, and she mourned as one who would not be comforted.
+
+While she sat thus the door opened, and before she was aware of his
+presence, Herbert Greyson entered the room and came softly to her side.
+Ere she could speak to him he dropped upon one knee at her feet and
+bowed his young head lowly over the hand that he took and pressed to his
+lips. Then he arose and stood before her. This was not unnatural or
+exaggerated; it was his way of expressing the reverential sympathy and
+compassion he felt for her strange, life-long martyrdom.
+
+"Herbert, you here? Why, we only got your letter this morning," she
+said, in tones of gentle inquiry, as she arose and placed a chair for
+him.
+
+"Yes, I could not bear to stay away from you at such a time; I came up
+in the same mail-coach that brought my letter; but I kept myself out of
+Traverse's sight, for I could not bear to intrude upon you in the first
+hour of your disappointment," said Herbert, in a broken voice.
+
+"Oh, that need not have kept you away, dear boy! I did not cry much; I
+am used to trouble, you know; I shall get over this also--after a little
+while--and things will go on in the old way," said Marah Rocke,
+struggling to repress the rising emotion that, however, overcame her,
+for, dropping her head upon her "sailor boy's" shoulder, she burst into
+a flood of tears and wept plenteously.
+
+"Dear mother, be comforted!" he said; "dear mother, be comforted!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+MARAH'S MEMORIES.
+
+    In the shade of the apple-tree again
+    She saw a rider draw his rein,
+    And gazing down with a timid grace,
+    She felt his pleased eyes read her face.
+                                       --Whittier.
+
+
+"Dear Marah, I cannot understand your strong attachment to that bronzed
+and grizzled old man, who has, besides, treated you so barbarously,"
+said Herbert.
+
+"Is he bronzed and gray?" asked Marah, looking up with gentle pity in
+her eyes and tone.
+
+"Why, of course he is. He is sixty-two."
+
+"He was forty-five when I first knew him, and he was very handsome then.
+At least, I thought him the very perfection of manly strength and beauty
+and goodness. True, it was the mature, warm beauty of the Indian summer,
+for he was more than middle-aged; but it was very genial to the chilly,
+loveless morning of my own early life," said Marah, dropping her head
+upon her hand and sliding into reminiscences of the past.
+
+"Dear Marah, I wish you would tell me all about your marriage and
+misfortunes," said Herbert, in a tone of the deepest sympathy and
+respect.
+
+"Yes, he was very handsome," continued Mrs. Rocke, speaking more to
+herself than to her companion; "his form was tall, full and stately; his
+complexion warm, rich and glowing; his fine face was lighted up by a
+pair of strong, dark-gray eyes, full of fire and tenderness, and was
+surrounded by waving masses of jet-black hair and whiskers; they are
+gray now, you say, Herbert?"
+
+"Gray and grizzled, and bristling up around his hard face like
+thorn-bushes around a rock in winter!" said Herbert, bluntly, for it
+enraged his honest but inexperienced boyish heart to hear this wronged
+woman speak so enthusiastically.
+
+"Ah! it is winter with him now; but then it was glorious Indian summer!
+He was a handsome, strong and ardent man. I was a young, slight, pale
+girl, with no beauty but the cold and colorless beauty of a statue; with
+no learning but such as I had picked up from a country school; with no
+love to bless my lonely life--for I was a friendless orphan, without
+either parents or relatives, and living by sufferance in a cold and
+loveless home."
+
+"Poor girl!" murmured Herbert, in almost inaudible tones.
+
+"Our log cabin stood beside the military road leading through the
+wilderness to the fort where he was stationed. And, oh! when he came
+riding by each day upon his noble, coal-black steed and in his martial
+uniform, looking so vigorous, handsome and kingly, he seemed to me
+almost a god to worship! Sometimes he drew rein in front of the old oak
+tree that stood in front of our cabin to breathe his horse or to ask for
+a draught of water. I used to bring it to him. Oh! then, when he looked
+at me, his eyes seemed to send new warmth to my chilled heart; when he
+spoke, too, his tones seemed to strengthen me; while he stayed his
+presence seemed to protect me!"
+
+"Aye, such protection as vultures give to doves--covering and devouring
+them," muttered Herbert to himself. Mrs. Rocke, too absorbed in her
+reminiscences to heed his interruptions, continued:
+
+"One day he asked me to be his wife. I do not know what I answered. I
+only know that when I understood what he meant, my heart trembled with
+instinctive terror at its own excessive joy! We were privately married
+by the chaplain at the fort. There were no accommodations for the wives
+of officers there. And, besides, my husband did not wish to announce our
+marriage until he was ready to take me to his princely mansion in
+Virginia."
+
+"Humph!" grunted Herbert inwardly, for comment.
+
+"But he built for me a pretty cabin in the woods below the fort,
+furnished it simply and hired a half-breed Indian woman to wait on me.
+Oh, I was too happy! To my wintry spring of life summer had come, warm,
+rich and beautiful! There is a clause in the marriage service which
+enjoins the husband to cherish his wife. I do not believe many people
+ever stop to think how much is in that word. He did; he cherished my
+little, thin, chill, feeble life until I became strong, warm and
+healthful. Oh! even as the blessed sun warms and animates and glorifies
+the earth, causing it to brighten with life and blossom with flowers and
+bloom with fruit, so did my husband enrich and cherish and bless my
+life! Such happiness could not and it did not last!"
+
+"Of course not!" muttered Herbert to himself.
+
+"At first the fault was in myself. Yes, Herbert it was! you need not
+look incredulous or hope to cast all the blame on him! Listen: Happy,
+grateful, adoring as I was, I was also shy, timid and bashful--never
+proving the deep love I bore my husband except by the most perfect
+self-abandonment to his will. All this deep, though quiet, devotion he
+understood as mere passive obedience void of love. As this continued he
+grew uneasy, and often asked me if I cared for him at all, or if it were
+possible for a young girl like me to love an old man like himself."
+
+"A very natural question," thought Herbert.
+
+"Well, I used to whisper in answer, 'Yes,' and still 'Yes.' But this
+never satisfied Major Warfield. One day, when he asked me if I cared for
+him the least in the world, I suddenly answered that if he were to die I
+should throw myself across his grave and lie there until death should
+release me! whereupon he broke into a loud laugh, saying, 'Methinks the
+lady doth protest too much.' I was already blushing deeply at the
+unwonted vehemence of my own words, although I had spoken only as I
+felt--the very, very truth. But his laugh and his test so increased my
+confusion that, in fine, that was the first and last time I ever did
+protest! Like Lear's Cordelia, I was tongue-tied--I had no words to
+assure him. Sometimes I wept to think how poor I was in resources to
+make him happy. Then came another annoyance--my name and fame were
+freely discussed at the fort."
+
+"A natural consequence," sighed Herbert.
+
+"The younger officers discovered my woodland home, and often stole out
+to reconnoitre my calm. Among them was Captain Le Noir, who, after he
+had discovered my retreat, picked acquaintance with Lura, my attendant.
+Making the woodland sports his pretext, he haunted the vicinity of my
+cabin, often stopping at the door to beg a cup of water, which, of
+course, was never denied, or else to offer a bunch of partridges or a
+brace of rabbits or some other game, the sports of his gun, which
+equally, of course, was never accepted. One beautiful morning in June,
+finding my cabin door open and myself alone, he ventured unbidden across
+my threshold, and by his free conversation and bold admiration offended
+and alarmed me. Some days afterward, in the mess-room at the fort, being
+elevated by wine, he boasted among his messmates of the intimate terms
+of friendly acquaintance upon which he falsely asserted that he had the
+pleasure of standing with 'Warfield's pretty little favorite,' as he
+insolently called me. When my husband heard of this I learned for the
+first time the terrific violence of his temper. It was awful! it
+frightened me almost to death. There was a duel, of course. Le Noir was
+very dangerously wounded, scarred across the face for life, and was
+confined many weeks to his bed. Major Warfield was also slightly hurt
+and laid up at the fort for a few days, during which I was not permitted
+to see him."
+
+"Is it possible that even then he did not see your danger and
+acknowledge your marriage and call you to his bedside?" inquired
+Herbert, impatiently.
+
+"No, no! if he had all after suffering had been spared. No! at the end
+of four days he came back to me; but we met only for bitter reproaches
+on his part and sorrowful tears on mine. He charged me with coldness,
+upon account of the disparity in our years, and of the preference for
+Captain Le Noir, because he was a pretty fellow, I knew this was not
+true of me. I knew that I loved my husband's very footprints better than
+I did the whole human race besides; but I could not tell him so then.
+Oh, in those days, though my heart was so full, I had so little power of
+utterance! There he stood before me! he that had been so ruddy and
+buoyant, now so pale from loss of blood, and so miserable, that I could
+have fallen and groveled at his feet in sorrow and remorse at not being
+able to make him happy!"
+
+"There are some persons whom we can never make happy. It is not in them
+to be so," commented Herbert.
+
+"He made me promise never to see or to speak to Le Noir again--a promise
+eagerly given but nearly impossible to keep. My husband spent as much
+time with me as he possibly could spare from his military duties, and
+looked forward with impatience to the autumn, when it was thought that
+he would be at liberty to take me home. He often used to tell me that we
+should spend our Christmas at his house, Hurricane Hall, and that I
+should play Lady Bountiful and distribute Christmas gifts to the negroes
+and that they would love me. And, oh! with what joy I anticipated that
+time of honor and safety and careless ease, as an acknowledged wife, in
+the home of my husband! There, too, I fondly believed, our child would
+be born. All his old tenderness returned for me, and I was as happy, if
+not as wildly joyful, as at first."
+
+"'Twas but a lull in the storm," said Herbert.
+
+"Aye! 'twas but a lull in the storm, or, rather, before the storm! I do
+think that from the time of that duel Le Noir had resolved upon our
+ruin. As soon as he was able to go out he haunted the woods around my
+cabin and continually lay in wait for me. I could not go out even in the
+company of my maid Lura to pick blackberries or wild plums or gather
+forest roses, or to get fresh water at the spring, without being
+intercepted by Le Noir and his offensive admiration. He seemed to be
+ubiquitous! He met me everywhere--except in the presence of Major
+Warfield. I did not tell my husband, because I feared that if I did he
+would have killed Le Noir and died for the deed."
+
+"Humph! it would have been 'good riddance of bad rubbish' in both
+cases," muttered Herbert, under his teeth.
+
+"But instead of telling him I confined myself strictly to my cabin. One
+fatal day my husband, on leaving me in the morning, said that I need not
+wait up for him at night, for that it would be very late when he came,
+even if he came at all. He kissed me very fondly when he went away.
+Alas! alas! it was the last--last time! At night I went to bed
+disappointed, yet still so expectant that I could not sleep. I know not
+how long I had waited thus, or how late it was when I heard a tap at the
+outer door, and heard the bolt undrawn and a footstep enter and a low
+voice asking:
+
+"Is she asleep?" and Lura's reply in the affirmative. Never doubting it
+was my husband, I lay there in pleased expectation of his entrance. He
+came in and began to take off his coat in the dark. I spoke, telling him
+that there were matches on the bureau. He did not reply, at which I was
+surprised; but before I could repeat my words the outer door was burst
+violently open, hurried footsteps crossed the entry, a light flashed
+into my room, my husband stood in the door in full military uniform,
+with a light in his hand and the aspect of an avenging demon on his
+brow, and----
+
+"Horror upon horrors! the half-undressed man in my chamber was Captain
+Le Noir! I saw and swooned away!"
+
+"But you were saved! you were saved!" gasped Herbert, white with
+emotion.
+
+"Oh, I was saved, but not from sorrow--not from shame! I awoke from that
+deadly swoon to find myself alone, deserted, cast away! Oh, torn out
+from the warmth and light and safety of my husband's heart, and hurled
+forth shivering, faint and helpless upon the bleak world! and all this
+in twenty-four hours. Ah, I did not lack the power of expression then!
+happiness had never given it to me! anguish conferred it upon me; that
+one fell stroke of fate cleft the rock of silence in my soul, and the
+fountain of utterance gushed freely forth! I wrote to him, but my
+letters might as well have been dropped into a well. I went to him, but
+was spurned away. I prayed him with tears to have pity on our unborn
+babe; but he laughed aloud in scorn and called it by an opprobrious
+name! Letters, prayers, tears, were all in vain. He never had
+acknowledged our marriage; he now declared that he never would do so; he
+discarded me, disowned my child and forbade us ever to take his name!"
+
+"Oh, Marah! and you but seventeen years of age! without a father or a
+brother or a friend in the world to employ an advocate!" exclaimed
+Herbert, covering his face with his hands and sinking back.
+
+"Nor would I have used any of these agencies had I possessed them! If my
+wifehood and motherhood, my affections and my helplessness were not
+advocates strong enough to win my cause, I could not have borne to
+employ others!"
+
+"Oh, Marah, with none to pity or to help; it was monstrous to have
+abandoned you so!"
+
+"No; hush! consider the overwhelming evidence against me; I considered
+it even in the tempest and whirlwind of my anguish, and never once
+blamed and never once was angry with my husband; for I knew--not life,
+but the terrible circumstantial evidence had ruined me!"
+
+"Ay, but did you not explain it to him?"
+
+"How could I, alas! when I did not understand it myself? How Le Noir
+knew that Major Warfield was not expected home that fatal night--how he
+got into my house, whether by conspiring with my little maid or by
+deceiving her--or, lastly, how Major Warfield came to burst in upon him
+so suddenly, I did not know, and do not to this day."
+
+"But you told Major Warfield all that you have told me?"
+
+"Oh, yes! again and again, calling heaven to witness my truth! In vain!
+he had seen with his own eyes, he said. Against all I could say or do
+there was built up a wall of scornful incredulity, on which I might have
+dashed my brains out to no purpose."
+
+"Oh, Marah, Marah! with none to pity or to save!" again exclaimed
+Herbert.
+
+"Yes," said the meek creature, bowing her head; "God pitied and helped
+me! First he sent me a son that grew strong and handsome in body, good
+and wise in soul. Then He kept alive in my heart faith and hope and
+charity. He enabled me, through long years of unremitting and
+ill-requited toil, to live on, loving against anger, waiting against
+time, and hoping against despair!"
+
+"Why did you leave your western home and come to Staunton, Marah?" asked
+Herbert.
+
+"To be where I could sometimes hear of my husband without intruding on
+him. I took your widowed mother in, because she was his sister, though I
+never told her who I was, lest she should wrong and scorn me, as he had
+done. When she died I cherished you, Herbert, first because you were his
+nephew, but now, dear boy, for your own sake also."
+
+"And I, while I live, will be a son to you, madam! I will be your
+constant friend at Hurricane Hall. He talks of making me his heir.
+Should he persist in such blind injustice, the day I come into the
+property I shall turn it all over to his widow and son. But I do not
+believe that he will persist; I, for my part, still hope for the best."
+
+"I also hope for the best, for whatever God wills is sure to happen, and
+His will is surely the best! Yes, Herbert, I also hope--beyond the
+grave!" said Marah Rocke, with a wan smile.
+
+The little clock that stood between the tall, plated candlesticks on the
+mantelpiece struck twelve, and Marah rose from her seat, saying:
+
+"Traverse, poor fellow, will be home to his dinner. Not a word to him,
+Herbert, please! I do not wish the poor lad to know how much he has
+lost, and above all, I do not wish him to be prejudiced against his
+father."
+
+"You are right, Marah," said Herbert, "for if he were told, the natural
+indignation that your wrongs would arouse in his heart would totally
+unfit him to meet his father in a proper spirit in that event for which
+I still hope--a future and a perfect family union!"
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Herbert Greyson remained a week with his friends, during which time he
+paid the quarter's rent, and relieved his adopted mother of that cause
+of anxiety. Then he took leave and departed for Hurricane Hall, on his
+way to Washington City, where he was immediately going to pass his
+examination and await his appointment.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+THE WASTING HEART.
+
+    Then she took up the burden of life again
+    Saying only, "It might have been."
+    Alas for them both, alas for us all,
+    Who vainly the dreams of youth recall;
+    For of all sad words of lips, or pen,
+    The saddest are these--"It might have been."
+                                       --Whittier.
+
+
+By the tacit consent of all parties, the meteor hope that had crossed
+and vanished from Marah Rocke's path of life was never mentioned again.
+Mother and son went about their separate tasks. Traverse worked at jobs
+all day, studied at night and went twice a week to recite his lessons to
+his patron, Doctor Day, at Willow Hill. Marah sewed as usual all day,
+and prepared her boy's meals at the proper times. But day by day her
+cheeks grew paler, her form thinner, her step fainter. Her son saw this
+decline with great alarm. Sometimes he found her in a deep, troubled
+reverie, from which she would awaken with heavy sighs. Sometimes he
+surprised her in tears. At such times he did not trouble her with
+questions that he instinctively felt she could not or would not answer;
+but he came gently to her side, put his arms about her neck, stooped and
+laid her face against his breast and whispered assurances of "his true
+love" and his boyish hopes of "getting on," of "making a fortune" and
+bringing "brighter days" for her.
+
+And she would return his caresses, and with a faint smile reply that he
+"must not mind" her, that she was only "a little low-spirited," that she
+would "get over it soon."
+
+But as day followed day, she grew visibly thinner and weaker; dark
+shadows settled under her hollow eyes and in her sunken cheeks. One
+evening, while standing at the table washing up their little tea
+service, she suddenly dropped into her chair and fainted. Nothing could
+exceed the alarm and distress of poor Traverse. He hastened to fix her
+in an easy position, bathed her face in vinegar and water, the only
+restoratives in their meager stock, and called upon her by every loving
+epithet to live and speak to him. The fit yielded to his efforts, and
+presently, with a few fluttering inspirations, her breath returned and
+her eyes opened. Her very first words were attempts to reassure her
+dismayed boy. But Traverse could no more be flattered. He entreated his
+mother to go at once to bed. And though the next morning, when she
+arose, she looked not worse than usual, Traverse left home with a heart
+full of trouble. But instead of turning down the street to go to his
+work in the town he turned up the street toward the wooded hills beyond,
+now glowing in their gorgeous autumn foliage and burning in the
+brilliant morning sun.
+
+A half-hour's walk brought him to a high and thickly wooded hill, up
+which a private road led through a thicket of trees to a handsome
+graystone country seat, situated in the midst of beautifully ornamented
+grounds and known as Willow Heights, the residence of Dr. William Day, a
+retired physician of great repute, and a man of earnest piety. He was a
+widower with one fair daughter, Clara, a girl of fourteen, then absent
+at boarding-school. Traverse had never seen this girl, but his one great
+admiration was the beautiful Willow Heights and its worthy proprietor.
+He opened the highly ornate iron gate and entered up an avenue of
+willows that led up to the house, a two-storied edifice of graystone,
+with full-length front piazzas above and below.
+
+Arrived at the door he rang the bell, which was answered promptly by a
+good-humored-looking negro boy, who at once showed Traverse to the
+library up-stairs, where the good doctor sat at his books. Dr. Day was
+at this time about fifty years of age, tall and stoutly built, with a
+fine head and face, shaded by soft, bright flaxen hair and beard:
+thoughtful and kindly dark-blue eyes, and an earnest, penetrating smile
+that reached like sunshine the heart of any one upon whom it shone. He
+wore a cheerful-looking flowered chintz dressing-gown corded around his
+waist; his feet were thrust into embroidered slippers, and he sat in his
+elbow-chair at his reading-table poring over a huge folio volume. The
+whole aspect of the man and of his surroundings was kindly cheerfulness.
+The room opened upon the upper front piazza, and the windows were all up
+to admit the bright, morning sun and genial air, at the same time that
+there was a glowing fire in the grate to temper its chilliness.
+Traverse's soft step across the carpeted floor was not heard by the
+doctor, who was only made aware of his presence by his stepping between
+the sunshine and his table. Then the doctor arose, and with his intense
+smile extended his hand and greeted the boy with:
+
+"Well, Traverse, lad, you are always welcome! I did not expect you until
+night, as usual, but as you are here, so much the better. Got your
+exercises all ready, eh? Heaven bless you, lad, what is the matter?"
+inquired the good man, suddenly, on first observing the boy's deeply
+troubled looks.
+
+"My mother sir! my mother!" was all that Traverse could at first utter.
+
+"Your mother! My dear lad, what about her? Is she ill?" inquired the
+doctor, with interest.
+
+"Oh, sir, I am afraid she is going to die?" exclaimed the boy in a
+choking voice, struggling hard to keep from betraying his manhood by
+bursting into tears.
+
+"Going to die! Oh, pooh, pooh, pooh! she is not going to die, lad. Tell
+me all about it," said the doctor in an encouraging tone.
+
+"She has had so much grief and care and anxiety, sir--doctor, is there
+any such malady as a broken heart?"
+
+"Broken heart? Pooh, pooh! no, my child, no! never heard of such a thing
+in thirty years' medical experience! Even that story of a porter who
+broke his heart trying to lift a ton of stone is all a fiction. No such
+a disease as a broken heart. But tell me about your mother."
+
+"It is of her that I am talking. She has had so much trouble in her
+life, and now I think she is sinking under it; she has been failing for
+weeks, and last night while washing the teacups she fainted away from
+the table!"
+
+"Heaven help us! that looks badly," said the doctor.
+
+"Oh, does it?--does it, sir? She said it was 'nothing much.' Oh, doctor,
+don't say she will die--don't! If she were to die, if mother were to
+die, I'd give right up! I never should do a bit of good in the world,
+for she is all the motive I have in this life! To study hard, to work
+hard and make her comfortable and happy, so as to make up to her for all
+she has suffered, is my greatest wish and endeavor! Oh, don't say mother
+will die! it would ruin me!" cried Traverse.
+
+"My dear boy, I don't say anything of the sort! I say, judging from your
+account, that her health must be attended to immediately. And--true I
+have retired from practice, but I will go and see your mother,
+Traverse."
+
+"Oh, sir, if you only would! I came to ask you to do that very thing. I
+should not have presumed to ask such a favor for any cause but this of
+my dear mother's life and health, and--you will go to see her?"
+
+"Willingly and without delay, Traverse," said the good man, rising
+immediately and hurrying into an adjoining chamber.
+
+"Order the gig while I dress, Traverse, and I will take you back with
+me," he added, as he closed the chamber door behind him.
+
+By the time Traverse had gone down, given the necessary orders and
+returned to the library the doctor emerged from his chamber, buttoned up
+his gray frock-coat and booted, gloved and capped for the ride.
+
+They went down together, entered the gig and drove rapidly down the
+willow avenue, slowly through the iron gate and through the dark thicket
+and down the wooded hill to the high road, and then as fast as the
+sorrel mare could trot toward town. In fifteen minutes the doctor pulled
+up his gig at the right-hand side of the road before the cottage gate.
+
+They entered the cottage, Traverse going first in order to announce the
+doctor. They found Mrs. Rocke, as usual, seated in her low chair by the
+little fire, bending over her needlework. She looked up with surprise as
+they came in.
+
+"Mother, this is Doctor Day, come to see you," said Traverse.
+
+She arose from her chair and raised those soft and timid dark gray eyes
+to the stranger's face, where they met that sweet, intense smile that
+seemed to encourage while it shone upon her.
+
+"We have never met before, Mrs. Rocke, but we both feel too much
+interest in this good lad here to meet as strangers now," said the
+doctor, extending his hand.
+
+"Traverse gives me every day fresh cause to be grateful to you, sir, for
+kindness that we can never, never repay," said Marah Rocke, pressing
+that bountiful hand and then placing a chair, which the doctor took.
+
+Traverse seated himself at a little distance, and as the doctor
+conversed with and covertly examined his mother's face he watched the
+doctor's countenance as if life and death hung upon the character of its
+expression. But while they talked not one word was said upon the subject
+of sickness or medicine. They talked of Traverse. The doctor assured his
+mother that her boy was of such fine talent, character and promise, and
+that he had already made such rapid progress in his classical and
+mathematical studies, that he ought immediately to enter upon a course
+of reading for one of the learned professions.
+
+The mother turned a smile full of love, pride and sorrow upon the fine,
+intellectual face of her boy, and said:
+
+"You are like the angel in Cole's picture of life! You point the youth
+to the far-up temple of fame----"
+
+"And leave him to get there as he can? Not at all, madam! Let us see:
+Traverse, you are now going on eighteen years of age; if you had your
+choice which of the learned professions would you prefer for
+yourself--law, physic or divinity?"
+
+The boy looked up and smiled, then dropped his head and seemed to
+reflect.
+
+"Perhaps you have never thought upon the subject. Well, you must take
+time, so as to be firm in your decision when you have once decided,"
+said the doctor.
+
+"Oh, sir, I have thought of it long, and my choice has been long and
+firmly decided, were I only free to follow it."
+
+"Speak, lad; what is your choice?"
+
+"Why, don't you know, sir? Can't you guess? Why, your own profession, of
+course, sir! certainly, sir, I could not think of any other!" exclaimed
+the boy, with sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks.
+
+"That's my own lad!" exclaimed the doctor, enthusiastically, seizing the
+boy's hand with one of his and clapping the other down upon his
+palm--for if the doctor had an admiration in the world it was for his
+own profession. "That's my own lad! My profession! the healing art! Why,
+it is the only profession worthy the study of an immortal being! Law
+sets people by the ears together. Divinity should never be considered as
+a profession--it is a divine mission! Physic--physic, my boy! the
+healing art! that's the profession for you! And I am very glad to hear
+you declare for it, too, for now the way is perfectly clear!"
+
+Both mother and son looked up in surprise.
+
+"Yes, the way is perfectly clear! Nothing is easier! Traverse shall come
+and read medicine in my office! I shall be glad to have the lad there.
+It will amuse me to give him instruction occasionally. I have a positive
+mania for teaching!"
+
+"And for doing good! Oh, sir, how have we deserved this kindness at your
+hands, and how shall we ever, ever repay it?" cried Mrs. Rocke, in a
+broken voice, while the tears filled her gentle eyes.
+
+"Oh, pooh, pooh! a mere nothing, ma'am! a mere nothing for me to do,
+whatever it may prove to him. It is very hard, indeed, if I am to be
+crushed under a cart-load of thanks for doing something for a boy I
+like, when it does not cost me a cent of money or a breath of effort!"
+
+"Oh, sir, your generous refusal of our thanks does but deepen our
+obligation!" said Marah, still weeping.
+
+"Now, my dear madam, will you persist in making me confess that it is
+all selfishness on my part? I like the boy, I tell you! I shall like his
+bright, cheerful face in my office! I can make him very useful to me;
+also----"
+
+"Oh, sir, if you can and will only make him useful to you----"
+
+"Why, to be sure I can and will! He can act as my clerk, keep my
+accounts, write my letters, drive out with me and sit in the rig while I
+go in to visit my patients, for though I have pretty much retired from
+practice, still----"
+
+"Still you visit and prescribe for the sick poor, gratis!" added Marah,
+feelingly.
+
+"Pooh, pooh! habit, madam--habit! 'ruling passion strong as death,' etc.
+I can't for the life of me keep from giving people bread pills. And now,
+by the way, I must be off to see some of my patients in Staunton.
+Traverse, my lad--my young medical assistant, I mean--are you willing to
+go with me?"
+
+"Oh, sir," said the boy, and here his voice broke down with emotion.
+
+"Come along, then," laughed the doctor; "You shall drive with me into
+the village as a commencement."
+
+Traverse got his hat, while the doctor held out his hand to Mrs. Rocke,
+who, with her eyes full of tears and her voice faltering with emotion,
+began again to thank him, when he good-humoredly interrupted her by
+saying:
+
+"Now my good little woman, do pray, hush. I'm a selfish fellow, as
+you'll see. I do nothing but what pleases my own self and makes me
+happy. Good-by; God bless you, madam," he said, cordially shaking her
+hand. "Come, Traverse," he added, hurriedly striding out of the door and
+through the yard to the gate, before which the old green gig and sorrel
+mare were still waiting.
+
+"Traverse, I brought you out again to-day more especially to speak of
+your mother and her state of health," said Doctor Day, very seriously,
+as they both took their seats in the gig and drove on toward the town.
+"Traverse, your mother is in no immediate danger of death; in fact, she
+has no disease whatever."
+
+"Oh, sir, you do not think her ill, then! I thought you did not, from
+the fact that you never felt her pulse or gave her a prescription,"
+exclaimed Traverse, delightedly, for in one thing the lad resembled his
+mother--he was sensitive and excitable--easily depressed and easily
+exhilarated.
+
+"Traverse, I said your mother is in no immediate danger of death, for
+that, in fact, she has no disease; but yet, Traverse, brace yourself up,
+for I am about to strike you a heavy blow. Traverse, Marah Rocke is
+starving!"
+
+"Starving! Heaven of heavens! no! that is not so! it cannot be! My
+mother starving! oh, horrible! horrible! But, doctor, it cannot--cannot
+be! Why, we have two meals a day at our house!" cried the boy, almost
+beside himself with agitation.
+
+"Lad, there are other starvations besides the total lack of food. There
+are slow starvations and divers ones. Marah Rocke is starving slowly and
+in every way--mind, soul and body. Her body is slowly wasting from the
+want of proper nutriment, her heart from the want of human sympathy, her
+mind from the need of social intercourse. Her whole manner of life must
+be changed if she is to live at all."
+
+"Oh, sir, I understand you now. I feel, I feel that you speak the very
+truth. Something must be done. I must do something. What shall it be?
+Oh, advise me, sir."
+
+"I must reflect a little, Traverse," said the doctor, thoughtfully, as
+he drove along with very slack reins.
+
+"And, oh, how thoughtless of me! I forgot--indeed, I did, sir--when I so
+gladly accepted your offer for me to read with you. I forgot that if I
+spent every day reading in your office, my mother would sadly miss the
+dollar and a half a week I make by doing odd jobs in town."
+
+"But I did not forget it, boy; rest easy upon that score; and now let me
+reflect how we can best serve your good little mother," said the doctor;
+and he drove slowly and thoughtfully along for about twenty minutes
+before he spoke again, when he said:
+
+"Traverse, Monday is the first of the month. You shall set in with me
+then. Come to me, therefore, on Monday, and I think by that time I shall
+have thought upon some plan for your mother. In the mean time, you make
+as much money at jobs as you can, and also you must accept from me for
+her a bottle or so of port wine and a turkey or two. Tell her, if she
+demurs, that it is the doctor's prescription, and that, for fear of
+accident, he always prefers to send his own physic."
+
+"Oh, Doctor Day, if I could only thank you aright!" cried Traverse.
+
+"Pooh, pooh! nonsense! there is no time for it. Here we are at Spicer's
+grocery store, where I suppose you are again employed. Yes? Well, jump
+out, then. You can still make half a day. Mind, remember on Monday next,
+December 1st, you enter my office as my medical student, and by that
+time I shall have some plan arranged for your mother. Good-by; God bless
+you, lad," said the good doctor, as he drove off and left Traverse
+standing in the genial autumn sunshine, with his heart swelling and his
+eyes overflowing with excess of gratitude and happiness.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+CAP'S COUNTRY CAPERS.
+
+    "A willful elf--an uncle's child,
+    That half a pet and half a pest,
+    Was still reproved, endured, caressed,
+    Yet never tamed, though never spoiled."
+
+
+Capitola at first was delighted and half incredulous at the great change
+in her fortunes. The spacious and comfortable mansion of which she found
+herself the little mistress; the high rank of the veteran officer who
+claimed her as his ward and niece; the abundance, regularity and
+respectability of her new life; the leisure, the privacy, the attendance
+of servants, were all so different from anything to which she had
+previously been accustomed that there were times when she doubted its
+reality and distrusted her own identity.
+
+Sometimes of a morning, after a very vivid dream of the alleys, cellars
+and gutters, ragpickers, newsboys, and beggars of New York, she would
+open her eyes upon her own comfortable chamber, with its glowing fire
+and crimson curtains, and bright mirror crowning the walnut bureau
+between them, she would jump up and gaze wildly around, not remembering
+where she was or how she came thither.
+
+Sometimes, suddenly startled by an intense realization of the contrast
+between her past and her present life, she would mentally inquire:
+
+"Can this be really I, myself, and not another? I, the little houseless
+wanderer through the streets and alleys of New York? I, the little
+newsgirl in boy's clothes? I, the wretched little vagrant that was
+brought up before the recorder and was about to be sent to the House of
+Refuge for juvenile delinquents? Can this be I, Capitola, the little
+outcast of the city, now changed into Miss Black, the young lady,
+perhaps the heiress of a fine old country seat; calling a fine old
+military officer uncle; having a handsome income of pocket money settled
+upon me; having carriages and horses and servants to attend me? No; it
+can't be! It's just impossible! No; I see how it is. I'm crazy! that's
+what I am, crazy! For, now I think of it, the last thing I remember of
+my former life was being brought before the recorder for wearing boy's
+clothes. Now, I'm sure that it was upon that occasion that I went
+suddenly mad with trouble, and all the rest is a lunatic's fancy! This
+fine old country seat of which I vainly think myself the mistress, is
+just the pauper madhouse to which the magistrates have sent me. This
+fine old military officer whom I call uncle is the head doctor. The
+servants who come at my call are the keepers.
+
+"There is no figure out of my past life in my present one except Herbert
+Greyson. But, pshaw! he is not 'the nephew of his uncle;' he is only my
+old comrade, Herbert Greyson, the sailor lad, who comes here to the
+madhouse to see me, and, out of compassion, humors all my fancies.
+
+"I wonder how long they'll keep me here? Forever, I hope. Until I get
+cured, I'm sure. I hope they won't cure me; I vow I won't be cured. It's
+a great deal too pleasant to be mad, and I'll stay so. I'll keep on
+calling myself Miss Black, and this madhouse my country seat, and the
+head doctor my uncle, and the keepers servants, until the end of time,
+so I will. Catch me coming to my senses, when it's so delightful to be
+mad. I'm too sharp for that. I didn't grow up in Rag Alley, New York,
+for nothing."
+
+So, half in jest and half in earnest, Capitola soliloquized upon her
+change of fortune.
+
+Her education was commenced, but progressed rather irregularly. Old
+Hurricane bought her books and maps, slates and copy-books, set her
+lessons in grammar, geography and history, and made her write copies, do
+sums and read and recite lessons to him. Mrs. Condiment taught her the
+mysteries of cutting and basting, back-stitching and felling, hemming
+and seaming. A pupil as sharp as Capitola soon mastered her tasks, and
+found herself each day with many hours of leisure with which she did not
+know what to do.
+
+These hours were at first occupied with exploring the old house, with
+all its attics, cuddies, cock-lofts and cellars; then in wandering
+through the old ornamental grounds, that were, even in winter and in
+total neglect, beautiful with their wild growth of evergreens; thence
+she extended her researches into the wild and picturesque country
+around.
+
+She was never weary of admiring the great forest that climbed the
+heights of the mountains behind their house; the great bleak precipices
+of gray rock seen through the leafless branches of the trees; the rugged
+falling ground that lay before the house and between it and the river;
+and the river itself, with its rushing stream and raging rapids.
+
+Capitola had become a skilful as she had first been a fearless rider.
+But her rides were confined to the domain between the mountain range and
+the river; she was forbidden to ford the one or climb the other. Perhaps
+if such a prohibition had never been made Capitola would never have
+thought of doing the one or the other; but we all know the diabolical
+fascination there is in forbidden pleasures for young human nature. And
+no sooner had Cap been commanded, if she valued her safety, not to cross
+the water or climb the precipice than, as a natural consequence, she
+began to wonder what was in the valley behind the mountain and what
+might be in the woods across the river. And she longed, above all
+things, to explore and find out for herself. She would eagerly have done
+so, notwithstanding the prohibition; but Wool, who always attended her
+rides, was sadly in the way. If she could only get rid of Wool, she
+resolved to go upon a limited exploring expedition.
+
+One day a golden opportunity occurred. It was a day of unusual beauty,
+when autumn seemed to be smiling upon the earth with her brightest
+smiles before passing away. In a word, it was Indian summer. The beauty
+of the weather had tempted Old Hurricane to ride to the county seat on
+particular business connected with his ward herself.
+
+Capitola, left alone, amused herself with her tasks until the afternoon;
+then, calling a boy, she ordered him to saddle her horse and bring him
+around.
+
+"My dear, what do you want with your horse? There is no one to attend
+you; Wool has gone with his master," said Mrs. Condiment, as she met
+Capitola in the hall, habited for her ride.
+
+"I know that; but I cannot be mewed up here in the old house and
+deprived of my afternoon ride," exclaimed Capitola decidedly.
+
+"But, my dear, you must never think of riding out alone," exclaimed the
+dismayed Mrs. Condiment.
+
+"Indeed I shall, though--and glad of the opportunity," added Cap,
+mentally.
+
+"But, my dear love, it is improper, imprudent, dangerous."
+
+"Why so?" asked Cap.
+
+"Good gracious, upon every account! Suppose you were to meet with
+ruffians; suppose--oh, heaven!--suppose you were to meet with--Black
+Donald!"
+
+"Mrs. Condiment, once for all do tell me who this terrible Black Donald
+is? Is he the Evil One himself, or the Man in the Iron Mask, or the
+individual that struck Billy Patterson, or--who is he?"
+
+"Who is Black Donald? Good gracious, child, you ask me who is Black
+Donald!"
+
+"Yes; who is he? where is he? what is he? that every cheek turns pale at
+the mention of his name?" asked Capitola.
+
+"Black Donald! Oh, my child, may you never know more of Black Donald
+than I can tell you. Black Donald is the chief of a band of ruthless
+desperadoes that infest these mountain roads, robbing mail coaches,
+stealing negroes, breaking into houses and committing every sort of
+depredation. Their hands are red with murder and their souls black with
+darker crimes."
+
+"Darker crimes than murder!" ejaculated Capitola.
+
+"Yes, child, yes; there are darker crimes. Only last winter he and three
+of his gang broke into a solitary house where there was a lone woman and
+her daughter, and--it is not a story for you to hear; but if the people
+had caught Black Donald then they would have burned him at the stake!
+His life is forfeit by a hundred crimes. He is an outlaw, and a heavy
+price is set upon his head."
+
+"And can no one take him?"
+
+"No, my dear; at least, no one has been able to do so yet. His very
+haunts are unknown, but are supposed to be in concealed mountain
+caverns."
+
+"How I would like the glory of capturing Black Donald!" said Capitola.
+
+"You, child! You capture Black Donald! You are crazy!"
+
+"Oh, by stratagem, I mean, not by force. Oh, how I should like to
+capture Black Donald!--There's my horse; good-by!" and before Mrs.
+Condiment could raise another objection Capitola ran out, sprang into
+her saddle and was seen careering down the hill toward the river as fast
+as her horse could fly.
+
+"My Lord, but the major will be hopping if he finds it out!" was good
+Mrs. Condiment's dismayed exclamation.
+
+Rejoicing in her freedom, Cap galloped down to the water's edge, and
+then walked her horse up and down along the course of the stream until
+she found a good fording place. Then, gathering up her riding skirt and
+throwing it over the neck of her horse she plunged boldly into the
+stream, and, with the water splashing and foaming all around her, urged
+him onward till they crossed the river and climbed up the opposite bank.
+A bridle-path lay before her, leading from the fording place through a
+deep wood. That path attracted her; she followed it, charmed alike by
+the solitude of the wood, the novelty of the scene and her own sense of
+freedom. But one thought was given to the story of Black Donald, and
+that was a reassuring one:
+
+"If Black Donald is a mail robber, then this little bridle-path is far
+enough off his beat."
+
+And, so saying, she gayly galloped along, singing as she went, following
+the narrow path up hill and down dale through the wintry woods. Drawn on
+by the attraction of the unknown, and deceiving herself by the continued
+repetition of one resolve, namely--"When I get to the top of the next
+hill, and see what lies beyond, then I will turn back"--she galloped on
+and on, on and on, on and on, until she had put several miles between
+herself and her home; until her horse began to exhibit signs of
+weariness, and the level rays of the setting sun were striking redly
+through the leafless branches of the trees.
+
+Cap drew rein at the top of a high, wooded hill and looked about her. On
+her left hand the sun was sinking like a ball of fire below the horizon;
+all around her everywhere were the wintry woods; far away, in the
+direction whence she had come, she saw the tops of the mountains behind
+Hurricane Hall, looking like blue clouds against the southern horizon;
+the Hall itself and the river below were out of sight.
+
+"I wonder how far I am from home?" said Capitola, uneasily; "somewhere
+between six and seven miles, I reckon. Dear me, I didn't mean to ride so
+far. I've got over a great deal of ground in these two hours. I shall
+not get back so soon; my horse is tired to death; it will take me three
+hours to reach Hurricane Hall. Good gracious! it will be pitch dark
+before I get there. No, thank heaven, there will be a moon. But won't
+there be a row though? Whew! Well, I must turn about and lose no time.
+Come, Gyp, get up, Gyp, good horse; we're going home."
+
+And so saying, Capitola turned her horse's head and urged him into a
+gallop.
+
+She had gone on for about a mile, and it was growing dark, and her horse
+was again slackening his pace, when she thought she heard the sound of
+another horse's hoofs behind her. She drew rein and listened, and was
+sure of it.
+
+Now, without being the least of a coward, Capitola thought of the
+loneliness of the woods, the lateness of the hour, her own helplessness,
+and--Black Donald! And thinking "discretion the better part of valor,"
+she urged her horse once more into a gallop for a few hundred yards; but
+the jaded beast soon broke into a trot and subsided into a walk that
+threatened soon to come to a standstill.
+
+The invisible pursuer gained on her.
+
+In vain she urged her steed with whip and voice; the poor beast would
+obey and trot for a few yards, and then fall into a walk.
+
+The thundering footfalls of the pursuing horse were close in the rear.
+
+"Oh, Gyp, is it possible that, instead of my capturing Black Donald, you
+are going to let Black Donald or somebody else catch me?" exclaimed
+Capitola, in mock despair, as she urged her wearied steed.
+
+In vain! The pursuing horseman was beside her; a strong hand was laid
+upon her bridle; a mocking voice was ringing in her ear:
+
+"Whither away so fast, pretty one?"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+CAP'S FEARFUL ADVENTURE.
+
+    Who passes by this road so late?
+      Companion of the Majolaine!
+    Who passes by this road so late?
+      Say! oh, say?
+                                       --Old French Song.
+
+
+Of a naturally strong constitution and adventurous disposition, and
+inured from infancy to danger, Capitola possessed a high degree of
+courage, self-control and presence of mind.
+
+At the touch of that ruthless hand, at the sound of that gibing voice,
+all her faculties instantly collected and concentrated themselves upon
+the emergency. As by a flash of lightning she saw every feature of her
+imminent danger--the loneliness of the woods, the lateness of the hour,
+the recklessness of her fearful companion and her own weakness. In
+another instant her resolution was taken and her course determined. So,
+when the stranger repeated his mocking question:
+
+"Whither away so fast, pretty one?" she answered with animation:
+
+"Oh, I am going home, and so glad to have company; for, indeed, I was
+dreadfully afraid of riding alone through these woods to-night."
+
+"Afraid, pretty one--of what?"
+
+"Oh, of ghosts and witches, wild beasts, runaway negroes, and--Black
+Donald."
+
+"Then you are not afraid of me?"
+
+"Lors, no, indeed! I guess I ain't! Why should I be afraid of a
+respectable-looking gentleman like you, sir?"
+
+"And so you are going home? Where is your home, pretty one?"
+
+"On the other side of the river. But you need not keep on calling me
+'pretty one;' it must be as tiresome to you to repeat it as it is to me
+to hear it."
+
+"What shall I call you, then, my dear?"
+
+"You may call me Miss Black; or, if you are friendly, you may call me
+Capitola."
+
+"Capitola!" exclaimed the man, in a deep and changed voice, as he
+dropped her bridle.
+
+"Yes--Capitola; what objection have you got to that? It is a pretty
+name, isn't it? But if you think it is too long, and if you feel very
+friendly, you may call me Cap."
+
+"Well, then, my pretty Cap, where do you live across the river?" asked
+the stranger, recovering his self-possession.
+
+"Oh, at a rum old place they call Hurricane Hall, with a rum old
+military officer they call Old Hurricane," said Capitola, for the first
+time stealing a sidelong glance at her fearful companion.
+
+It was not Black Donald; that was the first conclusion to which she
+rashly jumped. He appeared to be a gentlemanly ruffian about forty years
+of age, well dressed in a black riding-suit; black beaver hat drawn down
+close over his eyes: black hair and whiskers; heavy black eyebrows that
+met across his nose; drooping eyelashes, and eyes that looked out under
+the corners of the lids; altogether a sly, sinister, cruel face--a cross
+between a fox and a tiger. It warned Capitola to expect no mercy there.
+After the girl's last words he seemed to have fallen into thought for a
+moment, and then again he spoke:
+
+"Well, my pretty Cap, how long have you been living at. Hurricane Hall?"
+
+"Ever since my guardian, Major Warfield, brought me from the City of New
+York, where I received my education (in the streets)," she mentally
+added.
+
+"Humph! Why did you ride so fast, my pretty Cap?" he asked, eying her
+from the corner of his eyes.
+
+"Oh, sir, because I was afraid, as I told you before; afraid of runaway
+negroes and wild beasts, and so on; but now, with a good gentleman like
+you, I don't feel afraid at all; and I'm very glad to be able to walk
+poor Gyp, because he is tired, poor fellow."
+
+"Yes, poor fellow," said the traveler, in a mocking tone, "he is tired;
+suppose you dismount and let him rest. Come, I'll get off, too, and we
+will sit down here by the roadside and have a friendly conversation."
+
+Capitola stole a glance at his face. Yes, notwithstanding his light
+tone, he was grimly in earnest; there was no mercy to be expected from
+that sly, sinister, cruel face.
+
+"Come, my pretty Cap, what say you?"
+
+"I don't care if I do," she said, riding to the edge of the path,
+drawing rein and looking down as if to examine the ground.
+
+"Come, little beauty, must I help you off?" asked the stranger.
+
+"N-n-no," answered Capitola, with deliberate hesitation; "no, this is
+not a good place to sit down and talk; it's all full of brambles."
+
+"Very well; shall we go on a little further?"
+
+"Oh, yes; but I don't want to ride fast, because it will tire my horse."
+
+"You shall go just as you please, my angel," said the traveler.
+
+"I wonder whether this wretch thinks me very simple or very depraved? He
+must come to one or the other conclusion," thought Capitola.
+
+They rode on very slowly for a mile further, and then, having arrived at
+an open glade, the stranger drew rein and said:
+
+"Come, pretty lark, hop down; here's a nice place to sit and rest."
+
+"Very well; come help me off," said Capitola, pulling up her horse;
+then, as by a sudden impulse, she exclaimed: "I don't like this place
+either; it's right on top of the hill; so windy, and just see how rocky
+the ground is. No, I'll not sit and rest here, and that I tell you."
+
+"I am afraid you are trifling with me, my pretty bird. Take care; I'll
+not be trifled with," said the man.
+
+"I don't know what you mean by trifling with you any more than the dead.
+But I'll not sit down there on those sharp rocks, and so I tell you. If
+you will be civil and ride along with me until we get to the foot of the
+hill, I know a nice place where we can sit down and have a good talk,
+and I will tell you all my travels and you shall tell me all yours."
+
+"Ex-actly; and where is that nice place?"
+
+"Why, in the valley at the foot of the hill."
+
+"Come--come on, then."
+
+"Slowly, slowly," said Capitola; "I won't tire my horse."
+
+They rode over the hill, down the gradual descent and on toward the
+center of the valley.
+
+They were now within a quarter of a mile of the river, on the opposite
+side of which was Hurricane Hall and--safety! The stranger drew rein,
+saying:
+
+"Come, my cuckoo; here we are at the bottom of the valley; now or
+never."
+
+"Oh, now, of course; you see, I keep my promise," answered Capitola,
+pulling up her horse.
+
+The man sprang from his saddle and came to her side.
+
+"Please be careful, now; don't let my riding-skirt get hung in the
+stirrup," said Capitola, cautiously disengaging her drapery, rising in
+the saddle and giving the stranger her hand. In the act of jumping she
+suddenly stopped and looked down, exclaiming:
+
+"Good gracious! how very damp the ground is here, in the bottom of the
+valley!"
+
+"More objections, I suppose, my pretty one; but they won't serve you any
+longer. I am bent upon having a cozy chat with you upon that very turf,"
+said the stranger, pointing to a little cleared space among the trees
+beside the path.
+
+"Now, don't be cross; just see how damp it is there; it would spoil my
+riding-dress and give me my death of cold."
+
+"Humph!" said the stranger, looking at her with a sly, grim, cruel
+resolve.
+
+"I'll tell you what it is," said Cap, "I'm not witty nor amusing, nor
+will it pay to sit out in the night air to hear me talk; but, since you
+wish it, and since you were so good as to guard me through these woods,
+and since I promised, why, damp as it is, I will even get off and talk
+with you."
+
+"That's my birdling!"
+
+"But hold on a minute; is there nothing you can get to put there for me
+to sit on--no stump nor dry stone?"
+
+"No, my dear; I don't see any."
+
+"Could you not turn your hat down and let me sit on that?"
+
+"Ha, ha, ha! Why, your weight would crush it as flat as a flounder!"
+
+"Oh, I know now!" exclaimed Capitola, with sudden delight; "you just
+spread your saddle-cloth down there, and that will make a beautiful
+seat, and I'll sit and talk with you so nicely--only you must not want
+me to stay long, because if I don't get home soon I shall catch a
+scolding."
+
+"You shall neither catch a scolding nor a cold on my account, pretty
+one," said the man, going to his horse to get the saddle-cloth.
+
+"Oh, don't take off the saddle--it will detain you too long," said Cap,
+impatiently.
+
+"My pretty Cap, I cannot get the cloth without taking it off," said the
+man, beginning to unbuckle the girth.
+
+"Oh, yes, you can; you can draw it from under," persisted Cap.
+
+"Impossible, my angel," said the man, lifting off the saddle from his
+horse and laying it carefully by the roadside.
+
+Then he took off the gay, crimson saddle-cloth and carried it into the
+little clearing and began carefully to spread it down.
+
+Now was Cap's time. Her horse had recovered from his fatigue. The
+stranger's horse was in the path before her. While the man's back was
+turned she raised her riding whip and, with a shout, gave the front
+horse a sharp lash that sent him galloping furiously ahead. Then,
+instantaneously putting whip to her own horse, she started into a run.
+
+Hearing the shout, the lash and the starting of the horses, the baffled
+villain turned and saw that his game was lost; he had been outwitted by
+a child! He gnashed his teeth and shook his fist in rage.
+
+Turning as she wheeled out of sight, Capitola--I am sorry to say--put
+her thumb to the side of her nose and whirled her fingers into a
+semicircle, in a gesture more expressive than elegant.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+ANOTHER STORM AT HURRICANE HALL.
+
+    At this, Sir Knight grew high in wroth,
+    And lifting hands and eyes up both,
+    Three times he smote on stomach stout,
+    From whence, at length, fierce words broke out
+                                       --Hudibras.
+
+
+The moon was shining full upon the river and the homestead beyond when
+Capitola dashed into the water and, amid the sparkling and leaping of
+the foam, made her way to the other bank and rode up the rugged ascent.
+On the outer side of the lawn wall the moonbeams fell full upon the
+little figure of Pitapat waiting there.
+
+"Why, Patty, what takes you out so late as this?" asked Capitola, as she
+rode up to the gate.
+
+"Oh, Miss Catterpillar, I'se waitin' for you. Old marse is dreadful he
+is! Jest fit to bust the shingles offen the roof with swearing! So I
+come out to warn you, so you steal in the back way and go to your room
+so he won't see you, and I'll go and send Wool to put your horse away,
+and then I'll bring you up some supper and tell old marse how you've
+been home ever so long, and gone to bed with a werry bad head-ache."
+
+"Thank you, Patty. It is perfectly astonishing how easy lying is to you!
+You really deserve to have been born in Rag Alley; but I won't trouble
+the recording angel to make another entry against you on my account."
+
+"Yes, miss," said Pitapat, who thought that her mistress was
+complimenting her.
+
+"And now, Patty, stand out of my way. I am going to ride straight up to
+the horse-block, dismount and walk right into the presence of Major
+Warfield," said Capitola, passing through the gate.
+
+"Oh, Miss Catterpillar, don't! don't! he'll kill you, so he will!"
+
+"Who's afeard?" muttered Cap to herself, as she put her horse to his
+mettle and rode gayly through the evergreens up to the horse-block,
+where she sprang down lightly from her saddle.
+
+Gathering up her train with one hand and tossing back her head, she
+swept along toward the house with the air of a young princess.
+
+There was a vision calculated to test her firmness. Reader, did you ever
+see a raging lion tearing to and fro the narrow limits of his cage, and
+occasionally shaking the amphitheatre with his tremendous roar; or a
+furious bull tossing his head and tail and plowing up the earth with his
+hoofs as he careered back and forth between the boundaries of his pen?
+If you have seen and noted these mad brutes, you may form some idea of
+the frenzy of Old Hurricane as he stormed up and down the floor of the
+front piazza.
+
+Cap had just escaped an actual danger of too terrible a character to be
+frightened now by sound and fury. Composedly she walked up into the
+porch and said:
+
+"Good evening, uncle."
+
+The old man stopped short in his furious strides and glared upon her
+with his terrible eyes.
+
+Cap stood fire without blanching, merely remarking:
+
+"Now, I have no doubt that in the days when you went battling that look
+used to strike terror into the heart of the enemy, but it doesn't into
+mine, somehow."
+
+"Miss!" roared the old man, bringing down his cane with a resounding
+thump upon the floor; "miss! how dare you have the impudence to face me,
+much less the--the--the assurance!--the effrontery!--the audacity!--the
+brass! to speak to me!"
+
+"Well, I declare," said Cap, calmly untying her hat; "this is the first
+time I ever heard it was impudent in a little girl to give her uncle
+good evening!"
+
+The old man trotted up and down the piazza two or three turns, then,
+stopping short before the delinquent, he struck his cane down upon the
+floor with a ringing stroke and thundered:
+
+"Young woman, tell me instantly and without prevarication where you've
+been!"
+
+"Certainly, sir; 'going to and fro in the earth and walking up and down
+in it,'" said Cap, quietly.
+
+"Flames and furies! that is no answer at all! Where have you been?"
+roared Old Hurricane, shaking with excitement.
+
+"Look here, uncle; if you go on that way you'll have a fit presently,"
+said Cap, calmly.
+
+"Where have you been?" thundered Old Hurricane.
+
+"Well, since you will know--just across the river and through the woods
+and back again."
+
+"And didn't I forbid you to do that, minion? and how dare you disobey
+me? You the creature of my bounty; you, the miserable little vagrant
+that I picked up in the alleys of New York and tried to make a young
+lady of; but an old proverb says 'You can't make a silken purse out of a
+pig's ear.' How dare you, you little beggar, disobey your benefactor?--a
+man of my age, character and position? I--I--" Old Hurricane turned
+abruptly and raged up and down the piazza.
+
+All this time Capitola had been standing quietly, holding up her train
+with one hand and her riding habit in the other. At this last insult she
+raised her dark-gray eyes to his face with one long indignant, sorrowful
+gaze; then, turning silently away and entering the house, she left Old
+Hurricane to storm up and down the piazza until he had raged himself to
+rest.
+
+Reader, I do not defend, far less approve, poor Cap. I only tell her
+story and describe her as I have seen her, leaving her to your
+charitable interpretation.
+
+Next morning Capitola came down into the breakfast-room with one idea
+prominent in her hard little head, to which she mentally gave
+expression:
+
+"Well as I like that old man, he must not permit himself to talk to me
+in that indecent strain, and so he must be made to know."
+
+When she entered the breakfast-room she found Mrs. Condiment already at
+the head of the table and Old Hurricane at the foot. He had quite got
+over his rage, and turned around blandly to welcome his ward, saying;
+
+"Good morning, Cap."
+
+Without taking the slightest notice of the salutation, Cap sailed on to
+her seat.
+
+"Humph. Did you hear me say 'Good morning,' Cap?"
+
+Without paying the least attention, Capitola reached out her hand and
+took a cup of coffee from Mrs. Condiment.
+
+"Humph! Humph! Good morning, Capitola!" said Old Hurricane, with marked
+emphasis. Apparently without hearing him. Cap helped herself to a
+buckwheat cake and daintily buttered it.
+
+"Humph! humph! humph! Well as you said yourself, 'a dumb devil is better
+than a speaking one,'" ejaculated Old Hurricane, as he sat down and
+subsided into silence.
+
+Doubtless the old man would have flown into another passion, had that
+been possible; but, in truth, he had spent so much vitality in rage
+number one that he had none left to sustain rage number two. Besides, he
+knew it would be necessary to blow up Bill Ezy, his lazy overseer,
+before night, and perhaps saved himself for that performance. He
+finished his meal in silence and went out.
+
+Cap finished hers, and, 'tempering justice with mercy,' went up-stairs
+to his room and looked over all his appointments and belongings to find
+what she would do for his extra comfort, and found a job in newly lining
+his warm slippers and the sleeves of his dressing-gown.
+
+They met again at the dinner-table.
+
+"How do you do, Cap?" said Old Hurricane, as he took his seat.
+
+Capitola poured out a glass of water and drank it in silence.
+
+"Oh, very well, 'a dumb devil,' etc.," exclaimed Old Hurricane,
+addressing himself to his dinner. When the meal was over they again
+separated. The old man went to his study to examine his farm books, and
+Capitola back to her chamber to finish lining his warm slippers.
+
+Again at tea they met.
+
+"Well, Cap is 'the dumb devil' cast out yet?" he said, sitting down.
+
+Capitola took a cup of tea from Mrs. Condiment and passed it on to him
+in silence.
+
+"Humph! not gone yet, eh? Poor girl, how it must try you," said Old
+Hurricane.
+
+After supper the old man found his dressing-gown and slippers before the
+fire all ready for his use.
+
+"Cap, you monkey, you did this," he said, turning around. But Capitola
+had already left the room.
+
+Next morning at breakfast there was a repetition of the same scene.
+Early in the forenoon Major Warfield ordered his horses and, attended by
+Wool rode up to Tip-Top. He did not return either to dinner or tea, but
+as that circumstance was not unusual, it gave no uneasiness. Mrs.
+Condiment kept his supper warm, and Capitola had his dressing-gown and
+slippers ready.
+
+She was turning them before the fire when the old man arrived. He came
+in quite gayly, saying:
+
+"Now, Cap, I think I have found a talisman at last to cast out that
+'dumb devil.' I heard you wishing for a watch the other day. Now, as
+devils belong to eternity, and have no business with time, of course the
+sight of this little time-keeper must put yours to flight," and so
+saying he laid upon the table, before the eyes of Capitola, a beautiful
+little gold watch and chain. She glanced at it as it lay glittering and
+sparkling in the lamplight, and then turned abruptly and walked away.
+
+"Humph! that's always the way the devils do--fly when they can't stand
+shot."
+
+Capitola deliberately walked back, laid a paper over the little watch
+and chain, as if to cover its fascinating sparkle and glitter, and said:
+
+"Uncle, your bounty is large and your present is beautiful; but there is
+something that poor Capitola values more than----"
+
+She paused, dropped her head upon her bosom, a sudden blush flamed up
+over her face, and tear-drops glittered in her downcast eyes. She put
+both hands before her burning face for a moment, and then, dropping
+them, resumed:
+
+"Uncle, you rescued me from misery and, perhaps--perhaps, early death;
+you have heaped benefits and bounties upon me without measure; you have
+placed me in a home of abundance, honor and security. For all this if I
+were not grateful I should deserve no less than death. But, uncle, there
+is a sin that is worse, at least, more ungenerous, than ingratitude; it
+is to put a helpless fellow-creature under heavy obligations and then
+treat that grateful creature with undeserved contempt and cruel
+unkindness." Once more her voice was choked with feeling.
+
+For some reason or other Capitola's tears--perhaps because they were so
+rare--always moved Old Hurricane to his heart's center. Going toward her
+softly, he said:
+
+"Now, my dear; now, my child; now, my little Cap, you know it was all
+for your own good. Why, my dear, I never for one instant regretted
+bringing you to the house, and I wouldn't part with you for a kingdom.
+Come, now, my child; come to the heart of your old uncle."
+
+Now, the soul of Capitola naturally abhorred sentiment. If ever she gave
+way to serious emotion, she was sure to avenge herself by being more
+capricious than before. Consequently, flinging herself out of the
+caressing arms of Old Hurricane, she exclaimed:
+
+"Uncle, I won't be treated with both kicks and half-pennies by the same
+person, and so I tell you. I am not a cur to be fed with roast beef and
+beaten with a stick, nor--nor--nor a Turk's slave to be caressed and
+oppressed as her master likes. Such abuse as you heaped upon me I never
+heard--no, not even in Rag Alley!"
+
+"Oh, my dear! my dear! my dear! for heaven's sake forget Rag Alley?"
+
+"I won't! I vow I'll go back to Rag Alley for a very little more.
+Freedom and peace is even sweeter than wealth and honors."
+
+"Ah, but I won't let you, my little Cap."
+
+"Then I'd have you up before the nearest magistrate, to show by what
+right you detained me. Ah, ha! I wasn't brought up in New York for
+nothing."
+
+"Whee-eu! and all this because, for her own good, I gave my own niece
+and ward a little gentle admonition."
+
+"Gentle admonition! Do you call that gentle admonition? Why, uncle, you
+are enough to frighten most people to death with your fury. You are a
+perfect dragon! a griffin! a Russian bear! a Bengal tiger! a Numidian
+lion! You're all Barnum's beasts in one! I declare, if I don't write and
+ask him to send a party down here to catch you for his museum! You'd
+draw, I tell you!"
+
+"Yes, especially with you for a keeper to stir me up once in a while
+with a long pole."
+
+"And that I'd engage to do--cheap."
+
+The entrance of Mrs. Condiment with the tea-tray put an end to the
+controversy. It was, as yet, a drawn battle.
+
+"And what about the watch, my little Cap?"
+
+"Take it back, uncle, if you please."
+
+"But they won't have it back; it has got your initials engraved upon it.
+Look here," said the old man, holding the watch to her eyes. "'C. L.
+N.'--those are not my initials," said Capitola, looking up with
+surprise.
+
+"Why, so they are not; the blamed fools have made a mistake. But you'll
+have to take it, Cap."
+
+"No, uncle; keep it for the present," said Capitola, who was too honest
+to take a gift that she felt she did not deserve, and yet too proud to
+confess as much.
+
+Peace was proclaimed--for the present.
+
+Alas! 'twas but of short continuance. During these two days of coolness
+and enforced quietude Old Hurricane had gathered a store of bad humors
+that required expenditure.
+
+So the very next day something went wrong upon the farm, and Old
+Hurricane came storming home, driving his overseer, poor, old, meek
+Billy Ezy, and his man Wool before him.
+
+Bill Ezy was whimpering; Wool was sobbing aloud; Old Hurricane was
+roaring at them both as he drove them on before him, swearing that Ezy
+should go and find himself a new home and Wool should go and seek
+another master.
+
+And for this cause Old Hurricane was driving them on to his study, that
+he might pay the overseer his last quarter's salary and give the servant
+a written order to find a master.
+
+He raged past Capitola in the hall, and, meeting Mrs. Condiment at the
+study door, ordered her to bring in her account book directly, for that
+he would not be imposed upon any longer, but meant to drive all the
+lazy, idle, dishonest eye-servants and time-servers from the house and
+land!
+
+"What's the matter now?" said Capitola, meeting her.
+
+"Oh, child, he's in his terrible tantrums again! He gets into these ways
+every once in a while, when a young calf perishes, or a sheep is stolen,
+or anything goes amiss, and then he abuses us all for a pack of
+loiterers, sluggards and thieves, and pays us off and orders us off. We
+don't go, of course, because we know he doesn't mean it; still, it is
+very trying to be talked to so. Oh, I should go, but Lord, child, he's a
+bear, but we love him."
+
+Just as she spoke the study door opened and Bill Ezy came out sobbing,
+and Wool lifting up his voice and fairly roaring.
+
+Mrs. Condiment stepped out of the parlor door.
+
+"What's the matter, you blockhead?" she asked of Wool.
+
+"Oh! boo-hoo-woo! Ole marse been and done and gone and guv me a line to
+find an--an--another--boo-hoo-woo!" sobbed Wool, ready to break his
+heart.
+
+"Give you a line to find another boo-hoo-woo! I wouldn't do it, if I
+were you, Wool," said Capitola.
+
+"Give me the paper, Wool," said Mrs. Condiment, taking the "permit" and
+tearing it up, and adding:
+
+"There, now, you go home to your quarter, and keep out of your old
+master's sight until he gets over his anger, and then you know very well
+that it will be all right. There, go along with you."
+
+Wool quickly got out of the way and made room for the overseer, who was
+sniveling like a whipped schoolboy, and to whom the housekeeper said:
+
+"I thought you were wiser than to take this so to heart, Mr. Ezy."
+
+"Oh, mum, what could you expect? An old sarvint as has sarved the major
+faithful these forty years, to be discharged at sixty-five! Oh,
+hoo-ooo-oo!" whimpered the overseer.
+
+"But then you have been discharged so often you ought to be used to it
+by this time. You get discharged, just as Wool gets sold, about once a
+month--but do you ever go?"
+
+"Oh, mum, but he's in airnest this time; 'deed he is, mum; terrible in
+airnest; and all about that misfortnet bobtail colt getting stole. I
+know how it wur some of Black Donald's gang as done it--as if I could
+always be on my guard against them devils; and he means it this time,
+mum; he's terrible in airnest!"
+
+"Tut! he's always in earnest for as long as it lasts; go home to your
+family and to-morrow go about your business as usual."
+
+Here the study bell rang violently and Old Hurricane's voice was heard
+calling, "Mrs. Condiment! Mrs. Condiment!"
+
+"Oh, Lor', he's coming!" cried Bill Ezy, running off as fast as his age
+and grief would let him.
+
+"Mrs. Condiment! Mrs. Condiment!" called the voice.
+
+"Yes, sir, yes," answered the housekeeper, hurrying to obey the call.
+
+Capitola walked up and down the hall for half an hour, at the end of
+which Mrs. Condiment came out "with a smile on her lip and a tear in her
+eye," and saying:
+
+"Well, Miss Capitola, I'm paid off and discharged also."
+
+"What for?"
+
+"For aiding and abetting the rebels; in a word, for trying to comfort
+poor Ezy and Wool."
+
+"And are you going?"
+
+"Certainly not; I shan't budge; I would not treat the old man so badly
+as to take him at his word." And, with a strange smile, Mrs. Condiment
+hurried away just in time to escape Old Hurricane, who came raving out
+of the study.
+
+"Get out of my way, you beggar!" he cried, pushing past Capitola and
+hurrying from the house.
+
+"Well, I declare, that was pleasant!" thought Cap, as she entered the
+parlor.
+
+"Mrs. Condiment, what will he say when he comes back and finds you all
+here still?" she asked.
+
+"Say? Nothing. After this passion is over he will be so exhausted that
+he will not be able to get up another rage in two or three days."
+
+"Where has he gone?"
+
+"To Tip-Top, and alone, too; he was so mad with poor Wool that he
+wouldn't even permit him to attend."
+
+"Alone? Has he gone alone? Oh, won't I give him a dose when he comes
+back," thought Capitola.
+
+Meanwhile Old Hurricane stormed along toward Tip-Top, lashing off the
+poor dogs that wished to follow him and cutting at every living thing
+that crossed his path. His business at the village was to get bills
+printed and posted offering an additional reward for the apprehension of
+"the marauding outlaw, Black Donald." That day he dined at the village
+tavern--"The Antlers," by Mr. Merry--and differed, disputed or
+quarrelled, as the case might be, with every man with whom he came in
+contact.
+
+Toward evening he set off for home. It was much later than his usual
+hour for returning; but he felt weary, exhausted and indisposed to come
+into his own dwelling where his furious temper had created so much
+unhappiness. Thus, though it was very late, he did not hurry; he almost
+hoped that every one might be in bed when he should return. The moon was
+shining brightly when he passed the gate and rode up the evergreen
+avenue to the horse-block in front of the house. There he dismounted and
+walked up into the piazza, where a novel vision met his surprised gaze.
+
+It was Capitola, walking up and down the floor with rapid, almost
+masculine strides, and apparently in a state of great excitement.
+
+"Oh, is it you, my little Cap? Good evening, my dear," he said, very
+kindly.
+
+Capitola "pulled up" in her striding walk, wheeled around, faced him,
+drew up her form, folded her arms, threw back her head, set her teeth
+and glared at him.
+
+"What the demon do you mean by that?" cried Old Hurricane.
+
+"Sir!" she exclaimed, bringing down one foot with a sharp stamp; "sir!
+how dare you have the impudence to face me? much less the--the--the--the
+brass! the bronze! the copper! to speak to me!"
+
+"Why, what in the name of all the lunatics in Bedlam does the girl mean?
+Is she crazy?" exclaimed the old man, gazing upon her in astonishment.
+
+Capitola turned and strode furiously up and down the piazza, and then,
+stopping suddenly and facing him, with a sharp stamp of her foot
+exclaimed:
+
+"Old gentleman! Tell me instantly and without prevarication, where have
+you been?"
+
+"To the demon with you! What do you mean? Have you taken leave of your
+senses?" demanded Old Hurricane.
+
+Capitola strode up and down the floor a few times, and, stopping short
+and shaking her fist, exclaimed:
+
+"Didn't you know, you headstrong, reckless, desperate, frantic
+veteran--didn't you know the jeopardy in which you placed yourself in
+riding out alone at this hour? Suppose three or four great runaway
+negresses had sprung out of the bushes and--and--and----" She broke off
+apparently for want of breath, and strode up and down the floor; then,
+pausing suddenly before him, with a stern stamp of her foot and a fierce
+glare of her eye, she continued:
+
+"You shouldn't have come back here any more! No dishonored old man
+should have entered the house of which I call myself the mistress!"
+
+"Oh, I take! I take! ha, ha, ha! Good, Cap, good! You are holding up the
+glass before me; but your mirror is not quite large enough to reflect
+'Old Hurricane,' my dear. 'I owe one,'" said the old man, as he passed
+into the house, followed by his capricious favorite.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+THE DOCTOR'S DAUGHTER.
+
+    Oh, her smile, it seemed half holy,
+    As if drawn from thoughts more far,
+    Than our common jestings are.
+    And, if any painter drew her,
+    He would paint her unaware
+    With a hallow round her hair.
+                                       --E. B. Browning.
+
+
+On the appointed day Traverse took his way to Willow Heights to keep his
+tryst and enter upon his medical studies in the good doctor's office. He
+was anxious also to know if his patron had as yet thought of any plan by
+which his mother might better her condition. He was met at the door by
+little Mattie, the parlor-maid, who told him to walk right up-stairs
+into the study, where her master was expecting him.
+
+Traverse went up quietly and opened the door of that pleasant
+study-room, to which the reader has already been introduced, and the
+windows of which opened upon the upper front piazza.
+
+Now, however, as it was quite cold, the windows were down, though the
+blinds were open, and through them streamed the golden rays of the
+morning sun that fell glistening upon the fair hair and white raiment of
+a young girl who sat reading before the fire.
+
+The doctor was not in the room, and Traverse, in his native modesty, was
+just about to retreat when the young creature looked up from her book
+and, seeing him, arose with a smile and came forward, saying:
+
+"You are the young man whom my father was expecting, I presume. Sit
+down; he has stepped out, but will be in again very soon."
+
+Now, Traverse, being unaccustomed to the society of young ladies, felt
+excessively bashful when suddenly coming into the presence of this
+refined and lovely girl. With a low bow and a deep blush he took the
+chair she placed for him.
+
+With natural politeness she closed her book and addressed herself to
+entertaining him.
+
+"I have heard that your mother is an invalid; I hope she is better."
+
+"I thank you--yes, ma'am--miss," stammered Traverse, in painful
+embarrassment. Understanding the _mauvaise honte_ of the bashful boy,
+and seeing that her efforts to entertain only troubled him, she placed
+the newspapers on the table before him, saying:
+
+"Here are the morning journals, if you would like to look over them, Mr.
+Rocke," and then she resumed her book.
+
+"I thank you, miss," replied the youth, taking up a paper, more for the
+purpose of covering up his embarrassment than for any other.
+
+Mr. Rocke! Traverse was seventeen years of age, and had never been
+called Mr. Rocke before. This young girl was the very first to
+compliment him with the manly title, and he felt a boyish gratitude to
+her and a harmless wish that his well-brushed Sunday suit of black was
+not quite so rusty and threadbare, tempered by an innocent exultation in
+the thought that no gentleman in the land could exhibit fresher linen,
+brighter shoes or cleaner hands than himself.
+
+But not many seconds were spent in such egotism. He stole a glance at
+his lovely companion sitting on the opposite side of the fireplace--he
+was glad to see that she was already deeply engaged in reading, for it
+enabled him to observe her without embarrassment or offense. He had
+scarcely dared to look at her before, and had no distinct idea of her
+beauty.
+
+There has been for him only a vague, dazzling vision of a golden-haired
+girl in floating white raiment, wafting the fragrance of violets as she
+moved, and with a voice sweeter than the notes of the cushat dove as she
+spoke.
+
+Now he saw that the golden hair flowed in ringlets around a fair,
+roseate face, soft and bright with feeling and intelligence. As her
+dark-blue eyes followed the page, a smile intense with meaning deepened
+the expression of her countenance. That intense smile--it was like her
+father's, only lovelier--more heavenly.
+
+That intense smile--it had, even on the old doctor's face, an
+inexpressible charm for Traverse--but on the lovely young face of his
+daughter it exercised an ineffable fascination. So earnest and so
+unconscious became the gaze of poor Traverse that he was only brought to
+a sense of propriety by the opening of the door and the entrance of the
+doctor, who exclaimed:
+
+"Ah, here already, Traverse? That is punctual. This is my daughter
+Clara, Traverse; Clare, this is Traverse you've heard me speak about.
+But I daresay you've already become acquainted," concluded the doctor,
+drawing his chair up to the reading table, sitting down and folding his
+dressing-gown around his limbs.
+
+"Well, Traverse, how is the little mother?" he presently inquired.
+
+"I was just telling Miss Day that she was much better, sir," said
+Traverse.
+
+"Ah, ha, ha, ha!" muttered the doctor to himself; "that's kitchen
+physic--roast turkey and port wine--and moral medicine, hope--and mental
+medicine, sympathy."
+
+"Well, Traverse," he said aloud, "I have been racking my brain for a
+plan for your mother, and to no purpose. Traverse, your mother should be
+in a home of peace, plenty and cheerfulness--I can speak before my
+little Clare here; I never have any secrets from her. Your mother wants
+good living, cheerful company and freedom from toil and care. The
+situation of gentleman's or lady's housekeeper in some home of
+abundance, where she would be esteemed as a member of the family, would
+suit her. But where to find such a place? I have been inquiring--without
+mentioning her name, of course--among all my friends, but not one of
+them wants a housekeeper or knows a soul who does want one; and so I am
+'at sea on the subject.' I'm ashamed of myself for not succeeding
+better."
+
+"Oh, sir, do not do yourself so great an injustice," said Traverse.
+
+"Well, the fact is, after boasting so confidently that I would find a
+good situation for Mrs. Rocke, lo and behold! I have proved myself as
+yet only a boaster."
+
+"Father," said Clara, turning upon him her sweet eyes.
+
+"Well, my love?"
+
+"Perhaps Mrs. Rocke would do us the favor to come here and take charge
+of our household."
+
+"Eh! What? I never thought of that! I never had a housekeeper in my
+life!" exclaimed the doctor.
+
+"No, sir; because you never needed one before, but now we really do.
+Aunt Moggy has been a very faithful and efficient manager, although she
+is a colored woman; but she is getting very old."
+
+"Yes, and deaf and blind and careless. I know she is. I have no doubt in
+the world she scours the coppers with the table napkins and washes her
+face and hands in the soup tureen."
+
+"Oh, father!" said Clara.
+
+"Well, Clare, at least she wants looking after."
+
+"Father, she wants rest in her old age."
+
+"No doubt of it; no doubt of it."
+
+"And, father, I intend, of course, in time, to be your housekeeper; but,
+having spent all my life in a boarding school, I know very little about
+domestic affairs, and I require a great deal of instruction; so I really
+do think that there is no one needs Mrs. Rocke's assistance more than we
+do, and if she will do us the favor to come we cannot do better than to
+engage her."
+
+"To be sure; to be sure! Lord bless my soul! to think it should never
+have entered my stupid old head until it was put there by Clare! Here I
+was searching blindly all over the country for a situation for Mrs.
+Rocke, and wanting her all the time more than any one else! That's the
+way, Traverse; that's the way with us all, my boy! While we are looking
+away off yonder for the solution of our difficulties, the remedy is all
+the time lying just under our noses!"
+
+"But so close to our eyes, father, that we cannot see it," said Clara.
+
+"Just so, Clare; just so. You are always ahead of me in ideas. Now,
+Traverse, when you go home this evening you shall take a note to your
+mother setting forth our wishes--mine and Clara's; if she accedes to
+them she will make us very happy."
+
+With a great deal of manly strength of mind, Traverse had all his
+mother's tenderness of heart. It was with difficulty that he could keep
+back his tears or control his voice while he answered:
+
+"I remember reading, sir, that the young queen of England, when she came
+to her throne, wished to provide handsomely for an orphan companion of
+her childhood; and, seeing that no office in her household suited the
+young person, she created one for her benefit. Sir, I believe you have
+made one for my mother."
+
+"Not at all; not at all! If she doesn't come to look after our
+housekeeping, old Moggy will be greasing our griddles with tallow candle
+ends next! If you don't believe me; ask Clara, ask Clara!"
+
+Not "believe" him! If the doctor had affirmed that the moon was made of
+moldy cheese, Traverse would have deemed it his duty to stoutly maintain
+that astronomical theory. He felt hurt that the doctor should use such a
+phrase.
+
+"Yes, indeed, we really do need her, Traverse," said the doctor's
+daughter.
+
+"Traverse!" It had made him proud to hear her call him for the first
+time in his life, "Mr. Rocke!" but it made him deeply happy to hear her
+call him "Traverse." It had such a sisterly sound coming from this sweet
+creature. How he wished that she really were his sister! But, then, the
+idea of that fair, golden-haired, blue-eyed, white-robed angel being the
+sister of such a robust, rugged, sunburned boy as himself! The thought
+was so absurd, extravagant, impossible, that the poor boy heaved an
+unconscious sigh.
+
+"Why, what's the matter, Traverse? What are you thinking of so
+intently?"
+
+"Of your great goodness, sir, among other things."
+
+"Tut! let's hear no more of that. I pleased myself," said the doctor;
+"and now, Traverse, let's go to work decently and in order. But first
+let me settle this point--if your good little mother determines in our
+favor, Traverse, then, of course, you will live with us also, so I shall
+have my young medical assistant always at hand. That will be very
+convenient; and then we shall have no more long, lonesome evenings,
+Clara, shall we, dear? And now, Traverse, I will mark out your course of
+study and set you to work at once."
+
+"Shall I leave the room, father?" inquired Clara.
+
+"No, no, my dear; certainly not. I have not had you home so long as to
+get tired of the sight of you yet! No, Clare, no; you are not in our
+way--is she, Traverse?"
+
+"Oh, sir, the idea--" stammered Traverse, blushing deeply to be so
+appealed to.
+
+In his way! Why, a pang had shot through his bosom at the very mention
+of her going.
+
+"Very well, then. Here, Traverse, here are your books. You are to begin
+with this one; keep this medical dictionary at hand for reference. Bless
+me, it will bring back my student days to go over the ground with you,
+my boy."
+
+Clara took her work-box and sat down to stitch a pair of dainty
+wristbands for her father's shirts.
+
+The doctor took up the morning papers.
+
+Traverse opened his book and commenced his readings. It was a quiet but
+by no means a dull circle. Occasionally Clara and her father exchanged
+words, and once in a while the doctor looked over his pupil's shoulder
+or gave him a direction.
+
+Traverse studied _con amore_ and with intelligent appreciation. The
+presence of the doctor's lovely daughter, far from disturbing him,
+calmed and steadied his soul into a state of infinite content. If the
+presence of the beautiful girl was ever to become an agitating element,
+the hour had not yet come.
+
+So passed the time until the dinner bell rang.
+
+By the express stipulation of the doctor himself, it was arranged that
+Traverse should always dine with his family. After dinner an hour--which
+the doctor called a digestive hour--was spent in loitering about and
+then the studies were resumed.
+
+At six o'clock in the evening Traverse took leave of the doctor and his
+fair daughter and started for home.
+
+"Be sure to persuade your mother to come, Traverse," said Clara.
+
+"She will not need persuasion; she will be only too glad to come, miss,"
+said Traverse, with a deep bow, turning and hurrying away toward home.
+With "winged feet" he ran down the wooded hill and got into the highway,
+and hastened on with such speed that in half an hour he reached his
+mother's little cottage. He was agog with joy and eagerness to tell her
+the good news.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+THE RESIGNED SOUL.
+
+    This day be bread and peace my lot;
+      All else beneath the sun
+    Thou knowest if best bestowed or not,
+      And let thy will be done.
+                                       --Pope.
+
+
+Poor Marah Rocke had schooled her soul to resignation; had taught
+herself just to do the duty of each day as it came, and leave the
+future--where, indeed, it must always remain--in the hands of God. Since
+the doctor's delicate and judicious kindness had cherished her life,
+some little health and cheerfulness had returned to her.
+
+Upon this particular evening of the day upon which Traverse entered upon
+his medical studies she felt very hopeful.
+
+The little cottage fire burned brightly; the hearth was swept clean; the
+tea kettle was singing over the blaze; the tiny tea table, with its two
+cups and saucers and two plates and knives was set: everything was neat,
+comfortable and cheerful for Traverse's return. Marah sat in her little
+low chair, putting the finishing touches to a set of fine shirts.
+
+She was not anxiously looking for her son, for he had told her that he
+should stay at the doctor's until six o'clock; therefore she did not
+expect him until seven.
+
+But so fast had Traverse walked that just as the minute hand pointed to
+half-past six the latch was raised and Traverse ran in--his face flushed
+with joy.
+
+The first thing he did was to run to his mother, fling his arms around
+her neck and kiss her. Then he threw himself into his chair to take
+breath.
+
+"Now, then, what's the matter, Traverse? You look as if somebody had
+left you a fortune!"
+
+"And so they have, or, as good as done so!" exclaimed Traverse, panting
+for breath.
+
+"What in the world do you mean?" exclaimed Marah, her thoughts naturally
+flying to Old Hurricane, and suggesting his possible repentance or
+relenting.
+
+"Read that, mother! read that!" said Traverse, eagerly putting a note
+into her hand.
+
+She opened it and read:
+
+     Willow Heights--Monday.
+
+     Dear Madam--My little daughter Clara, fourteen years of age, has
+     just returned from boarding-school to pursue her studies at home.
+     Among other things, she must learn domestic affairs, of which she
+     knows nothing. If you will accept the position of housekeeper and
+     matronly companion of my daughter, I will make the terms such as
+     shall reconcile you to the change. We shall also do all that we can
+     to make you happy. Traverse will explain to you the details. Take
+     time to think of it, but if possible let us have your answer by
+     Traverse when he comes to-morrow. If you accede to this proposition
+     you will give my daughter and myself sincere satisfaction.
+
+     Yours truly,
+     WILLIAM DAY.
+
+Marah finished reading, and raised her eyes, full of amazement, to the
+face of her son.
+
+"Mother!" said Traverse, speaking fast and eagerly, "they say they
+really cannot do without you! They have troops of servants; but the old
+cook is in her dotage and does all sorts of strange things, such as
+frying buckwheat cakes in lamp oil and the like!"
+
+"Oh, hush! what exaggeration!"
+
+"Well, I don't say she does that exactly, but she isn't equal to her
+situation without a housekeeper to look after her, and they want you
+very much, indeed!"
+
+"And what is to become of your home, if I break up?" suggested the
+mother.
+
+"Oh, that is the very best of it! The doctor says if you consent to come
+that I must also live there, and that then he can have his medical
+assistant always at hand, which will be very convenient!"
+
+Marah smiled dubiously.
+
+"I do not understand it, but one thing I do know, Traverse! There is not
+such a man as the doctor appears in this world more than once in a
+hundred years."
+
+"Not in a thousand years, mother, and as for his daughter--oh, you
+should see Miss Clara, mother! Her father calls her Clare--Clare Day!
+how the name suits her! She is so fair and bright! with such a warm,
+thoughtful, sunny smile that goes right to your heart! Her face is,
+indeed, like a clear day, and her beautiful smile is the sunshine that
+lights it up!" said the enthusiastic youth, whose admiration was as yet
+too simple and single-hearted and unselfish to tie his tongue.
+
+The mother smiled at his earnestness--smiled without the least
+misgiving; for, to her apprehension, the youth was still a boy, to
+wonder at and admire beauty, without being in the least danger of having
+his peace of mind disturbed by love. And as yet her idea of him was
+just.
+
+"And mother, of course, you will go," said Traverse.
+
+"Oh, I do not know! The proposition was so sudden and unexpected, and is
+so serious and important, that I must take time to reflect," said Mrs.
+Rocke, thoughtfully.
+
+"How much time, mother? Will until to-morrow morning do? It must, little
+mother, because I promised to carry your consent back with me! Indeed, I
+did, mother!" exclaimed the impatient boy.
+
+Mrs. Rocke dropped her head upon her hand, as was her custom when in
+deep thought. Presently she said:
+
+"Travy, I'm afraid this is not a genuine offer of a situation of
+housekeeper! I'm afraid that it is only a ruse to cover a scheme of
+benevolence! and that they don't really want me, and I should only be in
+their way."
+
+"Now, mother, I do assure you, they do want you! Think of that young
+girl and elderly gentleman! Can either of them take charge of a large
+establishment like that of Willow Heights?"
+
+"Well argued, Traverse; but granting that they need a housekeeper, how
+do I know I would suit them?"
+
+"Why, you may take their own words for that, mother!"
+
+"But how can they know? I am afraid they would be disappointed!"
+
+"Wait until they complain, mother!"
+
+"I don't believe they ever would!"
+
+"I don't believe they ever would have cause!"
+
+"Well, granting also that I should suit them"--the mother paused and
+sighed. Traverse filled up the blank by saying:
+
+"I suppose you mean--if you should suit them they might not suit you!"
+
+"No, I do not mean that! I am sure they would suit me; but there is one
+in the world who may one day come to reason and take bitter umbrage at
+the fact that I should accept a subordinate situation in any household,"
+murmured Mrs. Rocke, almost unconsciously.
+
+"Then that 'one in the world,' whoever he, she, or it may be, had better
+place you above the necessity, or else hold his, her, or its tongue!
+Mother, I think that goods thrown in our way by Providence had better be
+accepted, leaving the consequences to Him!"
+
+"Traverse, dear, I shall pray over this matter to-night and sleep on it;
+and He to whom even the fall of a sparrow is not indifferent will guide
+me," said Mrs. Rocke; and here the debate ended.
+
+The remainder of the evening was spent in laudation of Clare Day, and in
+writing a letter to Herbert Greyson, at West Point, in which all these
+laudations were reiterated, and in the course of which Traverse wrote
+these innocent words: "I have known Clare Day scarcely twelve hours, and
+I admire her as much as I love you! and oh, Herbert! If you could only
+rise to be a major-general and marry Clare Day, I should be the happiest
+fellow alive!" Would Traverse as willingly dispose of Clare's hand a
+year or two after this time? I trow not!
+
+The next morning after breakfast Mrs. Rocke gave in her decision.
+
+"Tell the doctor, Traverse," she said, "that I understand and appreciate
+his kindness; that I will not break up my humble home as yet, but I will
+lock up my house and come a month, on trial. If I can perform the duties
+of the situation satisfactorily, well and good! I will remain; if not,
+why then, having my home still in possession, I can return to it."
+
+"Wise little mother! She will not cut down the bridge behind her!"
+exclaimed Traverse, joyfully, as he bade his mother good-by for the day,
+and hastened up to Willow Heights with her answer. This answer was
+received by the good doctor and his lovely daughter with delight as
+unfeigned as it was unselfish. They were pleased to have a good
+housekeeper, but they were far better pleased to offer a poor struggling
+mother a comfortable and even luxurious home.
+
+On the next Monday morning Mrs. Rocke having completed all her
+arrangements, and closed up the house, entered upon the duties of her
+new situation.
+
+Clara gave her a large, airy bed-chamber for her own use, communicating
+with a smaller one for the use of her son; besides this, as housekeeper,
+she had of course, the freedom of the whole house.
+
+Traverse watched with anxious vigilance to find out whether the efforts
+of his mother really improved the condition of the housekeeping, and was
+delighted to find that the coffee was clearer and finer-flavored; the
+bread whiter and lighter; the cream richer, the butter fresher, and the
+beefsteak juicier than he had ever known them to be on the doctor's
+table; that on the dinner table, from day to day, dishes succeeded each
+other in a well-ordered variety and well-dressed style--in a word, that,
+in every particular, the comfort of the family was greatly enhanced by
+the presence of the housekeeper, and that the doctor and his daughter
+knew it.
+
+While the doctor and his student were engaged in the library, Clara
+spent many hours of the morning in Mrs. Rocke's company, learning the
+arts of domestic economy and considerably assisting her in the
+preparation of delicate dishes.
+
+In the evening the doctor, Clara, Mrs. Rocke and Traverse gathered
+around the fire as one family--Mrs. Rocke and Clara engaged in
+needlework, and the doctor or Traverse in reading aloud, for their
+amusement, some agreeable book. Sometimes Clara would richly entertain
+them with music--singing and accompanying herself upon the piano.
+
+An hour before bedtime the servants were always called in, and general
+family prayer offered up.
+
+Thus passed the quiet, pleasant, profitable days. Traverse was fast
+falling into a delicious dream, from which, as yet, no rude shock
+threatened to wake him. Willow Heights seemed to him Paradise, its
+inmates angels, and his own life--beatitude!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE OUTLAW'S RENDEZVOUS.
+
+    Our plots fall short like darts which rash hands throw
+    With an ill aim, and have too far to go;
+    Nor can we long discoveries prevent;
+    God is too much about the innocent!
+                                       --Sir Robert Howard.
+
+
+"The Old Road Inn," described in the dying deposition of poor Nancy
+Grewell, was situated some miles from Hurricane Hall, by the side of a
+forsaken turnpike in the midst of a thickly wooded, long and narrow
+valley, shut in by two lofty ranges of mountains.
+
+Once this turnpike was lively with travel and this inn gay with custom;
+but for the last twenty-five years, since the highway had been turned
+off in another direction, both road and tavern had been abandoned, and
+suffered to fall to ruin. The road was washed and furrowed into deep and
+dangerous gullies, and obstructed by fallen timber; the house was
+disfigured by moldering walls, broken chimneys and patched windows.
+
+Had any traveler lost himself and chanced to have passed that way, he
+might have seen a little, old, dried-up woman, sitting knitting at one
+of the windows. She was known by those who were old enough to remember
+her and her home, as Granny Raven, the daughter of the last proprietor
+of the inn. She was reputed to be dumb, but none could speak with
+certainty of the fact. In truth, for as far back as the memory of the
+"oldest inhabitant" could reach, she had been feared, disliked and
+avoided, as one of malign reputation; indeed, the ignorant and
+superstitious believed her to possess the "evil eye," and to be gifted
+with "second sight."
+
+But of late years, as the old road and the old inn were quite forsaken,
+so the old beldame was quite forgotten.
+
+It was one evening, a few weeks after Capitola's fearful adventure in
+the forest, that this old woman carefully closed up every door and
+window in the front of the house, stopping every crevice through which a
+ray of light might gleam and warn that impossible phenomenon--a chance
+traveler, on the old road, of life within the habitation.
+
+Having, so to speak, hermetically sealed the front of the house, she
+betook herself to a large back kitchen.
+
+This kitchen was strangely and rudely furnished, having an extra broad
+fireplace with the recesses, on each side of the chimney filled with
+oaken shelves, laden with strong pewter plates, dishes and mugs; all
+along the walls were arranged rude, oaken benches; down the length of
+the room was left, always standing, a long deal table, capable of
+accommodating from fifteen to twenty guests.
+
+On entering this kitchen Granny Raven struck a light, kindled a fire and
+began to prepare a large supper.
+
+Nor unlike the ill-omened bird whose name she bore did this old beldame
+look in her close-clinging black gown, and flapping black cape and hood,
+and with her sharp eyes, hooked nose and protruding chin.
+
+Having put a huge sirloin of beef before the fire, she took down a pile
+of pewter plates and arranged them along on the sides of the table; then
+to every plate she placed a pewter mug. A huge wheaten loaf of bread, a
+great roll of butter and several plates of pickles were next put upon
+the board, and when all was ready the old woman sat down to the patient
+turning of the spit.
+
+She had not been thus occupied more than twenty minutes when a hasty,
+scuffling step was heard at the back of the house, accompanied by a
+peculiar whistle, immediately under the window.
+
+"That's 'Headlong Hal,' for a penny! He never can learn the cat's
+tread!" thought the crone, as she arose and withdrew the bolt of the
+back door.
+
+A little dark-skinned, black-eyed, black-haired, thin and wiry man came
+hurrying in, exclaiming:
+
+"How now, old girl--supper ready!"
+
+She shook her head, pointed to the roasting beef, lifted up both hands
+with the ten fingers spread out twice, and then made a rotary motion
+with one arm.
+
+"Oh, you mean it will be done in twenty turns; but hang me if I
+understand your dumb show half the time! Have none of the men come yet?"
+
+She put her fingers together, flung her hands widely apart in all
+directions, brought them slowly together again and pointed to the supper
+table.
+
+"Um! That is to say they are dispersed about their business, but will
+all be here to-night?"
+
+She nodded.
+
+"Where's the capt'n?"
+
+She pointed over her left shoulder upwards, placed her two hands out
+broad from her temples, then made a motion as of lifting and carrying a
+basket, and displaying goods.
+
+"Humph! humph! gone to Tip-top to sell goods disguised as a peddler!"
+
+She nodded. And before he could put another question a low, soft mew was
+heard at the door.
+
+"There's 'Stealthy Steve!'--he might walk with hob-nailed high-lows upon
+a gravelly road, and you would never hear his footfall," said the man,
+as the door noiselessly opened and shut, a soft-footed, low-voiced,
+subtle-looking mulatto entered the kitchen, and gave good evening to its
+occupants.
+
+"Ha! I'm devilish glad you've come, Steve, for hang me if I'm not tired
+to death trying to talk to this crone, who, to the charms of old age and
+ugliness, adds that of dumbness. Seen the cap'n?"
+
+"No, he's gone out to hear the people talk, and find out what they think
+of him."
+
+Hal burst into a loud and scornful laugh, saying: "I should think it
+would not require much seeking to discover that!"
+
+Here the old woman came forward, and, by signs, managed to inquire
+whether he had brought her "the tea."
+
+Steve drew a packet from his pocket, saying, softly:
+
+"Yes, mother, when I was in Spicer's store I saw this lying with other
+things on the counter, and, remembering you, quietly put it into my
+pocket."
+
+The old crone's eyes danced. She seized the packet, patted the excellent
+thief on the shoulder, wagged her head deridingly at the delinquent one,
+and hobbled off to prepare her favorite beverage.
+
+While she was thus occupied the whistle was once more heard at the door,
+followed by the entrance of a man decidedly the most repulsive looking
+of the whole party--a man one having a full pocket would scarcely like
+to meet on a lonely road in a dark night. In form he was of Dutch
+proportions, short but stout, with a large, round head covered with
+stiff, sandy hair; broad, flat face; coarse features, pale, half-closed
+eyes, and an expression of countenance strangely made up of elements as
+opposite as they were forbidding--a mixture of stupidity and subtlety,
+cowardice and ferocity, caution and cruelty. His name in the gang was
+Demon Dick, a sobriquet of which he was eminently deserving and
+characteristically proud.
+
+He came in sulkily, neither saluting the company nor returning their
+salutations. He pulled a chair to the fire, threw himself into it, and
+ordered the old woman to draw him a mug of ale.
+
+"Dick's in a bad humor to-night," murmured Steve, softly.
+
+"When was he ever in a good one?" roughly broke forth Hal.
+
+"H-sh!" said Steve, glancing at Dick, who, with a hideous expression,
+was listening to the conversation.
+
+"There's the cap'n!" exclaimed Hal, as a ringing footstep sounded
+outside, followed by the abrupt opening of the door and entrance of the
+leader.
+
+Setting down a large basket, and throwing off a broad-brimmed Quaker hat
+and broad-skirted overcoat, Black Donald stood roaring with laughter.
+
+Black Donald, from his great stature, might have been a giant walked out
+of the age of fable into the middle of the nineteenth century. From his
+stature alone, he might have been chosen leader of this band of
+desperadoes. He stood six feet eight inches in his boots, and was stout
+and muscular in proportion. He had a well-formed, stately head, fine
+aquiline features, dark complexion, strong, steady, dark eyes, and an
+abundance of long curling black hair and beard that would have driven to
+despair a Broadway beau, broken the heart of a Washington belle, or made
+his own fortune in any city of America as a French count or a German
+baron! He had decidedly "the air noble and distinguished."
+
+While he threw his broad brim in one direction and his broad coat in
+another, and gave way to peals of laughter, Headlong Hal said:
+
+"Cap'n, I don't know what you think of it, but I think it just as
+churlish to laugh alone as to get drunk in solitude."
+
+"Oh, you shall laugh! You shall all laugh! Wait until I tell you! But
+first, answer me: Does not my broad-skirted gray coat and broad-brimmed
+gray hat make me look about twelve inches shorter and broader?"
+
+"That's so, cap'n!"
+
+"And when I bury my black beard and chin deep down in this drab
+neck-cloth, and pull the broad brim low over my black hair and eyes, I
+look as mild and respectable as William Penn?"
+
+"Yea, verily, friend Donald," said Hal.
+
+"Well, in this meek guise I went peddling to-day!"
+
+"Aye, cap'n, we knew it; and you'll go once too often!"
+
+"I have gone just once too often!"
+
+"I knew it!"
+
+"We said so!"
+
+"D----n!" were some of the ejaculations as the members of the band
+sprang to their feet and handled secret arms.
+
+"Pshaw! put up your knives and pistols! There is no danger. I was not
+traced--our rendezvous is still a secret for which the government would
+pay a thousand dollars!"
+
+"How, then, do you say that you went once too often, cap'n?"
+
+"It was inaccurate! I should have said that I had gone for the last
+time, for that it would not be safe to venture again. Come--I must tell
+you the whole story! But in the mean time let us have supper. Mother
+Raven, dish the beef! Dick, draw the ale! Hal, cut the bread! Steve,
+carve! Bestir yourselves, burn you, or you shall have no story!"
+exclaimed the captain, flinging himself into a chair at the head of the
+table.
+
+When his orders had been obeyed, and the men were gathered around the
+table, and the first draught of ale had been quaffed by all, Black
+Donald asked:
+
+"Where do you think I went peddling to-day?"
+
+"Devil knows," said Hal.
+
+"That's a secret between the Demon and Black Donald" said Dick.
+
+"Hush! he's about to tell us," murmured Steve.
+
+"Wooden heads! you'd never guess! I went--I went to--do you give it up?
+I went right straight into the lion's jaws--not only into the very
+clutches, but into the very teeth, and down the very throat of the lion,
+and have come out as safe as Jonah from the whale's belly! In a word, I
+have been up to the county seat where the court is now in session, and
+sold cigar cases, snuff boxes and smoking caps to the grand and petit
+jury, and a pair of gold spectacles to the learned judge himself!"
+
+"No!"
+
+"No!!"
+
+"No!!!" exclaimed Hal, Steve and Dick in a breath.
+
+"Yes! and, moreover, I offered a pair of patent steel spring handcuffs
+to the sheriff, John Keepe, in person, and pressed him to purchase them,
+assuring him that he would have occasion for their use if ever he caught
+that grand rascal, Black Donald!"
+
+"'Ah, the atrocious villain, if I thought I should ever have the
+satisfaction of springing them upon his wrists, I'd buy them at my own
+proper cost!' said the sheriff, taking them in his hands and examining
+them curiously.
+
+"'Ah! he's a man of Belial, that same Black Donald--thee'd better buy
+the handcuffs, John,' said I.
+
+"'Nay, friend, I don't know; and as for Black Donald, we have some hopes
+of taking the wretch at last!' said the simple gentleman.
+
+"'Ah, verily, John, that's a good hearing for peaceful travelers like
+myself,' said I.
+
+"'Excellent! excellent! For when that fell marauder once swings from the
+gallows----'
+
+"'His neck will be broken, John?'
+
+"'Yes, friend! yes, probably; after which honest men may travel in
+safety! Ah, never have I adjusted a hempen cravat about the throat of
+any aspirant for such an honor with less pain than I shall officiate at
+the last toilet of Black Donald!'
+
+"'If thee catch him!'
+
+"'Exactly, friend, if I catch him; but the additional reward offered by
+Major Warfield, together with the report that he often frequents our
+towns and villages in disguise, will stimulate people to renewed efforts
+to discover and capture him,' said the sheriff.
+
+"'Ah! that will be a great day for Alleghany. And when Black Donald is
+hanged, I shall make an effort to be present at the solemnity myself!'
+
+"'Do, friend,' said the sheriff, 'and I will see to getting you a good
+place for witnessing the proceedings.'
+
+"'I have no doubt thee will, John--a very good place! And I assure thee
+that there will not be one present more interested in those proceedings
+than myself,' said I.
+
+"'Of course, that is very natural, for there is no one more in danger
+from these marauders than men of your itinerant calling. Good heavens!
+It was but three years ago a peddler was robbed and murdered in the
+woods around the Hidden House.'
+
+"'Just so, John,' said I; 'and it's my opinion that often when I've been
+traveling along the road at night Black Donald hasn't been far off! But
+tell me, John, so that I may have a chance of earning that thousand
+dollars--what disguises does this son of Moloch take?'
+
+"'Why, friend, it is said that he appears as a Methodist missionary,
+going about selling tracts; and sometimes as a knife grinder, and
+sometimes simulates your calling, as a peddler!' said the unsuspicious
+sheriff.
+
+"I thought, however, it was time to be off, so I said 'Thee had better
+let me sell thee those handcuffs, John. Allow me! I will show thee their
+beautiful machinery! Hold out thy wrists, if thee pleases, John.'
+
+"The unsuspicious officer, with a face brimful of interest, held out his
+wrists for experiment.
+
+"I snapped the ornaments on them in a little less than no time, and took
+up my pack and disappeared before the sheriff had collected his
+faculties and found out his position!"
+
+"Ha, ha, ha! Haw, haw, haw! Ho, ho, ho!" laughed the outlaws, in every
+key of laughter. "And so our captain, instead of being pinioned by the
+sheriff, turned the tables and actually manacled his honor! Hip, hip,
+hurrah! Three times three for the merry captain, that manacled the
+sheriff!"
+
+"Hush, burn ye! There's some one coming!" exclaimed the captain, rising
+and listening. "It is Le Noir, who was to meet me here to-night on
+important business!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+GABRIEL LE NOIR.
+
+        Naught's had! all's spent!
+    When our desires are gained without content.
+                                       --Shakespeare.
+
+
+"The colonel!" exclaimed the three men in a breath, as the door opened
+and a tall, handsome and distinguished-looking gentleman, wrapped in a
+black military cloak and having his black beaver pulled low over his
+brow, strode into the room.
+
+All arose upon their feet to greet him as though he had been a prince.
+
+With a haughty wave of the hand, he bade them resume their seats, and
+beckoning their leader, said:
+
+"Donald, I would have a word with you!"
+
+"At your command, colonel!" said the outlaw, rising and taking a candle
+and leading the way into the adjoining room, the same in which fourteen
+years before old Granny Grewell and the child had been detained.
+
+Setting the candle upon the mantelpiece, Black Donald stood waiting for
+the visitor to open the conversation, a thing that the latter seemed in
+no hurry to do, for he began walking up and down the room in stern
+silence.
+
+"You seem disturbed, colonel," at length said the outlaw.
+
+"I am disturbed--more than disturbed! I am suffering!"
+
+"Suffering, colonel?"
+
+"Aye, suffering! From what think you? The pangs of remorse!"
+
+"Remorse! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" laughed the outlaw till all the rafters
+rang.
+
+"Aye, man, you may laugh; but I repeat that I am tortured with remorse!
+And for what do you suppose? For those acts of self-preservation that
+fanatics and fools would stigmatize as crimes? No, my good fellow, no!
+but for one 'unacted crime!'"
+
+"I told your honor so!" cried the outlaw, triumphantly.
+
+"Donald, when I go to church, as I do constantly, I hear the preacher
+prating of repentance; but man, I never knew the meaning of the word
+until recently."
+
+"And I can almost guess what it is that has enlightened your honor?"
+said the outlaw.
+
+"Yes, it is that miserable old woman and babe! Donald, in every vein of
+my soul I repent not having silenced them both forever while they were
+yet in my power!"
+
+"Just so, colonel; the dead never come back, or if they do, are not
+recognized as property holders in this world. I wish your honor had
+taken my advice and sent that woman and child on a longer journey."
+
+"Donald, I was younger then than now. I--shrank from bloodshed," said
+the man in a husky voice.
+
+"Bah! superstition! Bloodshed--blood is shed every day! 'We kill to
+live!' say the butchers. So do we. Every creature preys upon some other
+creature weaker than himself--the big beasts eat up the little
+ones--artful men live on the simple! So be it! The world was made for
+the strong and cunning! Let the weak and foolish look to themselves!"
+said the outlaw, with a loud laugh.
+
+While he spoke the visitor resumed his rapid, restless striding up and
+down the room. Presently he came again to the side of the robber and
+whispered:
+
+"Donald, that girl has returned to the neighborhood, brought back by old
+Warfield. My son met her in the woods a month ago, fell into
+conversation with her, heard her history, or as much of it as she
+herself knows. Her name is Capitola! She is the living image of her
+mother! How she came under the notice of old Warfield--to what extent he
+is acquainted with her birth and rights--what proofs may be in his
+possession I know not. All that I have discovered after the strictest
+inquiry that I was enabled to make, is this--that the old beggar woman
+that died and was buried at Major Warfield's expense, was no other than
+Nancy Grewell, returned--that the night before she died she sent for
+Major Warfield and had a long talk with him, and that shortly afterward
+the old scoundrel traveled to the north and brought home this girl!"
+
+"Humph! it is an ugly business, your honor, especially with your honor's
+little prejudice against----"
+
+"Donald, this is no time for weakness! I have gone too far to stop!
+Capitola must die!"
+
+"That's so, colonel--the pity is that it wasn't found out fourteen years
+ago. It is so much easier to pinch a baby's nose until it falls asleep
+than to stifle a young girl's shrieks and cries--then the baby would not
+have been missed--but the young girl will be sure to be inquired after."
+
+"I know that there will be additional risk, but there shall be the
+larger compensation, larger than your most sanguine hopes would suggest.
+Donald, listen!" said the colonel, stooping and whispering low--"the day
+that you bring me undeniable proofs that Capitola Le Noir is dead, you
+finger one thousand dollars!"
+
+"Ha, ha, ha!" laughed the outlaw, in angry scorn. "Capitola Le Noir is
+the sole heiress of a fortune--in land, negroes, coal mines, iron
+foundries, railway shares and bank stock of half a million of
+dollars--and you ask me to get her out of your way for a thousand
+dollars--I'll do it--you know I will! Ha, ha, ha!"
+
+"Why, the government doesn't value your whole carcass at more than I
+offer you for the temporary use of your hands, you villain!" frowned the
+colonel.
+
+"No ill names, your honor--between us they are like kicking guns--apt to
+recoil!"
+
+"You forget that you are in my power!"
+
+"I remember that your honor is in mine! Ha, ha, ha! The day Black Donald
+stands at the bar--the honorable Colonel Le Noir will probably be beside
+him!"
+
+"Enough of this! Confound you, do you take me for one of your pals?"
+
+"No, your worship, my pals are too poor to hire their work done, but
+then they are brave enough to do it themselves."
+
+"Enough of this, I say! Name the price of this new service!"
+
+"Ten thousand dollars--five thousand in advance--the remainder when the
+deed is accomplished."
+
+"Extortioner! Shameless, ruthless extortioner!"
+
+"Your honor will fall into that vulgar habit of calling ill names. It
+isn't worth while! It doesn't pay! If your honor doesn't like my terms,
+you needn't employ me. What is certain is that I cannot work for less!"
+
+"You take advantage of my necessities."
+
+"Not at all; but the truth is, Colonel, that I am tired of this sort of
+life, and wish to retire from active business. Besides, every man has
+his ambition, and I have mine. I wish to emigrate to the glorious West,
+settle, marry, turn my attention to politics, be elected to Congress,
+then to the Senate, then to the Cabinet, then to the White House--for
+success in which career, I flatter myself nature and education have
+especially fitted me. Ten thousand dollars will give me a fair start!
+Many a successful politician, your honor knows, has started on less
+character and less capital!"
+
+To this impudent slander the colonel made no answer. With his arms
+folded and his head bowed upon his chest he walked moodily up and down
+the length of the apartment. Then muttering, "Why should I hesitate?" he
+came to the side of the outlaw and said:
+
+"I agree to your terms--accomplish the work and the sum shall be yours.
+Meet me here on to-morrow evening to receive the earnest money. In the
+meantime, in order to make sure of the girl's identity, it will be
+necessary for you to get sight of her beforehand, at her home, if
+possible--find out her habits and her haunts--where she walks, or rides,
+when she is most likely to be alone, and so on. Be very careful! A
+mistake might be fatal."
+
+"Your honor may trust me."
+
+"And now good-by--remember, to-morrow evening," said the colonel, as,
+wrapping himself closely in his dark cloak, and pulling his hat low over
+his eyes, he passed out by the back passage door and left the house.
+
+"Ha, ha, ha! Why does that man think it needful to look so villainous?
+If I were to go about in such a bandit-like dress as that, every child I
+met would take me for--what I am!" laughed Black Donald, returning to
+his comrades.
+
+During the next hour other members of the band dropped in until some
+twenty men were collected together in the large kitchen around the long
+table, where the remainder of the night was spent in revelry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+THE SMUGGLER AND CAPITOLA.
+
+    Come buy of me! come buy! come buy!
+    Buy, lads, or else the lassies cry;
+    I have lawns as white as snow;
+    Silk as black as e'er was crow;
+    Gloves as sweet as damask roses;
+    Veils for faces; musk for noses;
+    Pins and needles made of steel;
+    All you need from head to heel.
+                                       --Shakespeare.
+
+
+"If I am not allowed to walk or ride out alone, I shall 'gang daft!' I
+know I shall! Was ever such a dull, lonesome, humdrum place as this same
+Hurricane Hall?" complained Cap, as she sat sewing with Mrs. Condiment
+in the housekeeper's room.
+
+"You don't like this quiet country life?" inquired Mrs. Condiment.
+
+"No! no better than I do a quiet country graveyard! I don't want to
+return to dust before my time, I tell you!" said Cap, yawning dismally
+over her work.
+
+"I hear you, vixen!" roared the voice of Old Hurricane, who presently
+came storming in and saying:
+
+"If you want a ride go and get ready quickly, and come with me, I am
+going down to the water mill, please the Lord, to warn Hopkins off the
+premises, worthless villain! Had my grain there since yesterday morning
+and hasn't sent it home yet! Shan't stay in my mill another month! Come,
+Cap, be off with you and get ready!"
+
+The girl did not need a second bidding but flew to prepare herself,
+while the old man ordered the horses.
+
+In ten minutes more Capitola and Major Warfield cantered away.
+
+They had been gone about two hours, and it was almost time to expect
+their return, and Mrs. Condiment had just given orders for the tea table
+to be set, when Wool came into her room and said there was a sailor at
+the hall door with some beautiful foreign goods which he wished to show
+to the ladies of the house.
+
+"A sailor, Wool--a sailor with foreign goods for sale? I am very much
+afraid he's one of these smugglers I've heard tell of, and I'm not sure
+about the right of buying from smugglers! However, I suppose there's no
+harm in looking at his goods. You may call him in, Wool," said the old
+lady, tampering with temptation.
+
+"He do look like a smudgeler, dat's a fact," said Wool whose ideas of
+the said craft were purely imaginary.
+
+"I don't know him to be a smuggler, and it's wrong to judge,
+particularly beforehand," said the old lady, nursing ideas of rich silks
+and satins, imported free of duty and sold at half price, and trying to
+deceive herself.
+
+While she was thus thinking the door opened and Wool ushered in a stout,
+jolly-looking tar, dressed in a white pea-jacket, duck trousers and
+tarpaulin hat, and carrying in his hand a large pack. He took off his
+hat and scraped his foot behind him, and remained standing before the
+housekeeper with his head tied up in a red bandana handkerchief and his
+chin sunken in a red comforter that was wound around his throat.
+
+"Sit down, my good man, and rest while you show me the goods," said Mrs.
+Condiment, who, whether he were smuggler or not, was inclined to show
+the traveler all lawful kindness.
+
+The sailor scraped his foot again, sat down on a low chair, put his hat
+on one side, drew the pack before him, untied it and first displayed a
+rich golden-hued fabric, saying:
+
+"Now here, ma'am, is a rich China silk I bought in the streets of
+Shanghai, where the long-legged chickens come from. Come, now, I'll ship
+it off cheap----"
+
+"Oh, that is a great deal too gay and handsome for an old woman like
+me," said Mrs. Condiment.
+
+"Well, ma'am, perhaps there's young ladies in the fleet? Now, this would
+rig out a smart young craft as gay as a clipper! Better take it, ma'am.
+I'll ship it off cheap!"
+
+"Wool!" said Mrs. Condiment, turning to the servant, "go down to the
+kitchen and call up the house servants--perhaps they would like to buy
+something."
+
+As soon as Wool had gone and the good woman was left alone with the
+sailor, she stooped and said:
+
+"I did not wish to inquire before the servant man, but, my good sir, I
+do not know whether it is right to buy from you!"
+
+"Why so, ma'am?" asked the sailor, with an injured look.
+
+"Why, I am afraid--I am very much afraid you risk your life and liberty
+in an unlawful trade!"
+
+"Oh, ma'am, on my soul, these things are honestly come by, and you have
+no right to accuse me!" said the sailor, with a look of subdued
+indignation.
+
+"I know I haven't, and I meant no harm, but did these goods pass through
+the custom house?"
+
+"Oh, ma'am, now, that's not a fair question!"
+
+"It is as I suspected! I cannot buy from you, my good friend. I do not
+judge you--I don't know whether smuggling is right or wrong, but I know
+that it is unlawful, and I cannot feel free to encourage any man in a
+traffic in which he risks his life and liberty, poor fellow!"
+
+"Oh, ma'am," said the sailor, evidently on the brink of bursting into
+laughter, "if we risk our lives, sure, it's our own business, and if
+you've no scruples on your own account, you needn't have any on ours!"
+
+While he was speaking the sound of many shuffling feet was heard along
+the passage, and the room was soon half filled with colored people come
+in to deal with the sailor.
+
+"You may look at these goods, but you must not buy anything."
+
+"Lor' missus, why?" asked little Pitapat.
+
+"Because I want you to lay out all your money with my friend Mr. Crash
+at Tip-Top."
+
+"But after de good gemman has had de trouble?" said Pitapat.
+
+"He shall have his supper and a mug of ale and go on his journey," said
+Mrs. Condiment.
+
+The sailor arose and scraped his foot behind him in acknowledgment of
+this kindness and began to unpack his wares and display them all over
+the floor.
+
+And while the servants in wonder and delight examined these treasures
+and inquired their prices, a fresh young voice was heard carolling along
+the hall, and the next moment Capitola, in her green riding habit and
+hat entered the room.
+
+She turned her mischievous gray eyes about, pursed up her lips and asked
+Mrs. Condiment if she were about to open a fancy bazaar.
+
+"No, my dear Miss Capitola! It is a sailor with foreign goods for sale,"
+answered the old lady.
+
+"A sailor with foreign goods for sale! Umph! yes, I know. Isn't he a
+smuggler?" whispered Capitola.
+
+"Indeed. I'm afraid so, my dear--in fact, he don't deny it!" whispered
+back the matron.
+
+"Well, I think it's strange a man that smuggles can't lie!"
+
+"Well, I don't know, my dear--may be he thinks it's no harm to smuggle,
+and he knows it would be a sin to lie. But where is your uncle, Miss
+Capitola?"
+
+"Gone around to the stable to blow Jem up for mounting on a lame horse.
+He swears Jem shall find another master before to-morrow's sun sets. But
+now I want to talk to that bold buccaneer. Say, you sir, show me your
+foreign goods--I'm very fond of smugglers myself!"
+
+"You are right, my dear young lady! You would give poor sailors some
+little chance to turn an honest penny!"
+
+"Certainly! Brave fellows! Show me that splendid fabric that shines like
+cloth of gold."
+
+"This, my young lady, this is a real, genuine China silk. I bought it
+myself in my last cruise in the streets of Shanghai, where the
+long-legged chickens----"
+
+"And fast young men come from! I know the place! I've been along there!"
+interrupted Capitola, her gray eyes glittering with mischief.
+
+"This you will perceive, young lady, is an article that cannot be
+purchased anywhere except----"
+
+"From the manufactory of foreign goods in the city of New York, or from
+their traveling agents!"
+
+"Oh, my dear young lady, how you wrong me! This article came from----"
+
+"The factory of Messrs. Hocus & Pocus, corner of Can't and Come-it
+Street, City of Gotham!"
+
+"Oh, my dear young lady----"
+
+"Look here, my brave buccaneer, I know all about it! I told you I'd been
+along there!" said the girl, and, turning to Mrs. Condiment, she said.
+"See here, my dear, good soul, if you want to buy that 'India' silk that
+you are looking at so longingly, you may do it with a safe conscience!
+True, it never passed through the custom house--because it was made in
+New York. I know all about it! All these 'foreign goods' are
+manufactured at the north and sent by agents all over the country. These
+agents dress and talk like sailors and assume a mysterious manner on
+purpose to be suspected of smuggling, because they know well enough fine
+ladies will buy much quicker and pay much more if they only fancy they
+are cheating Uncle Sam in buying foreign goods from a smuggler at half
+price."
+
+"So, then, you are not a smuggler, after all!" said Mrs. Condiment,
+looking almost regretfully at the sailor.
+
+"Why, ma'am, you know I told you you were accusing me wrongfully."
+
+"Well, but really, now, there was something about you that looked sort
+of suspicious."
+
+"What did I tell you? A look put on on purpose," said Cap.
+
+"Well, he knows that if he wanted to pass for a smuggler, it didn't take
+here," said Mrs. Condiment.
+
+"No, that it didn't!" muttered the object of these commentaries.
+
+"Well, my good man, since you are, after all, an honest peddler, just
+hand me that silk and don't ask me an unreasonable price for it, because
+I'm a judge of silks and I won't pay more than it is worth," said the
+old lady.
+
+"Madam, I leave it to your own conscience! You shall give me just what
+you think it's worth."
+
+"Humph! that's too fair by half! I begin to think this fellow is worse
+than he seems!" said Capitola to herself.
+
+After a little hesitation a price was agreed upon and the dress bought.
+
+Then the servants received permission to invest their little change in
+ribbons, handkerchiefs, tobacco, snuff, or whatever they thought they
+needed. When the purchases were all made and the peddler had done up his
+diminished pack and replaced his hat upon his head and was preparing to
+leave, Mrs. Condiment said:
+
+"My good man, it is getting very late, and we do not like to see a
+traveler leave our house at this hour--pray remain until morning, and
+then, after an early breakfast, you can pursue your way in safety."
+
+"Thank you kindly, ma'am, but I must be far on my road to-night," said
+the peddler.
+
+"But, my good man, you are a stranger in this part of the country and
+don't know the danger you run," said the housekeeper.
+
+"Danger, ma'am, in this quiet country?"
+
+"Oh, dear, yes, my good man, particularly with your valuable pack--oh,
+my good gracious!" cried the old lady, with an appalled look.
+
+"Indeed, ma'am, you--you make me sort of uneasy! What danger can there
+be for a poor, peaceful peddler pursuing his path?"
+
+"Oh, my good soul, may heaven keep you from--Black Donald!"
+
+"Black Donald--who's he?"
+
+"Oh, my good man, he's the awfullest villain that ever went unhung!"
+
+"Black Donald? Black Donald? Never heard that name before in my life?
+Why is the fellow called Black Donald?"
+
+"Oh, sir, he's called Black Donald for his black soul, black deeds
+and--and--also, I believe, for his jet black hair and beard."
+
+"'Oh, my countrymen, what a falling up was there,'" exclaimed Capitola
+at this anti-climax.
+
+"And how shall I keep from meeting this villain?" asked the peddler.
+
+"Oh, sir, how can I tell you? You never can form an idea where he is or
+where he isn't! Only think, he may be in our midst any time, and we not
+know it! Why, only yesterday the desperate villain handcuffed the very
+sheriff in the very courtyard! Yet I wonder the sheriff did not know him
+at once! For my own part, I'm sure I should know Black Donald the minute
+I clapped my two looking eyes on him!"
+
+"Should you, ma'am?"
+
+"Yes, indeed, by his long, black hair and beard! They say it is half a
+yard long--now a man of such a singular appearance as that must be
+easily recognized!"
+
+"Of course! Then you never met this wretch face to face?"
+
+"He? Me? Am I standing here alive? Do you suppose I should be standing
+here if ever I had met that demon? Why, man, I never leave this house,
+even in the day time, except with two bull dogs and a servant, for fear
+I should meet Black Donald! I know if ever I should meet that demon, I
+should drop dead with terror! I feel I should!"
+
+"But maybe, now, ma'am, the man may not be so bad, after all? Even the
+devil is not so bad as he is painted."
+
+"The devil may not be, but Black Donald is!"
+
+"What do you think of this outlaw, young lady?" asked the peddler,
+turning to Capitola.
+
+"Why, I like him!" said Cap.
+
+"You do!"
+
+"Yes, I do! I like men whose very names strike terror into the hearts of
+commonplace people!"
+
+"Oh, Miss Black!" exclaimed Mrs. Condiment.
+
+"Yes, I do, ma'am. And if Black Donald were only as honest as he is
+brave I should quite adore him. So there! And if there is one person in
+the world I should like to see it is Black Donald!"
+
+"Do you really wish to see him?" asked the peddler, looking intently
+into the half earnest, half satirical face of the girl.
+
+"Yes, I do wish to see him above all things!"
+
+"And do you know what happened the rash girl who wished to see the
+devil!"
+
+"No--what did?"
+
+"She saw him!"
+
+"Oh, if that's all, I dare it! And if wishing will bring me the sight of
+this notorious outlaw, lo, I wish it! I wish to see Black Donald!" said
+Capitola.
+
+The peddler deliberately arose and put down his pack and his hat; then
+he suddenly tore off the scarf from his neck and the handkerchief from
+his head, lifted his chin and shook loose a great rolling mass of black
+hair and beard, drew himself up, struck an attitude, called up a look,
+and exclaimed:
+
+"Behold Black Donald!"
+
+With a piercing shriek, Mrs. Condiment swooned and fell to the floor;
+the poor negroes, men and maids, were struck dumb and motionless with
+consternation; Capitola gazed for one lost moment in admiration and
+curiosity; in the meantime Black Donald quickly resumed his disguises,
+took up his pack and walked out of the room.
+
+Capitola was the first to recover her presence of mind; the instinct of
+the huntress possessed her; starting forward, she exclaimed:
+
+"Pursue him! catch him! come with me! Cowards, will you let a robber and
+murderer escape?" and she ran out and overtook the outlaw in the middle
+of the hall. With the agile leap of a little terrier she sprang up
+behind him, seized the thick collar of his pea-jacket with both hands,
+and, drawing up her feet, hung there with all her weight, crying:
+
+"Help! murder! murder! help! Come to my aid! I've caught Black Donald!"
+
+He could have killed her instantly in any one of a dozen ways. He could
+have driven in her temples with a blow of his sledge-hammer fist; he
+could have broken her neck with the grip of his iron fingers; he only
+wished to shake her off without hurting her--a difficult task, for there
+she hung, a dead weight, at the collar of his coat at the back of his
+neck.
+
+"Oh, very well!" he cried, laughing aloud! "Such adhesiveness I never
+saw! You stick to me like a wife to her husband. So if you won't let go,
+I shall have to take you along, that's all! So here I go like Christian
+with his bundle of sin on his back!"
+
+And loosing the upper button of his pea-jacket so as to give him more
+breath, and, putting down his peddler's pack to relieve himself as much
+as possible, the outlaw strode through the hall door, down the steps,
+and down the evergreen avenue leading to the woods.
+
+Capitola still clinging to the back of his coat-collar, with feet drawn
+up, a dead weight, and still crying:
+
+"Help! Murder! I've caught Black Donald, and I'll die before I'll let
+him go!"
+
+"You're determined to be an outlaw's bride, that's certain! Well, I've
+no particular objection!" cried Black Donald, roaring with laughter as
+he strode on.
+
+It was a "thing to see, not hear"--that brave, rash, resolute imp
+clinging like a terrier, or a crab, or a briar, on to the back of that
+gigantic ruffian, whom, if she had no strength to stop, she was
+determined not to release.
+
+They had nearly reached the foot of the descent, when a great noise and
+hallooing was heard behind them. It was the negroes, who, having
+recovered from their panic, and armed themselves with guns, pistols,
+swords, pokers, tongs and pitchforks, were now in hot pursuit!
+
+And cries of "Black Donald! Black Donald! Black Donald!" filled the air.
+
+"I've got him! I've got him! help! help! quick! quick!" screamed
+Capitola, clinging closer than ever.
+
+Though still roaring with laughter at the absurdity of his position,
+Black Donald strode on faster than before, and was in a fair way of
+escape, when lo! suddenly coming up the path in front of him, he
+met--Old Hurricane!!!
+
+As the troop of miscellaneously armed negroes running down the hill were
+still making eve hideous with yells of "Black Donald!" and Capitola
+still clinging and hanging on at the back of his neck, continued to cry,
+"I've caught him! help! help!" something like the truth flashed in a
+blinding way upon Old Hurricane's perceptions.
+
+Roaring forth something between a recognition and a defiance, the old
+man threw up his fat arms, and as fast as age and obesity would permit,
+ran up the hill to intercept the outlaw.
+
+There was no time for trifling now! The army of negroes was at his
+heels; the old veteran in his path; the girl clinging a dead weight to
+his jacket behind. An idea suddenly struck him which he wondered had not
+done so before--quickly unbuttoning and throwing off his garment he
+dropped both jacket and captor behind him on the ground.
+
+And before Capitola had picked herself up, Black Donald, bending his
+huge head and shoulders forward and making a battering ram of himself,
+ran with all his force and butted Old Hurricane in the stomach, pitching
+him into the horse pond, leaped over the park fence and disappeared in
+the forest.
+
+What a scene! what a row followed the escape and flight of the famous
+outlaw!
+
+Who could imagine, far less describe it!--a general tempest in which
+every individual was a particular storm!
+
+There stood the baffled Capitola, extricating her head from the
+pea-jacket, and with her eyes fairly flashing out sparks of anger,
+exclaiming, "Oh, wretches! wretches that you are! If you'd been worth
+salt you could have caught him while I clung to him so!"
+
+There wallowed Old Hurricane, spluttering, floundering, half drowning,
+in the horse pond, making the most frantic efforts to curse and swear as
+he struggled to get out.
+
+There stood the crowd of negroes brought to a sudden stand by a panic of
+horror at seeing the dignity of their master so outraged!
+
+And, most frenzied of all, there ran Wool around and around the margin
+of the pond, in a state of violent perplexity how to get his master out
+without half drowning himself!
+
+"Blurr-urr-rr! flitch! flitch! Blurr!-ur!" spluttered and sneezed and
+strangled, Old Hurricane, as he floundered to the edge of the
+pond--"Burr-urr-rr! Help me out, you scoundrel! I'll break every bone in
+your--flitch! body! Do you hear me--ca-snish!--villain you! flitch!
+flitch! ca-snish! oh-h!"
+
+Wool with his eyes starting from his head and his hair standing up with
+terrors of all sorts, plunged at last into the water and pulled his old
+master up upon his feet.
+
+"Ca-snish! ca-snish! blurr-rr! flitch!--what are you gaping there for as
+if you'd raised the devil, you crowd of born fools!" bawled Old
+Hurricane as soon as he could get the water out of his mouth and
+nose--"what are you standing there for! After him! After him, I say!
+Scour the woods in every direction! His freedom to any man who brings me
+Black Donald, dead or alive--Wool!"
+
+"Yes, sir," said that functionary, who was busying himself with
+squeezing the water out of his master's garments.
+
+"Wool, let me alone? Take the fleetest horse in the stable! Ride for
+your life to the Court House! Tell Keepe to have new bills posted
+everywhere, offering an additional five hundred dollars for the
+apprehension of that--that--that"--for the want of a word strong enough
+to express himself, Old Hurricane suddenly stopped, and for the lack of
+his stick to make silence emphatic, he seized his gray hair with both
+hands and groaned aloud!
+
+Wool waited no second bidding, but flew to do his errand.
+
+Capitola came to the old man's side, saying:
+
+"Uncle, hadn't you better hurry home--you'll take cold."
+
+"Cold? Cold! demmy! I never was so hot in my life!" cried the old man;
+"but, demmy! you're right! Run to the house, Capitola, and tell Mrs.
+Condiment to have me a full suit of dry clothes before the fire in my
+chamber. Go, child! every man-jack is off after Black Donald, and there
+is nobody but you and Condiment and the housemaids to take care of me.
+Stop! look for my stick first. Where did that black demon throw it?
+Demmy! I'd as well be without my legs!"
+
+Capitola picked up the old man's cane and hat and put the one on his
+head and the other in his hand, and then hastened to find Mrs. Condiment
+and tell her to prepare to receive her half-drowned patron. She found
+the old lady scarcely recovered from the effects of her recent fright,
+but ready on the instant to make every effort in behalf of Old
+Hurricane, who presently after arrived dripping wet at the house.
+
+Leaving the old gentleman to the care of his housekeeper, we must follow
+Black Donald.
+
+Hatless and coatless, with his long black hair and beard blown by the
+wind, the outlaw made tracks for his retreat--occasionally stopping to
+turn and get breath, and send a shout of laughter after his baffled
+pursuers.
+
+That same night, at the usual hour, the gang met at their rendezvous,
+the deserted inn, beside the old road through the forest. They were in
+the midst of their orgies around the supper table, when the well-known
+ringing step of the leader sounded under the back windows without, the
+door was burst open, and the captain, hatless, coatless, with his dark
+elf locks flying, and every sign of haste and disorder, rushed into the
+room.
+
+He was met by a general rising and outcry: "Hi! hillo! what's up?"
+exclaimed every man, starting to his feet and laying hands upon secret
+arms, prepared for instant resistance.
+
+For a moment Black Donald stood with his leonine head turned and looking
+back over his stalwart shoulders, as if in expectation of pursuit, and
+then, with a loud laugh, turned to his men, exclaiming:
+
+"Ho! you thought me followed! So I have been; but not as close as hound
+to heel!"
+
+"In fact, captain, you look as if you'd but escaped with your skin this
+time!" said Hal.
+
+"Faith! the captain looks well peeled!" said Stephen.
+
+"Worse than that, boys! worse than that! Your chief has not only lost
+his pack, his hat and his coat, but--his heart! Not only are the
+outworks battered, but the citadel itself is taken! Not only has he been
+captured, but captivated! And all by a little minx of a girl! Boys, your
+chief is in love!" exclaimed Black Donald, throwing himself into his
+seat at the head of the table, and quaffing off a large draught of ale.
+
+"Hip! hip! hurraw! three times three for the captain's love!" cried Hal,
+rising to propose the toast, which was honored with enthusiasm.
+
+"Now tell us all about it, captain. Who is she? Where did you see her?
+Is she fair or dark; tall or short; thin or plump; what's her name, and
+is she kind?" asked Hal.
+
+"First, guess where I have been to-day?"
+
+"You and your demon only know!"
+
+"I guess they also know at Hurricane Hall, for it is there I have been!"
+
+"Well, then, why didn't you go to perdition at once?" exclaimed Hal, in
+a consternation that was reflected in every countenance present.
+
+"Why, because when I go there I intend to take you all with me and
+remain!" answered Black Donald.
+
+"Tell us about the visit to Hurricane Hall," said Hal.
+
+Whereupon Black Donald commenced, and concealing only the motive of his
+visit, gave his comrades a very graphic, spicy and highly colored
+narrative of his adventure at Hurricane Hall, and particularly of his
+"passages at arms" with the little witch, Capitola, whom he described
+as:
+
+"Such a girl! slender, petite, lithe, with bright, black ringlets
+dancing around a little face full of fun, frolic, mischief and spirit,
+and bright eyes quick and vivacious as those of a monkey, darting hither
+and thither from object to object."
+
+"The captain is in love sure enough," said Steve.
+
+"Bravo! here's success to the captain's love!--she's a brick!" shouted
+the men.
+
+"Oh, she is!" assented their chief, with enthusiasm.
+
+"Long life to her! three times three for the pretty witch of Hurricane
+Hall!" roared the men, rising to their feet and waving their full mugs
+high in the air, before pledging the toast.
+
+"That is all very well, boys; but I want more substantial compliments
+than words--boys, I must have that girl!"
+
+"Who doubts it, captain? Of course you will take her at once if you want
+her," said Hal, confidently.
+
+"But, I must have help in taking her."
+
+"Captain, I volunteer for one!" exclaimed Hal.
+
+"And I, for another," added Stephen.
+
+"And you, Dick?" inquired the leader, turning toward the sullen man,
+whose greater atrocity had gained for him the name of Demon Dick.
+
+"What is the use of volunteering when the captain has only to command,"
+said this individual, sulkily.
+
+"Ay! when the enterprise is simply the robbing of a mail coach, in which
+you all have equal interest, then, indeed, your captain has only to
+command, and you to obey; but this is a more delicate matter of entering
+a lady's chamber and carrying her off for the captain's arms, and so
+should only be entrusted to those whose feelings of devotion to the
+captain's person prompt them to volunteer for the service," said Black
+Donald.
+
+"How elegantly our captain speaks! He ought to be a lawyer," said Steve.
+
+"The captain knows I'm with him for everything," said Dick, sulkily.
+
+"Very well, then, for a personal service like this, a delicate service
+requiring devotion, I should scorn to give commands! I thank you for
+your offered assistance, my friends, and shall count on you three Hal,
+Stephen and Richard for the enterprise!" said the captain.
+
+"Ay, ay, ay!" said the three men, in a breath.
+
+"For the time and place and manner of the seizure of the girl, we must
+reflect. Let us see! There is to be a fair in the village next week,
+during the session of the court. Old Hurricane will be at court as
+usual. And for one day, at least, his servants will have a holiday to go
+to the fair. They will not get home until the next morning. The house
+will be ill-guarded. We must find out the particular day and night when
+this shall be so. Then you three shall watch your opportunity, enter the
+house by stealth, conceal yourselves in the chamber of the girl, and at
+midnight when all is quiet, gag her and bring her away."
+
+"Excellent!" said Hal.
+
+"And mind, no liberty, except the simple act of carrying her off, is to
+be taken with your captain's prize!" said the leader, with a threatening
+glare of his lion-like eye.
+
+"Oh, no, no, not for the world! She shall be as sacred from insult as
+though she were an angel and we saints!" said Hal, both the others
+assenting.
+
+"And now, not a word more. We will arrange the further details of this
+business hereafter," said the captain, as a peculiar signal was given at
+the door.
+
+Waving his hand for the men to keep their places, Black Donald went out
+and opened the back passage door, admitting Colonel Le Noir.
+
+"Well!" said the latter anxiously.
+
+"Well, sir, I have contrived to see her; come into the front room and I
+will tell you all about it!" said the outlaw, leading the way into the
+old parlor that had been the scene of so many of their conspiracies.
+
+"Does Capitola Le Noir still live?" hoarsely demanded the colonel, as
+the two conspirators reached the parlor.
+
+"Still live? Yes; 'twas but yesterday we agreed upon her death! Give a
+man time! Sit down, colonel! Take this seat. We will talk the matter
+over again."
+
+With something very like a sigh of relief, Colonel Le Noir threw himself
+into the offered chair.
+
+Black Donald drew another chair up and sat down beside his patron.
+
+"Well, colonel, I have contrived to see the girl as I told you," he
+began.
+
+"But you have not done the deed! When will it be done?"
+
+"Colonel, my patron, be patient! Within twelve days I shall claim the
+last instalment of the ten thousand dollars agreed upon between us for
+this job!"
+
+"But why so long, since it is to be done, why not have it over at once?"
+said Colonel Le Noir, starting up and pacing the floor impatiently.
+
+"Patience, my colonel! The cat may play with the mouse most delightfully
+before devouring it!"
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"My colonel, I have seen the girl, under circumstances that has fired my
+heart with an uncontrollable desire for her."
+
+"Ha, ha ha!" scornfully laughed the colonel. "Black Donald, the mail
+robber, burglar, outlaw, the subject of the grand passion!"
+
+"Why not, my colonel? Listen, you shall hear! And then you shall judge
+whether or not you yourself might not have been fired by the
+fascinations of such a witch!" said the outlaw, who straightway
+commenced and gave his patron the same account of his visit to Hurricane
+Hall that he had already related to his comrades.
+
+The colonel heard the story with many a "pish," "tush" and "pshaw," and
+when the man had concluded the tale he exclaimed:
+
+"Is that all? Then we may continue our negotiations, I care not! Carry
+her off! marry her! do as you please with her! only at the end of
+all--kill her!" hoarsely whispered Le Noir.
+
+"That is just what I intend, colonel!"
+
+"That will do if the event be certain: but it must be certain! I cannot
+breathe freely while my brother's heiress lives," whispered Le Noir.
+
+"Well, colonel, be content; here is my hand upon it! In six days
+Capitola will be in my power! In twelve days you shall be out of hers!"
+
+"It is a bargain," said each of the conspirators, in a breath, as they
+shook hands and parted--Le Noir to his home and Black Donald to join his
+comrades' revelry.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE BOY'S LOVE
+
+    Endearing! endearing!
+      Why so endearing
+    Are those soft shining eyes,
+      Through their silk fringe peering?
+    They love thee! they love thee!
+      Deeply, sincerely;
+    And more than aught else on earth
+      Thou lovest them dearly!
+                                       --Motherwell.
+
+
+While these dark conspiracies were hatching elsewhere, all was comfort,
+peace and love in the doctor's quiet dwelling.
+
+Under Marah Rocke's administration the business of the household went on
+with the regularity of clockwork. Every one felt the advantage of this
+improved condition.
+
+The doctor often declared that for his part he could not for the life of
+him think how they had ever been able to get along without Mrs. Rocke
+and Traverse.
+
+Clara affirmed that however the past might have been, the mother and son
+were a present and future necessity to the doctor's comfort and
+happiness.
+
+The little woman herself gained rapidly both health and spirits and good
+looks. Under favorable circumstances, Marah Rocke, even at thirty-six,
+would have been esteemed a first-rate beauty; and even now she was
+pretty, graceful and attractive to a degree that she herself was far
+from suspecting.
+
+Traverse advanced rapidly in his studies, to the ardent pursuit of which
+he was urged by every generous motive that could fire a human
+bosom--affection for his mother, whose condition he was anxious to
+elevate; gratitude to his patron, whose great kindness he wished to
+justify, and admiration for Clara, whose esteem he was ambitious to
+secure.
+
+He attended his patron in all his professional visits; for the doctor
+said that actual, experimental knowledge formed the most important part
+of a young medical student's education.
+
+The mornings were usually passed in reading, in the library; the middle
+of the day in attending the doctor on his professional visits, and the
+evenings were passed in the drawing-room with the doctor, Clara and Mrs.
+Rocke. And if the morning's occupation was the most earnest and the
+day's the most active, the evening's relaxation with Clara and music and
+poetry was certainly the most delightful! In the midst of all this peace
+and prosperity a malady was creeping upon the boy's heart and brain
+that, in his simplicity and inexperience, he could neither understand
+nor conquer.
+
+Why was it that these evening fireside meetings with the doctor's lovely
+daughter, once such unalloyed delight, were now only a keenly pleasing
+pain? Why did his face burn and his heart beat and his voice falter when
+obliged to speak to her? Why could he no longer talk of her to his
+mother, or write of her to his friend, Herbert Greyson? Above all, why
+had his favorite day dream of having his dear friends, Herbert and Clara
+married together, grown so abhorrent as to sicken his very soul?
+
+Traverse himself could not have answered these questions. In his
+ignorance of life he did not know that all his strong, ardent, earnest
+nature was tending toward the maiden by a power of attraction seated in
+the deepest principles of being and of destiny.
+
+Clara in her simplicity did not suspect the truth; but tried in every
+innocent way to enliven the silent boy, and said that he worked too
+hard, and begged her father not to let him study too much.
+
+Whereupon the doctor would laugh and bid her not be uneasy about
+Traverse--that the boy was all right and would do very well! Evidently
+the doctor, with all his knowledge of human nature, did not perceive
+that his protege was in process of forming an unadvisable attachment to
+his daughter and heiress.
+
+Mrs. Rocke, with her woman's tact and mother's forethought, saw all! She
+saw that in the honest heart of her poor boy, unconsciously there was
+growing up a strong, ardent, earnest passion for the lovely girl with
+whom he was thrown in such close, intimate, daily association, and who
+was certainly not indifferent in her feelings toward him; but whom he
+might never, never hope to possess.
+
+She saw this daily growing, and trembled for the peace of both. She
+wondered at the blindness of the doctor, who did not perceive what was
+so plain to her own vision. Daily she looked to see the eyes of the
+doctor open and some action taken upon the circumstances; but they did
+not open to the evil ahead, for the girl and boy! for morning after
+morning their hands would be together tying up the same vines, or
+clearing out the same flower bed; day after day at the doctor's orders
+Traverse attended Clara on her rides; night after night their blushing
+faces would be bent over the same sketch book, chess board, or music
+sheet.
+
+"Oh! if the doctor cannot and will not see, what shall I do? What ought
+I to do?" said the conscientious little woman to herself, dreading above
+all things, and equally for her son and the doctor's daughter, the evils
+of an unhappy attachment, which she, with her peculiar temperament and
+experiences, believed to be the worst of sorrows--a misfortune never to
+be conquered or outlived.
+
+"Yes! It is even better that we should leave the house than that
+Traverse should become hopelessly attached to Clara; or, worse than all,
+that he should repay the doctor's great bounty by winning the heart of
+his only daughter," said Marah Rocke to herself; and so "screwing her
+courage to the sticking place," she took an opportunity one morning
+early while Traverse and Clara were out riding, to go into the study to
+speak to the doctor.
+
+As usual, he looked up with a smile to welcome her as she entered; but
+her downcast eyes and serious face made him uneasy, and he hastened to
+inquire if she was not well, or if anything had happened to make her
+anxious, and at the same time he placed a chair and made her sit in it.
+
+"Yes, I am troubled, doctor, about a subject that I scarcely know how to
+break to you," she said, in some considerable embarrassment.
+
+"Mrs. Rocke, you know I am your friend, anxious to serve you! Trust in
+me, and speak out!"
+
+"Well, sir," said Marah, beginning to roll up the corner of her apron,
+in her embarrassment, "I should not presume to interfere, but you do not
+see; gentlemen, perhaps, seldom do until it is too late." She paused,
+and the good doctor turned his head about, listening first with one ear
+and then with the other, as if he thought by attentive hearing he might
+come to understand her incomprehensible words.
+
+"Miss Clara has the misfortune to be without a mother, or an aunt, or
+any lady relative----"
+
+"Oh, yes, I know it, my dear madam; but then I am sure you
+conscientiously try to fill the place of a matronly friend and adviser
+to my daughter," said the doctor, striving after light.
+
+"Yes, sir, and it is in view of my duties in this relation that I say--I
+and Traverse ought to go away."
+
+"You and Traverse go away! My good little woman, you ought to be more
+cautious how you shock a man at my time of life--fifty is a very
+apoplectic age to a full-blooded man, Mrs. Rocke! But now that I have
+got over the shock, tell me why you fancy that you and Traverse ought to
+go away?"
+
+"Sir, my son is a well-meaning boy----"
+
+"A high-spirited, noble-hearted lad!" put in the doctor. "I have never
+seen a better!"
+
+"But granting all that to be what I hope and believe it is--true, still,
+Traverse Rocke is not a proper or desirable daily associate for Miss
+Day."
+
+"Why?" curtly inquired the doctor.
+
+"If Miss Clara's mother were living, sir, she would probably tell you
+that young ladies should never associate with any except their equals of
+the opposite sex," said Marah Rocke.
+
+"Clara's dear mother, were she on earth, would understand and sympathize
+with me, and esteem your Traverse as I do, Mrs. Rocke," said the doctor,
+with moist eyes and a tremulous voice.
+
+"But oh, sir, exceeding kind as you are to Traverse, I dare not, in
+duty, look on and see things going the way in which they are, and not
+speak and ask your consent to withdraw Traverse!"
+
+"My good little friend," said the doctor, rising and looking kindly and
+benignantly upon Marah, "My good little woman 'sufficient unto the day
+is the evil thereof!' Suppose you and I trust a little in Divine
+Providence, and mind our own business?"
+
+"But, sir, it seems to me a part of our business to watch over the young
+and inexperienced, that they fall into no snare."
+
+"And also to treat them with 'a little wholesome neglect' that our
+over-officiousness may plunge them into none!"
+
+"I wish you would comprehend me, sir!"
+
+"I do, and applaud your motives; but give yourself no further trouble!
+Leave the young people to their own honest hearts and to Providence.
+Clara, with all her softness, is a sensible girl, and as for Traverse,
+if he is one to break his heart from an unhappy attachment, I have been
+mistaken in the lad, that is all!" said the doctor, heartily.
+
+Mrs. Rocke sighed, and, saying, "I deemed it my duty to speak to you,
+sir, and having done so, I have no more to say," she slightly curtsied
+and withdrew.
+
+"He does not see! His great benevolence blinds him! In his wish to serve
+us he exposes Traverse to the most dreadful misfortune--the misfortune
+of becoming hopelessly attached to one far above him in station, whom he
+can never expect to possess!" said Marah Rocke to herself, as she
+retired from the room.
+
+"I must speak to Traverse himself and warn him against this snare," she
+said, as she afterward ruminated over the subject.
+
+And accordingly that evening, when she had retired to her chamber and
+heard Traverse enter the little adjoining room where he slept, she
+called him in, and gave him a seat, saying that she must have some
+serious conversation with him.
+
+The boy looked uneasy, but took the offered chair and waited for his
+mother to speak.
+
+"Traverse," she said, "a change has come over you recently that may
+escape all other eyes but those of your mother; she, Traverse, cannot be
+blind to anything that seriously affects her boy's happiness."
+
+"Mother, I scarcely know what you mean," said the youth in
+embarrassment.
+
+"Traverse, you are beginning to think too much of Miss Day."
+
+"Oh, mother!" exclaimed the boy, while a violent blush overspread and
+empurpled his face! Then in a little while and in faltering tones he
+inquired. "Have I betrayed, in any way, that I do?"
+
+"To no one but to me, Traverse, to me whose anxiety for your happiness
+makes me watchful; and now, dear boy, you must listen to me. I know it
+is very sweet to you, to sit in a dark corner and gaze on Clara, when no
+one, not even herself, witnesses your joy, and to lie awake and think
+and dream of her when no eye but that of God looks down upon your heart;
+and to build castles in the air for her and for you; all this I know is
+very sweet, but, Traverse, it is a sweet poison--fatal if indulged
+in--fatal to your peace and integrity."
+
+"Oh, my mother! Oh, my mother! What are you telling me!" exclaimed
+Traverse, bitterly.
+
+"Unpalatable truths, dear boy, but necessary antidotes to that sweet
+poison of which you have already tasted too much."
+
+"What would you have me to do, my mother?"
+
+"Guard your acts and words, and even thoughts; forbear to look at, or
+speak to, or think of Clara, except when it is unavoidable--or if you
+do, regard her as she is--one so far beyond your sphere as to be forever
+unattainable!"
+
+"Oh, mother, I never once dreamed of such presumption as to think
+of--of"--The youth paused and a deep blush again overspread his face.
+
+"I know you have not indulged presumptuous thoughts as yet, my boy, and
+it is to warn you against them, while yet your heart is in some measure
+within your own keeping, that I speak to you. Indulge your imagination
+in no more sweet reveries about Miss Day, for the end thereof will be
+bitter humiliation and disappointment. Remember also that in so doing
+you would indulge a sort of treachery against your patron, who in his
+great faith in your integrity has received you in the bosom of his
+family and admitted you to an almost brotherly intimacy with his
+daughter. Honor his trust in you, and treat his daughter with the
+distant respect due to a princess."
+
+"I will, mother! It will be hard, but I will! Oh, an hour ago I did not
+dream how miserable I should be now!" said Traverse, in a choking voice.
+
+"Because I have pointed out to you the gulf toward which you were
+walking blindfolded!"
+
+"I know it! I know it now, mother," said Traverse, as he arose and
+pressed his mother's hand and hurried to his own room.
+
+The poor youth did his best to follow out the line of conduct prescribed
+for him by his mother. He devoted himself to his studies and to the
+active service of his patron. He avoided Clara as much as possible, and
+when obliged to be in her company, he treated her with the most
+respectful reserve.
+
+Clara saw and wondered at his change of manner, and began to cast about
+in her own mind for the probable cause of his conduct.
+
+"I am the young mistress of the house," said Clara to herself, "and I
+know I owe to every inmate of it consideration and courtesy; perhaps I
+may have been unconsciously lacking in these toward Traverse, whose
+situation would naturally render him very sensitive to neglect. I must
+endeavor to convince him that none was intended." And so resolving,
+Clara redoubled all her efforts to make Traverse, as well as others,
+happy and comfortable.
+
+But happiness and comfort seemed for the time to have departed from the
+youth. He saw her generous endeavors to cheer him, and while adoring her
+amiability, grew still more reserved.
+
+This pained the gentle girl, who, taking herself seriously to task,
+said:
+
+"Oh, I must have deeply wounded his feelings in some unconscious way!
+And if so, how very cruel and thoughtless of me! How could I have done
+it? I cannot imagine! But I know I shall not allow him to continue
+unhappy if I can prevent it! I will speak to him about it."
+
+And then in the candor, innocence and humility of her soul, she followed
+him to the window where he stood in a moody silence, and said
+pleasantly:
+
+"Traverse, we do not seem to be so good friends as formerly. If I have
+done anything to offend you, I know that you will believe me when I say
+that it was quite unintentional on my part and that I am very sorry for
+it, and hope you will forget it."
+
+"You--you--Miss Day! You say anything to displease anybody! Any one
+become displeased with you!" exclaimed the youth in a tremulous
+enthusiasm that shook his voice and suffused his cheeks.
+
+"Then if you are not displeased, Traverse, what is the matter, and why
+do you call me Miss Day instead of Clara?"
+
+"Miss Day, because it is right that I should. You are a young lady--the
+only daughter and heiress of Doctor Day of Willow Heights, while I
+am----"
+
+"His friend," said Clara.
+
+"The son of his housekeeper," said Traverse, walking away.
+
+Clara looked after him in dismay for a moment, and then sat down and
+bent thoughtfully over her needlework.
+
+From that day Traverse grew more deeply in love and more reserved than
+before. How could it be otherwise, domesticated as he was, with this
+lovely girl and becoming daily more sensible of her beauty, goodness and
+intelligence? Yet he struggled against his inevitable attachment as a
+great treachery. Meantime he made rapid progress in his medical studies.
+It was while affairs were in this state that one morning the doctor
+entered the study holding the morning paper in his hand. Seating himself
+in his leathern armchair at the table, he said:
+
+"I see, my dear Traverse, that a full course of lectures is to be
+commenced at the medical college in Washington, and I think that you are
+sufficiently far advanced in your studies to attend them with great
+advantage--what say you?"
+
+"Oh, sir!" said Traverse, upon whom the proposition had burst quite
+unexpectedly, "I should indeed be delighted to go if that were
+possible."
+
+"There is no 'if' about it, my boy; if you wish to go, you shall do so.
+I have made up my mind to give you a professional education, and shall
+not stop half way."
+
+"Oh, sir, the obligation--the overwhelming obligation you lay upon me!"
+
+"Nonsense, Traverse! it is only a capital investment of funds! If I were
+a usurer I could not put out money to a better advantage. You will repay
+me by-and-by with compound interest; so just consider all that I may be
+able to do for you as a loan to be repaid when you shall have achieved
+success."
+
+"I am afraid, sir, that that time will never----"
+
+"No, you are not!" interrupted the doctor, "and so don't let modesty run
+into hypocrisy. Now put up your books and go and tell your good little
+mother to get your clothes all ready for you to go to Washington, for
+you shall start by the next coach."
+
+Much surprise was created in the little household by the news that
+Traverse was going immediately to Washington to attend the medical
+lectures. There were but two days to prepare his wardrobe for the
+journey. Mrs. Rocke went cheerfully to work; Clara lent her willing and
+skilful aid, and at the end of the second day his clothes, in perfect
+order, were all neatly packed in his trunk.
+
+And on the morning of the third day Traverse took leave of his mother
+and Clara, and for the first time left home to go into the great world.
+Doctor Day accompanied him in the old green gig as far as Staunton,
+where he took the stage.
+
+As soon as they had left the house Marah Rocke went away to her own room
+to drop a few natural tears over this first parting with her son. Very
+lonely and desolate the mother felt as she stood weeping by the window,
+and straining her eyes to catch a distant view of the old green gig that
+had already rolled out of sight.
+
+While she stood thus in her loneliness and desolation, the door silently
+opened, a footstep softly crossed the floor, a pair of arms was put
+around her neck, and Clara Day dropped her head upon the mother's bosom
+and wept softly.
+
+Marah Rocke pressed that beautiful form to her breast, and felt with
+dismay that the doctor's sweet daughter already returned her boy's
+silent love!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+CAPITOLA'S MOTHER.
+
+    A woman like a dew-drop she was purer than the purest,
+    And her noble heart the noblest, yes, and her sure faith the surest;
+    And her eyes were dark and humid like the depth in depth of lustre
+    Hid i' the harebell, while her tresses, sunnier than the wild
+        grape's cluster,
+    Gushed in raven-tinted plenty down her cheeks' rose-tinted marble;
+    Then her voice's music--call it the well's bubbling, the bird's warble.
+                                       --Browning.
+
+
+"Cap?"
+
+"Sir!"
+
+"What the blazes is the matter with you?"
+
+"What the blazes! You better say what the dust and ashes! I'm bored to
+death! I'm blue as indigo! There never was such a rum old place as this
+or such a rum old uncle as you!"
+
+"Cap, how often have I told you to leave off this Bowery boy talk? Rum!
+pah!" said Old Hurricane.
+
+"Well, it is rum, then! Nothing ever happens here! The silence deafens
+me! the plenty takes away my appetite! the safety makes me low!"
+
+"Hum! you are like the Bowery boys in times of peace, 'spoiling for a
+fight.'"
+
+"Yes. I am! just decomposing above ground for want of having my blood
+stirred, and I wish I was back in the Bowery! Something was always
+happening there! One day a fire, next day a fight, another day a fire
+and a fight together."
+
+"Umph! and you to run with the engine!"
+
+"Don't talk about it, uncle; it makes me homesick--every day something
+glorious to stir one's blood! Here nothing ever happens, hardly! It has
+been three days since I caught Black Donald; ten days since you blowed
+up the whole household! Oh! I wish the barns would catch on fire! I wish
+thieves would break in and steal. I wish Demon's Run would rise to a
+flood and play the demon for once! Ohyah!--oo!" said Cap, opening her
+mouth with a yawn wide enough to threaten the dislocation of her jaws.
+
+"Capitola," said the old man, very gravely, "I am getting seriously
+uneasy about you. I know I am a rough old soldier, quite unfit to
+educate a young girl, and that Mrs. Condiment can't manage you,
+and--I'll consult Mr. Goodwin!" he concluded, getting up and putting on
+his hat, and walking out of the breakfast-room, where this conversation
+had taken place.
+
+Cap laughed to herself. "I hope it is not a sin. I know I should die of
+the blues if I couldn't give vent to my feelings and--tease uncle!"
+
+Capitola had scarcely exaggerated her condition. The monotony of her
+life affected her spirits; the very absence of the necessity of thinking
+and caring for herself left a dull void in her heart and brain, and as
+the winter waned the annual spring fever of lassitude and dejection to
+which mercurial organizations like her own are subject, tended to
+increase the malady that Mrs. Condiment termed "a lowness of spirits."
+
+At his wits' end, from the combined feelings of his responsibility and
+his helplessness in his ward's case, Old Hurricane went and laid the
+matter before the Rev. Mr. Goodwin.
+
+Having reached the minister's house and found him alone and disengaged
+in his library, Old Hurricane first bound him over to strict secrecy and
+then "made a clean breast of it;" told him where Capitola had been
+brought up and under what circumstances he had found her.
+
+The honest country clergyman was shocked beyond all immediate power of
+recovering himself--so shocked, in fact, that Old Hurricane, fearing he
+had gone too far, hastened to say:
+
+"But mind, on my truth as a man, my honor as a soldier, and my faith as
+a Christian, I declare that that wild, reckless, desolate child has
+passed unscathed through the terrible ordeal of destitution, poverty and
+exposure. She has, sir! She is as innocent as the most daintily
+sheltered young heiress in the country! She is, sir! And I'd cut off the
+tongue and ears of any man that said otherwise."
+
+"I do not say otherwise, my friend; but I say that she has suffered a
+frightful series of perils."
+
+"She has come out of them safe, sir! I know it by a thousand signs; what
+I fear for her is the future. I can't manage her. She won't obey me,
+except when she likes. She has never been taught obedience nor been
+accustomed to subordination, and I don't understand either. She rides
+and walks out alone in spite of all I can do or say. If she were a boy
+I'd thrash her; but what can I do with a girl?" said Old Hurricane, in
+despair.
+
+"Lock her up in her chamber until she is brought to reason," suggested
+the minister.
+
+"Demmy, she'd jump out of the window and break her neck! or hang herself
+with her garters! or starve herself to death! You don't know what an
+untamable thing she is. Some birds, if caged, beat themselves to death
+against the bars of their prison. She is just such a wild bird as that."
+
+"Humph! it is a difficult case to manage; but you should not shrink from
+responsibility; you should be firm with her."
+
+"That's just what I can't be with the witch, confound her! she is such a
+wag, such a drole, such a mimic; disobeys me in such a mocking,
+cajoling, affectionate way. I could not give her pain if her soul
+depended on it!"
+
+"Then you should talk to her; try moral suasion."
+
+"Yes; if I could only get her to be serious long enough to listen to me!
+But you see Cap isn't sentimental, and if I try to be she laughs in my
+face."
+
+"But, then, is she so insensible to all the benefits you have conferred
+upon her? Will not gratitude influence her?"
+
+"Yes; so far as repaying me with a genuine affection, fervent caresses
+and careful attention to my little comforts can go; but Cap evidently
+thinks that the restriction of her liberty is too heavy a price to pay
+for protection and support. The little rogue! Think of her actually
+threatening, in her good-humored way, to cite me before the nearest
+justice to show cause why I detained her in my house!"
+
+"Well, you could easily do that, I suppose, and she could no longer
+oppose your authority."
+
+"No; that is just what I couldn't do; I couldn't show any legal rights
+to detain Capitola."
+
+"Humph! That complicates the case very much!"
+
+"Yes; and much more than you think; for I wish to keep Capitola until
+she is of legal age. I do not wish that she should fall into the hands
+of her perfidious guardian until I shall be able to bring legal proof of
+his perfidy."
+
+"Then it appears that this girl has received foul play from her
+friends?"
+
+"Foul play! I should think so! Gabriel Le Noir has very nearly put his
+neck into a halter."
+
+"Gabriel Le Noir! Colonel Le Noir, our neighbor!" exclaimed the
+minister.
+
+"Exactly so. Parson, you have given me your word as a Christian minister
+to be silent forever concerning this interview, or until I give you
+leave to speak of it."
+
+"Yes, major, and I repeat my promise; but, indeed, sir, you astound me!"
+
+"Listen, and let astonishment rise to consternation. I will tell you who
+Capitola is. You, sir, have been in this neighborhood only ten years,
+and, consequently, you know Gabriel Le Noir only as the proprietor of
+Hidden House, a widower with a grown son----"
+
+"And as a gentleman of irreproachable reputation, in good standing both
+in the church and in the county."
+
+"Ex-actly! A man that pays his pew rent, gives good dinners and takes
+off his hat to women and clergymen! Well, sir, this gentleman of
+irreproachable manners and morals--this citizen of consideration in the
+community--this member in good standing with the church--has qualified
+himself for twenty years' residence in the penitentiary, even if not for
+the exaltation of a hangman's halter!"
+
+"Sir, I am inexpressibly shocked to hear you say so, and I must still
+believe that there is some great mistake."
+
+"Wait until I tell you! I, Ira Warfield, have known Gabriel Le Noir as a
+villain for the last eighteen years. I tell you so without scruple, and
+hold myself ready to maintain my words in field or forum, by sword or
+law! Well, having known him so long for such a knave, I was in no manner
+surprised to discover some six months ago that he was also a criminal,
+and only needed exposure to become a felon!"
+
+"Sir, sir! this is strong language!"
+
+"I am willing to back it with 'life, liberty and sacred honor,' as the
+Declaration of Independence has it. Listen: Some sixteen years ago,
+before you came to take this pastoral charge, the Hidden House was
+occupied by old Victor Le Noir, the father of Eugene, the heir, and of
+Gabriel, the present usurper. The old man died, leaving a will to this
+effect--the landed estate, including the coal and iron mines, the Hidden
+House and all the negroes, stock, furniture and other personal property
+upon the premises to his eldest son Eugene, with the proviso that if
+Eugene should die without issue, the landed estate, houses, negroes,
+etc., should descend to his younger brother Gabriel. To Gabriel he left
+his bank stock and blessing."
+
+"An equitable will," observed the minister.
+
+"Yes; but hear! At the time of his father's death Eugene was traveling
+in Europe. On receiving the news he immediately returned home, bringing
+with him a lovely young creature, a mere child, that he presented to his
+astounded neighbors as Madame Eugene Le Noir! I declare to you there was
+one simultaneous outcry of shame, that he should have trapped into
+matrimony a creature so infantile, for she was scarcely fourteen years
+of age!"
+
+"It was indeed highly improper," said the minister.
+
+"So thought all the neighborhood; but when they found out how it
+happened, disapproval was changed to commendation. She was the daughter
+of a French patriot. Her father and mother had both perished on the
+scaffold in the sacred cause of liberty; she was thrown helpless,
+friendless and penniless upon the cold charity of the world; Providence
+cast her in the way of our sensitive and enthusiastic young traveler; he
+pitied her; he loved her, and was casting about in his own mind how he
+could help without compromising her, when the news of his father's
+illness summoned him home. Then, seeing no better way of protecting her,
+after a little hesitation upon account of her tender age, he married her
+and brought with him."
+
+"Good deeds, we know, must be rewarded in heaven, since on earth they
+are so often punished."
+
+"He did not long enjoy his bride. She was just the most beautiful
+creature that ever was seen--with a promise of still more glorious
+beauty in riper years. I have seen handsome women and pretty women--but
+Madame Eugene Le Noir was the only perfectly beautiful woman I ever saw
+in my long life! My own aged eyes seemed 'enriched' only to look at her!
+She adored Eugene, too; any one could see that. At first she spoke
+English in 'broken music,' but soon her accent became as perfect as if
+she had been native born. How could it have been otherwise, when her
+teacher and inspirer was love? She won all hearts with her loveliness!
+Humph! hear me, an old fool--worse--an Old Hurricane--betrayed into
+discourses of love and beauty merely by the remembrance of Madame Eugene
+Le Noir! Ah, bright, exotic flower! she did not bloom long. The bride
+had scarcely settled down into the wife when one night Eugene Le Noir
+did not come home as usual. The next day his dead body, with a bullet in
+his brain, was found in the woods around the Hidden House. The murderer
+was never discovered. Gabriel Le Noir came in haste from the military
+post where he had been stationed. Madame Eugene was never seen abroad
+after the death of her husband. It was reported that she had lost her
+reason, a consequence that surprised no one. Eugene having died without
+issue, and his young widow being mad, Gabriel, by the terms of his
+father's will, stepped at once into the full possession of the whole
+property."
+
+"Something of all this I have heard before," said the minister.
+
+"Very likely, for these facts and falsehoods were the common property of
+the neighborhood. But what you have not heard before, and what is not
+known to any now living, except the criminals, the victims and myself,
+is that, three months after the death of her husband, Madame Eugene Le
+Noir gave birth to twins--one living, one dead. The dead child was
+privately buried; the living one, together with the nurse that was the
+sole witness of the birth, was abducted."
+
+"Great heavens! can this be true?" exclaimed the minister, shocked
+beyond all power of self-control.
+
+"True as gospel! I have proof enough to carry conviction to any honest
+breast--to satisfy any caviller--except a court of justice. You shall
+hear. You remember the dying woman whom you dragged me out in the
+snow-storm to see--blame you!"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"She was the abducted nurse, escaped and returned. It was to make a
+deposition to the facts I am about to relate that she sent you to fetch
+me," said Old Hurricane; and with that he commenced and related the
+whole dark history of crime comprised in the nurse's dying deposition.
+They examined the instrument together, and Old Hurricane again related,
+in brief, the incidents of his hurried journey to New York; his meeting
+and identifying Capitola and bringing her home in safety to his house.
+
+"And thus," said the old man, "you perceive that this child whose birth
+was feloniously concealed, and who was cast away to perish among the
+wretched beggars, thieves and street-walkers of New York, is really the
+only living child of the late Eugene Le Noir, and the sole inheritrix of
+the Hidden House, with its vast acres of fields, forests, iron and coal
+mines, water power, steam mills, furnaces and foundries--wealth that I
+would not undertake to estimate within a million of dollars--all of
+which is now held and enjoyed by that usurping villain, Gabriel Le
+Noir!"
+
+"But," said the minister, gravely, "you have, of course, commenced
+proceedings on the part of your protege."
+
+"Listen; I will tell you what I have done. When I first brought Cap home
+I was moved not only by the desire of wreaking vengeance upon a most
+atrocious miscreant who had done me an irreparable injury, but also by
+sympathy for the little witch who had won my heart at first sight.
+Therefore, you may judge I lost no time in preparing to strike a double
+blow which should ruin my own mortal enemy and reinstate my favorite in
+her rights. With this view, immediately on my return home, I sent for
+Breefe, my confidential attorney, and laid the whole matter before him."
+
+"And he----"
+
+"To my dismay he told me that, though the case was clear enough, it was
+not sufficiently strong, in a legal point of view, to justify us in
+bringing suit; for that the dying deposition of the mulatto nurse could
+not be received as evidence in our county courts."
+
+"You knew that before, sir, I presume."
+
+"Of course I did; but I thought it was a lawyer's business to get over
+such difficulties; and I assure you, parson, that I flew into a passion
+and cursed court and county law and lawyers to my heart's content. I
+would have quarreled with old Breefe then and there, only Breefe won't
+get excited. He very coolly advised me to keep the matter close and my
+eyes open, and gather all the corroborative testimony I could find, and
+that, in the meantime, he would reflect upon the best manner of
+proceeding."
+
+"I think, Major Warfield, that his counsel was wise and disinterested.
+But tell me, sir, of the girl's mother. Is it not astonishing--in fact,
+is it not perfectly incomprehensible--that so lovely a woman as you have
+represented her to be should have consented to the concealment, if not
+to the destruction, of her own legitimate offspring?"
+
+"Sir, to me it is not incomprehensible at all. She was at once an orphan
+and a widow; a stranger in a strange land; a poor, desolate,
+broken-hearted child, in the power of the cunningest and most
+unscrupulous villain that the Lord ever suffered to live! I wonder at
+nothing that he might have deceived or frightened her into doing."
+
+"Heaven forgive us! Have I known that man for ten years to hear this
+account of him at last? But tell me, sir, have you really any true idea
+of what has been the fate of the poor young widow?"
+
+"No; not the slightest. Immediately after his brother's funeral, Gabriel
+Le Noir gave out that Madame Eugene had lost her reason through
+excessive grief, soon after which he took her with him to the North,
+and, upon his return alone, reported that he had left her in a
+celebrated lunatic asylum. The story was probable enough, and received
+universal belief. Only now I do not credit it, and do not know whether
+the widow be living or dead; or, if living, whether she be mad or sane;
+if dead, whether she came to her end by fair means or foul!"
+
+"Merciful heaven, sir! you do not mean to say----"
+
+"Yes; I do mean to say; and if you would like to know what is on my
+private mind I'll tell you. I believe that Madame Eugene Le Noir has
+been treacherously made away with by the same infernal demon at whose
+instigation her husband was murdered and her child stolen."
+
+The minister seemed crushed beneath the overwhelming weight of this
+communication; he passed his hand over his brow and thence down his face
+and sighed deeply. For a few moments he seemed unable to reply, and when
+he spoke it was only to say:
+
+"In this matter, Major Warfield, I can offer you no counsel better than
+that of your confidential attorney--follow the light that you have until
+it lead you to the full elucidation of this affair; and may heaven grant
+that you may find Colonel Le Noir less guilty than you apprehend."
+
+"Parson, humbug! When charity drivels it ought to be turned off by
+justice! I will follow the little light I have. I suspect, from the
+description, that the wretch who at Le Noir's instance carried off the
+nurse and child was no other than the notorious Black Donald. I have
+offered an additional thousand dollars for his apprehension, and if he
+is taken he will be condemned to death, make a last dying speech and
+confession and give up his accomplices, the accomplished Colonel Le Noir
+among the rest!"
+
+"If the latter really was an accomplice, there could be no better way of
+discovering the fact than to bring this Black Donald to justice; but I
+greatly fear that there is little hope of that," said the minister.
+
+"Aye, but there is! Listen! The long impunity enjoyed by this desperado
+has made him daring to fatuity. Why, I was within a hair's breadth of
+capturing him myself a few days ago."
+
+"Ha! is it possible?" asked the minister, with a look of surprise and
+interest.
+
+"Aye, was I; and you shall hear all about it," said Old Hurricane. And
+upon that he commenced and told the minister the adventure of Capitola
+with Black Donald at Hurricane Hall.
+
+The minister was amazed, yet could not forbear to say:
+
+"It seems to me, however, that it was Capitola who was in a hair's
+breadth of capturing this notorious desperado."
+
+"Pooh! she clung to him like the reckless lunatic that she is; but Lord,
+he would have carried her off on his back if it had not been for me."
+
+The minister smiled a little to himself and then said:
+
+"This protege of yours is a very remarkable girl, as interesting to me
+in her character as she is in her history; her very spirit, courage and
+insubordination make her singularly hard to manage and apt to go astray.
+With your permission I will make her acquaintance, with the view of
+seeing what good I can do her."
+
+"Pray do so, for then you will be better able to counsel me how to
+manage the capricious little witch who, if I attempt to check her in her
+wild and dangerous freedom of action, tells me plainly that liberty is
+too precious a thing to be exchanged for food and clothing, and that,
+rather than live in bondage, she will throw herself upon the protection
+of the court. If she does that the game is up. Le Noir, against whom we
+can as yet prove nothing, would claim her as his niece and ward, and get
+her into his power for the purpose of making way with her, as he did
+with her father and mother."
+
+"Oh, for heaven's sake, sir! no more of that until we have further
+evidence," said the minister, uneasily, adding, "I will see your very
+interesting protege to-morrow."
+
+"Do, do! to-morrow, to-day, this hour, any time!" said Major Warfield,
+as he cordially took leave of the pastor.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+CAP'S TRICKS AND PERILS.
+
+    I'll be merry and free,
+      I'll be sad for naebody;
+    Naebody cares for me,
+      I care for naebody.
+                                       --Burns.
+
+
+The next day, according to agreement, the pastor came and dined at
+Hurricane Hall. During the dinner he had ample opportunity of observing
+Capitola.
+
+In the afternoon Major Warfield took an occasion of leaving him alone
+with the contumacious young object of his visit.
+
+Cap, with her quick perceptions, instantly discovered the drift and
+purpose of this action, which immediately provoked all the mischievous
+propensities of her elfish spirit.
+
+"Uncle means that I shall be lectured by the good parson. If he preaches
+to me, won't I humor him 'to the top of his bent?'--that's all," was her
+secret resolution, as she sat demurely, with pursed-up lips, bending
+over her needlework.
+
+The honest and well-meaning old country clergyman hitched his chair a
+little nearer to the perverse young rebel, and gingerly--for he was half
+afraid of his questionable subject--entered into conversation with her.
+
+To his surprise and pleasure, Capitola replied with the decorum of a
+young nun.
+
+Encouraged by her manner, the good minister went on to say how much
+interested he felt in her welfare; how deeply he compassionated her lot
+in never having possessed the advantage of a mother's teaching; how
+anxious he was by his counsels to make up to her as much as possible
+such a deficiency.
+
+Here Capitola put up both her hands and dropped her face upon them.
+
+Still farther encouraged by this exhibition of feeling, Mr. Goodwin went
+on. He told her that it behooved her, who was a motherless girl, to be
+even more circumspect than others, lest, through very ignorance, she
+might err; and in particular he warned her against riding or walking out
+alone, or indulging in any freedom of manners that might draw upon her
+the animadversions of their very strict community.
+
+"Oh, sir, I know I have been very indiscreet, and I am very miserable,"
+said Capitola, in a heart-broken voice.
+
+"My dear child, your errors have hitherto been those of ignorance only,
+and I am very much pleased to find how much your good uncle has been
+mistaken, and how ready you are to do strictly right when the way is
+pointed out," said the minister, pleased to his honest heart's core that
+he had made this deep impression.
+
+A heavy sigh burst from the bosom of Capitola.
+
+"What is the matter, my dear child?" he said, kindly.
+
+"Oh, sir, if I had only known you before!" exclaimed Capitola, bitterly.
+
+"Why, my dear? I can do just as much good now."
+
+"Oh, no, sir; it is too late; it is too late!"
+
+"It is never to late to do well."
+
+"Oh, yes, sir; it is for me! Oh, how I wish I had had your good counsel
+before; it would have saved me from so much trouble."
+
+"My dear child, you make me seriously uneasy; do explain yourself," said
+the old pastor, drawing his chair closer to hers and trying to get a
+look at the distressed little face that was bowed down upon her hands
+and veiled with her hair; "do tell me, my dear, what is the matter."
+
+"Oh, sir, I am afraid to tell you; you'd hate and despise me; you'd
+never speak to me again," said Capitola, keeping her face concealed.
+
+"My dear child," said the minister, very gravely and sorrowfully,
+"whatever your offense has been, and you make me fear that it has been a
+very serious one, I invite you to confide it to me, and, having done so,
+I promise, however I may mourn the sin, not to 'hate,' or 'despise,' or
+forsake the sinner. Come, confide in me."
+
+"Oh, sir, I daren't! indeed I daren't!" moaned Capitola.
+
+"My poor girl!" said the minister, "if I am to do you any good it is
+absolutely necessary that you make me your confidant."
+
+"Oh, sir, I have been a very wicked girl; I daren't tell you how wicked
+I have been!"
+
+"Does your good uncle know or suspect this wrongdoing of yours?"
+
+"Uncle! Oh, no, sir! He'd turn me out of doors! He'd kill me! Indeed he
+would, sir! Please don't tell him!"
+
+"You forget, my child, that I do not yet know the nature of your
+offense," said the minister, in a state of painful anxiety.
+
+"But I am going to inform you, sir; and oh! I hope you will take pity on
+me and tell me what to do; for though I dread to speak, I can't keep it
+on my conscience any longer, it is such a heavy weight on my breast!"
+
+"Sin always is, my poor girl," said the pastor, with a deep moan.
+
+"But, sir, you know I had no mother, as you said yourself."
+
+"I know it, my poor girl, and am ready to make every allowance," said
+the old pastor, with a deep sigh, not knowing what next to expect.
+
+"And--and--I hope you will forgive me, sir; but--but he was so handsome
+I couldn't help liking him!"
+
+"Miss Black!" cried the horrified pastor.
+
+"There! I knew you'd just go and bite my head off the very first thing!
+Oh, dear, what shall I do?" sobbed Capitola.
+
+The good pastor, who had started to his feet, remained gazing upon her
+in a panic of consternation, murmuring to himself:
+
+"Good angel! I am fated to hear more great sins than if I were a prison
+chaplain!" Then, going up to the sobbing delinquent he said:
+
+"Unhappy girl! who is this person of whom you speak?"
+
+"H--h--h--him that I met when I went walking in the woods," sobbed
+Capitola.
+
+"Heaven of heavens! this is worse than my very worst fears! Wretched
+girl! Tell me instantly the name of this base deceiver!"
+
+"He--he--he's no base deceiver; he--he--he's very amiable and
+good-looking; and--and--and that's why I liked him so much; it was all
+my fault, not his, poor, dear fellow!"
+
+"His name?" sternly demanded the pastor.
+
+"Alf--Alf--Alfred," wept Capitola.
+
+"Alfred whom?"
+
+"Alfred Blen--Blen--Blenheim!"
+
+"Miserable girl! how often have you met this miscreant in the forest?"
+
+"I--don't--know!" sobbed Capitola.
+
+"Where is the wretch to be found now?"
+
+"Oh, please don't hurt him, sir! Please don't! He--he--he's hid in the
+closet in my room."
+
+A groan that seemed to have rent his heart in twain burst from the bosom
+of the minister, as he repeated in deepest horror:
+
+"In your room! (Well, I must prevent murder being done!) Did you not
+know, you poor child, the danger you ran by giving this young man
+private interviews; and, above all, admitting him to your apartment?
+Wretched girl! better you'd never been born than ever so to have
+received a man!"
+
+"Man! man! man!--I'd like to know what you mean by that, Mr. Goodwin!"
+exclaimed Capitola, lifting her eyes flashing through their tears.
+
+"I mean the man with whom you have given these private interviews."
+
+"I!--I give private interviews to a man! Take care what you say, Mr.
+Goodwin; I won't be insulted; no, not even by you!"
+
+"Then, if you are not talking of a man, who or what in the world are you
+talking about?" exclaimed the amazed minister.
+
+"Why, Alfred, the Blenheim poodle that strayed away from some of the
+neighbors' houses, and that I found in the woods and brought home and
+hid in my closet, for fear he would be inquired after, or uncle would
+find it out and make me give him up. I knew it was wrong, but then he
+was so pretty----"
+
+Before Capitola had finished her speech Mr. Goodwin had seized his hat
+and rushed out of the house in indignation, nearly overturning Old
+Hurricane, whom he met on the lawn, and to whom he said:
+
+"Thrash that girl as if she were a bay boy, for she richly deserves it!"
+
+"There! what did I say? Now you see what a time I have with her; she
+makes me sweat, I can tell you," said Old Hurricane, in triumph.
+
+"Oh! oh! oh!" groaned the sorely-tried minister.
+
+"What's it now?" inquired Old Hurricane.
+
+The pastor took the major's arm and, while they walked up and down
+before the house, told how he had been "sold" by Capitola, ending by
+saying:
+
+"You will have to take her firmly in hand."
+
+"I'll do it," said Old Hurricane. "I'll do it."
+
+The pastor then called for his horse and, resisting all his host's
+entreaties to stay to tea, took his departure.
+
+Major Warfield re-entered the house, resolving to say nothing to
+Capitola for the present, but to seize the very first opportunity of
+punishing her for her flippancy.
+
+The village fair had commenced on Monday. It had been arranged that all
+Major Warfield's family should go, though not all upon the same day. It
+was proposed that on Thursday, when the festival should be at its
+height, Major Warfield, Capitola and the house servants should go. And
+on Saturday Mrs. Condiment, Mr. Ezy and the farm servants should have a
+holiday for the same purpose.
+
+Therefore, upon Thursday morning all the household be-stirred themselves
+at an unusually early hour, and appeared before breakfast in their best
+Sunday's suit.
+
+Capitola came down to breakfast in a rich blue silk carriage dress,
+looking so fresh, blooming and joyous that it went to the old man's
+heart to disappoint her; yet Old Hurricane resolved, as the pastor had
+told him, to "be firm," and, once for all, by inflicting punishment, to
+bring her to a sense of her errors.
+
+"There, you need not trouble yourself to get ready, Capitola; you shall
+not go to the fair with us," he said, as Cap took her seat.
+
+"Sir!" exclaimed the girl, in surprise.
+
+"Oh, yes; you may stare; but I'm in earnest. You have behaved very
+badly; you have deeply offended our pastor; you have no reverence, no
+docility, no propriety, and I mean to bring you to a sense of your
+position by depriving you of some of your indulgences; and, in a word,
+to begin I say you shall not go to the fair to-day."
+
+"You mean, sir, that I shall not go with you, although you promised that
+I should," said Cap, coolly.
+
+"I mean you shall not go at all, demmy!"
+
+"I'd like to know who'll prevent me," said Cap.
+
+"I will, Miss Vixen! Demmy, I'll not be set at naught by a beggar! Mrs.
+Condiment, leave the room, mum, and don't be sitting there listening to
+every word I have to say to my ward. Wool, be off with yourself, sir;
+what do you stand there gaping and staring for? Be off, or----" the old
+man looked around for a missile, but before he found one the room was
+evacuated except by himself and Capitola.
+
+"Now, minion," he began, as soon as he found himself alone with the
+little rebel, "I did not choose to mortify you before the servants, but,
+once for all, I will have you to understand that I intend to be obeyed."
+And Old Hurricane "gathered his brows like a gathering storm."
+
+"Sir, if you were really my uncle, or my father, or my legal guardian, I
+should have no choice but obey you; but the same fate that made me
+desolate made me free--a freedom that I would not exchange for any
+gilded slavery," said Cap, gaily.
+
+"Pish! tush! pshaw! I say I will have no more of this nonsense. I say I
+will be obeyed," cried Old Hurricane, striking his cane down upon the
+floor, "and in proof of it I order you immediately to go and take off
+that gala dress and settle yourself down to your studies for the day."
+
+"Uncle, I will obey you as far as taking off this dress goes, for, since
+you won't give me a seat in your carriage, I shall have to put on my
+habit and ride Gyp," said Cap, good humoredly.
+
+"What! Do you dare to hint that you have the slightest idea of going to
+the fair against my will?"
+
+"Yes, sir," said Cap, gaily. "Sorry it's against your will, but can't
+help it; not used to being ordered about and don't know how to submit,
+and so I'm going."
+
+"Ungrateful girl; actually meditating disobedience on the horse I gave
+her!"
+
+"Easy now, uncle--fair and easy. I did not sell my free will for Gyp! I
+wouldn't for a thousand Gyps! He was a free gift," said Capitola,
+beginning an impatient little dance about the floor.
+
+"Come here to me; come--here--to--me!" exclaimed the old man
+peremptorily, rapping his cane down upon the floor with every syllable.
+
+Capitola danced up to him and stood half smiling and fingering and
+arranging the lace of her under sleeves.
+
+"Listen to me, you witch! Do you intend to obey me or not?"
+
+"Not," said Cap, good-humoredly adjusting her cameo bracelet and holding
+up her arm to see its effect.
+
+"You will not! Then, demmy, miss, I shall know how to make you!"
+thundered Old Hurricane, bringing the point of his stick down with a
+sharp rap.
+
+"Eh!" cried Capitola, looking up in astonishment.
+
+"Yes, miss; that's what I said--make you!"
+
+"I should like to know how," said Cap, returning to her cool good humor.
+
+"You would, would you? Demmy, I'll tell you! I have broken haughtier
+spirits than yours in my life. Would you know how?"
+
+"Yes," said Cap, indifferently, still busied with her bracelets.
+
+"Stoop and I will whisper the mystery."
+
+Capitola bent her graceful head to hear.
+
+"With the rod!" hissed Old Hurricane, maliciously.
+
+Capitola sprang up as if she had been shot, wave after wave of blood
+tiding up in burning blushes over neck, face and forehead; then, turning
+abruptly, she walked off to the window.
+
+Old Hurricane, terrified at the effect of his rude, rash words, stood
+excommunicating himself for having been provoked to use them; nor was
+the next aspect of Capitola one calculated to reassure his perturbed
+feelings.
+
+She turned around. Her face was as white as marble, excepting her
+glittering eyes; they, half sheathed under their long lashes, flashed
+like stilettoes. Raising her hand and keeping her eyes fixed upon him,
+with a slow and gliding motion, and the deep and measured voice that
+scarcely seemed to belong to a denizen of earth, she approached and
+stood before him and spoke these words:
+
+"Uncle, in all the sorrows, shames and sufferings of my destitute
+childhood, no one ever dishonored my person with a blow; and if ever you
+should have the misfortune to forget your manhood so far as to strike
+me--" She paused, drew her breath hard between her set teeth, grew a
+shade whiter, while her dark eyes dilated until a white ring flamed
+around the iris.
+
+"Oh, you perilous witch! what then!" cried Old Hurricane, in dismay.
+
+"Why, then," said Capitola, speaking in a low, deep and measured tone,
+and keeping her gaze upon his astonished face, "the--first--time--I--
+should--find--you--asleep--I--would--take--a--razor--and----"
+
+"Cut my throat! I feel you would, you terrible termagant!" shuddered Old
+Hurricane.
+
+"Shave your beard off smick, smack, smoove!" said Cap, bounding off and
+laughing merrily as she ran out of the room.
+
+In an instant she came bounding back, saying, "Uncle, I will meet you at
+the fair; _au revoir, au revoir_!" and, kissing her hand, she dashed
+away and ran off to her room.
+
+"She'll kill me; I know she will. If she don't do it one way she will in
+another. Whew! I'm perspiring at every pore. Wool! Wool, you scoundrel!"
+exclaimed the old man, jerking the bell-rope as if he would have broken
+the wires.
+
+"Yes, sir; here I am, marse," exclaimed that worthy, hastening in in a
+state of perturbation, for he dreaded another storm.
+
+"Wool, go down to the stables and tell every man there that if either of
+them allows a horse to be brought out for the use of Miss Black to-day.
+I'll flay them alive and break every bone in their skins. Away with
+you."
+
+"Yes, sir," cried the shocked and terrified Wool, hurrying off to convey
+his panic to the stables.
+
+Old Hurricane's carriage being ready, he entered it and drove off for
+the fair.
+
+Next the house servants, with the exception of Pitapat, who was
+commanded to remain behind and wait upon her mistress, went off in a
+wagon.
+
+When they were all gone, Capitola dressed herself in her riding-habit
+and sent Pitapat down to the stables to order one of the grooms to
+saddle Gyp and bring him up for her.
+
+Now, when the little maid delivered this message, the unfortunate grooms
+were filled with dismay--they feared their tyrannical little mistress
+almost as much as their despotic old master, who, in the next change of
+his capricious temper, might punch all their heads for crossing the will
+of his favorite, even though in doing so they had followed his
+directions. An immediate private consultation was the consequence, and
+the result was that the head groom came to Pitapat, told her that he was
+sorry, but that Miss Black's pony had fallen lame.
+
+The little maid went back with the answer.
+
+When she was gone the head groom, calling to his fellows, said:
+
+"That young gal ain't a-gwine to be fooled either by ole marse or we.
+She'll be down here herself nex' minute and have the horse walked out.
+Now we must make him lame a little. Light a match here, Jem, and I'll
+burn his foot."
+
+This was immediately done. And, sure enough, while poor Gyp was still
+smarting with his burn, Capitola came, holding up her riding train and
+hurrying to the scene, and asking indignantly:
+
+"Who dares to say that my horse is lame? Bring him out here this
+instant, that I may see him!"
+
+The groom immediately took poor Gyp and led him limping to the presence
+of his mistress.
+
+At the sight Capitola was almost ready to cry with grief and
+indignation.
+
+"He was not lame last evening. It must have been your carelessness, you
+good-for-nothing loungers; and if he is not well enough to take me to
+the fair to-morrow, at least, I'll have the whole set of you lamed for
+life!" she exclaimed, angrily, as she turned off and went up to the
+house--not caring so much, after all, for her own personal
+disappointment as for Old Hurricane's triumph.
+
+Cap's ill humor did not last long. She soon exchanged her riding-habit
+for a morning wrapper, and took her needlework and sat down to sew by
+the side of Mrs. Condiment in the housekeeper's room.
+
+The day passed as usual, only that just after sunset Mrs. Condiment, as
+a matter of precaution, went all over the house securing windows and
+doors before nightfall. Then, after an early tea, Mrs. Condiment,
+Capitola and the little maid Pitapat gathered around the bright little
+wood fire that the chilly spring evening made necessary in the
+housekeeper's room. Mrs. Condiment was knitting, Capitola stitching a
+bosom for the major's shirts and Pitapat winding yarn from a reel.
+
+The conversation of the three females left alone in the old house
+naturally turned upon subjects of fear--ghosts, witches and robbers.
+
+Mrs. Condiment had a formidable collection of accredited stories of
+apparitions, warnings, dreams, omens, etc., all true as gospel. There
+was a haunted house, she said, in their own neighborhood--The Hidden
+House. It was well authenticated that ever since the mysterious murder
+of Eugene Le Noir unaccountable sights and sounds had been seen and
+heard in and about the dwelling. A traveler, a brother officer of
+Colonel Le Noir, had slept there once, and, "in the dead waste and
+middle of the night," had had his curtains drawn by a lady, pale and
+passing fair, dressed in white, with flowing hair, who, as soon as he
+attempted to speak to her, fled. And it was well known that there was no
+lady about the premises.
+
+Another time old Mr. Ezy himself, when out after coons, and coming
+through the woods near the house, had been attracted by seeing a window
+near the roof lighted up by a strange blue flame; drawing near, he saw
+within the lighted room a female clothed in white passing and repassing
+the window.
+
+Another time, when old Major Warfield was out with his dogs, the chase
+led him past the haunted house, and as he swept by he caught a glimpse
+of a pale, wan, sorrowful female face pressed against the window pane of
+an upper room, which vanished in an instant.
+
+"But might not that have been some young woman staying at the house?"
+asked Capitola.
+
+"No, my child; it is well ascertained that, since the murder of Eugene
+Le Noir and the disappearance of his lovely young widow, no white female
+has crossed the threshold of that fatal house," said Mrs. Condiment.
+
+"'Disappearance,' did you say? Can a lady of condition disappear from a
+neighborhood and no inquiry be made for her?"
+
+"No, my dear; there was inquiry, and it was answered plausibly--that
+Madame Eugene was insane and sent off to a lunatic asylum: but there are
+those who believe that the lovely lady was privately made away with,"
+whispered Mrs. Condiment.
+
+"How dreadful! I did not think such things happened in a quiet country
+neighborhood. Something like that occurred, indeed, in New York, within
+my own recollection, however," said Capitola, who straightway commenced
+and related the story of Mary Rogers and all other stories of terror
+that memory supplied her with.
+
+As for poor little Pitapat, she did not presume to enter into the
+conversation; but, with her ball of yarn suspended in her hand, her eyes
+started until they threatened to burst from their sockets, and her chin
+dropped until her mouth gaped wide open, she sat and swallowed every
+word, listening with a thousand audience power.
+
+By the time they had frightened themselves pretty thoroughly the clock
+struck eleven and they thought it was time to retire.
+
+"Will you be afraid, Mrs. Condiment?" asked Capitola.
+
+"Well, my dear, if I am I must try to trust in the Lord to overcome it,
+since it is no use to be afraid. I have fastened up the house well, and
+I have brought in Growler, the bull-dog, to sleep on the mat outside of
+my bedroom door, so I shall say my prayers and try to go to sleep. I
+dare say there is no danger, only it seems lonesome like for us three
+women to be left in this big house by ourselves."
+
+"Yes," said Capitola; "but, as you say, there is no danger; and as for
+me, if it will give you any comfort or courage to hear me say it, I am
+not the least afraid, although I sleep in such a remote room and have no
+one but Patty, who, having no more heart that a hare, is not near such a
+powerful protector as Growler." And, bidding her little maid take up the
+night lamp, Capitola wished Mrs. Condiment good-night and left the
+housekeeper's room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+THE PERIL AND THE PLUCK OF CAP.
+
+    "Who that had seen her form so light
+      For swiftness only turned,
+    Would e'er have thought in a thing so slight
+      Such a fiery spirit burned?"
+
+
+Very dreary looked the dark and silent passages as they went on toward
+Capitola's distant chamber.
+
+When at last they reached it, however, and opened the door, the cheerful
+scene within quite reanimated Capitola's spirits. The care of her little
+maid had prepared a blazing wood fire that lighted up the whole room
+brightly, glowing on the crimson curtains of the bed and the crimson
+hangings of the windows opposite and flashing upon the high mirror
+between them.
+
+Capitola, having secured her room in every way, stood before her
+dressing bureau and began to take off her collar, under sleeves and
+other small articles of dress. As she stood there her mirror,
+brilliantly lighted up by both lamp and fire, reflected clearly the
+opposite bed, with its warm crimson curtains, white coverlet and little
+Pitapat flitting from post to post as she tied back the curtains or
+smoothed the sheets.
+
+Capitola stood unclasping her bracelets and smiling to herself at the
+reflected picture--the comfortable nest in which she was so soon to curl
+herself up in sleep. While she was smiling thus she tilted the mirror
+downwards a little for her better convenience, and, looking into it
+again----
+
+Horror! What did she see reflected there? Under the bed a pair of
+glaring eyes watching her from the shadows!
+
+A sick sensation of fainting came over her; but, mastering the weakness,
+she tilted the glass a little lower, until it reflected all the floor,
+and looked again.
+
+Horror of horrors there were three stalwart ruffians, armed to the
+teeth, lurking in ambush under her bed!
+
+The deadly inclination to swoon returned upon her; but with a heroic
+effort she controlled her fears and forced herself to look.
+
+Yes, there they were! It was no dream, no illusion, no nightmare--there
+they were, three powerful desperadoes armed with bowie knives and
+revolvers, the nearest one crouching low and watching her with his
+wolfish eyes, that shone like phosphorus in the dark.
+
+What should she do? The danger was extreme, the necessity of immediate
+action imminent, the need of perfect self-control absolute! There was
+Pitapat flitting about the bed in momentary danger of looking under it!
+If she should their lives would not be worth an instant's purchase!
+Their throats would be cut before they should utter a second scream! It
+was necessary, therefore, to call Pitapat away from the bed, where her
+presence was as dangerous as the proximity of a lighted candle to an
+open powder barrel!
+
+But how to trust her voice to do this? A single quaver in her tones
+would betray her consciousness of their presence to the lurking robbers
+and prove instantly fatal!
+
+Happily Capitola's pride in her own courage came to her aid.
+
+"Is it possible," she said to herself, "that after all I am a coward and
+have not even nerve and will enough to command the tones of my own
+voice? Fie on it! Cowardice is worse than death!"
+
+And summoning all her resolution she spoke up, glibly:
+
+"Patty, come here and unhook my dress."
+
+"Yes, miss, I will just as soon as I get your slippers from unnerneaf of
+de bed!"
+
+"I don't want them! Come here this minute and unhook my dress--I can't
+breathe! Plague take these country dress-makers--they think the tighter
+they screw one up the more fashionable they make one appear! Come, I
+say, and set my lungs at liberty."
+
+"Yes, miss, in one minute," said Pitapat; and to Capitola's unspeakable
+horror the little maid stooped down and felt along under the side of the
+bed, from the head post to the foot post, until she put her hands upon
+the slippers and brought them forth! Providentially, the poor little
+wretch had not for an instant put her stupid head under the bed, or used
+her eyes in the search--that was all that saved them from instant
+massacre!
+
+"Here dey is, Caterpillar! I knows how yer foots mus' be as much out of
+breaf wid yer tight gaiters as your waist is long of yer tight dress."
+
+"Unhook me!" said Capitola, tilting up the glass lest the child should
+see what horrors were reflected there.
+
+The little maid began to obey and Capitola tried to think of some plan
+to escape their imminent danger. To obey the natural impulse--to fly
+from the room would be instantly fatal--they would be followed and
+murdered in the hall before they could possibly give the alarm! And to
+whom could she give the alarm when there was not another creature in the
+house except Mrs. Condiment?
+
+While she was turning these things over in her mind it occurred to her
+that "man's extremity is God's opportunity." Sending up a silent prayer
+to heaven for help at need, she suddenly thought of a plan--it was full
+of difficulty, uncertainty and peril, affording not one chance in fifty
+of success, yet the only possible plan of escape! It was to find some
+plausible pretext for leaving the room without exciting suspicion, which
+would be fatal. Controlling her tremors, and speaking cheerfully, she
+asked:
+
+"Patty, do you know whether there were any of those nice quince tarts
+left from dinner?"
+
+"Lor', yes, miss, a heap on 'em! Ole Mis' put 'em away in her cubberd."
+
+"Was there any baked custard left?"
+
+"Lor', yes Miss Caterpillar; dere was nobody but we-dens three, and
+think I could eat up all as was left?"
+
+"I don't know but you might! Well, is there any pear sauce?"
+
+"Yes, miss, a big bowl full."
+
+"Well, I wish you'd go down and bring me up a tart, a cup of custard and
+a spoonful of pear sauce. Sitting up so late makes me as hungry as a
+wolf! Come, Patty, go along!"
+
+"Deed, miss, I'se 'fraid!" whimpered the little maid.
+
+"Afraid of what, you goose?"
+
+"'Fraid of meeting of a ghose in the dark places!"
+
+"Pooh! you can take the light with you! I can stay here in the dark well
+enough."
+
+"'Deed, miss, I'se 'fraid!"
+
+"What! with the candle, you blockhead?"
+
+"Lors, miss, de candle wouldn't be no 'tection! I'd see de ghoses all de
+plainer wid de candle!"
+
+"What a provoking, stupid dolt! You're a proper maid--afraid to do my
+bidding! Afraid of ghosts, forsooth. Well, I suppose I shall have to go
+myself--plague on you for an aggravating thing! There--take the candle
+and come along!" said Capitola, in a tone of impatience.
+
+Pitapat took up the light and stood ready to accompany her mistress,
+Capitola, humming a gay tune, went to the door and unlocked and opened
+it.
+
+She wished to withdraw the key, so as to lock it on the other side and
+secure the robbers and insure the safety of her own retreat; but to do
+this without betraying her purpose and destroying her own life seemed
+next to impossible. Still singing gayly she ran over in her mind with
+the quickness of lightning every possible means by which she might
+withdraw the key silently, or without attracting the attention of the
+watchful robbers. It is difficult to say what she would have done, had
+not chance instantly favored her.
+
+At the same moment that she unlocked and opened the door and held the
+key in her hand fearful of withdrawing it, Pitapat, who was hurrying
+after her with the candle, tripped and fell against a chair, with a
+great noise, under cover of which Capitola drew forth the key.
+
+Scolding and pushing Pitapat out before her, she closed the door with a
+bang. With the quickness of lightning she slipped the key in the
+key-hole and turned the lock, covering the whole with loud and angry
+railing against poor Pitapat, who silently wondered at this unhappy
+change in her mistress's temper, but ascribed it all to hunger,
+muttering to herself:
+
+"I'se offen hern tell how people's cross when dere empty! Lors knows ef
+I don't fetch up a whole heap o' wittels ebery night for Miss
+Caterpillar from dis time forred, so I will--'deed me!"
+
+So they went on through the long passages and empty rooms. Capitola
+carefully locking every door behind her until she got down-stairs into
+the great hall.
+
+"Now, Miss Caterpillar, ef you wants quint tart, an' pear sass, and
+baked cussets, an' all dem, you'll jest has to go an' wake Ole Mis' up,
+case dey's in her cubbed an' she's got the keys," said Pitapat.
+
+"Never mind, Patty, you follow me," said Capitola, going to the front
+hall door and beginning to unlock it and take down the bars and withdraw
+the bolts.
+
+"Lors, miss, what is yer a-doin' of?" asked the little maid, in wonder,
+as Capitola opened the door and looked out.
+
+"I am going out a little way and you must go with me!"
+
+"Deed, miss, I'se 'fraid!"
+
+"Very well, then, stay here in the dark until I come back, but don't go
+to my room, because you might meet a ghost on the way!"
+
+"Oh, Miss, I daren't stay here--indeed I daren't!"
+
+"Then you'll have to come along with me, and so no more about it," said
+Capitola, sharply, as she passed out from the door. The poor little maid
+followed, bemoaning the fate that bound her to so capricious a mistress.
+
+Capitola drew the key from the hall door and locked it on the outside.
+Then clasping her hands and raising her eyes to heaven, she fervently
+ejaculated:
+
+"Thank God--oh, thank God that we are safe!"
+
+"Lors, miss, was we in danger?"
+
+"We are not now at any rate, Pitapat! Come along!" said Capitola,
+hurrying across the lawn toward the open fields.
+
+"Oh, my goodness, miss, where is yer-a-goin' of? Don't less us run so
+fur from home dis lonesome, wicked, onlawful hour o' de night!"
+whimpered the distressed little darkey, fearing that her mistress was
+certainly crazed.
+
+"Now, then, what are you afraid of?" asked Capitola, seeing her hold
+back.
+
+"Lors, miss, you knows--eberybody knows--Brack Dunnel!"
+
+"Patty, come close--listen to me--don't scream--Black Donald and his men
+are up there at the house--in my chamber, under the bed," whispered
+Capitola.
+
+Pitapat could not scream, for though her mouth was wide open, her breath
+was quite gone. Shivering with fear, she kept close to her mistress's
+heels as Capitola scampered over the fields.
+
+A run of a quarter of a mile brought them to the edge of the woods,
+where in its little garden stood the overseer's house.
+
+Capitola opened the gate, hurried through the little front yard and
+rapped loudly at the door.
+
+This startled the house dog into furious barking and brought old Mr.
+Ezy, with his night-capped head, to the window to see what was the
+matter.
+
+"It is I--Capitola, Mr. Ezy--Black Donald and his men are lurking up at
+the house," said our young heroine, commencing in an eager and hurried
+voice, and giving the overseer an account of the manner in which she had
+discovered the presence of the robbers, and left the room without
+alarming them.
+
+The old man heard with many cries of astonishment, ejaculations of
+prayer, and exclamations of thanksgiving. And all the while his head was
+bobbing in and out of the window, as he pulled on his pantaloons or
+buttoned his coat.
+
+"And oh!" he said, at last, as he opened the door to Capitola, "how
+providential that Mr. Herbert Greyson is arrove!"
+
+"Herbert Greyson! Herbert Greyson arrived! Where is he, then?" exclaimed
+Capitola, in surprise and joy.
+
+"Yes, sartain! Mr. Herbert arrove about an hour ago, and thinking you
+all abed and asleep at the Hall, he just stopped in with us all night!
+I'll go and see--I doubt if he's gone to bed yet," said Mr. Ezy,
+withdrawing into the house.
+
+"Oh, thank heaven! thank heaven!" exclaimed Capitola, just as the door
+opened and Herbert sprang forward to greet her with a--
+
+"Dear Capitola! I am so glad to come to see you!"
+
+"Dear Herbert, just fancy you have said that a hundred times over and
+that I have replied to the same words a hundred times--for we haven't a
+moment to spare," said Capitola, shaking his hands, and then, in an
+eager, vehement manner, recounting her discovery and escape from the
+robbers whom she had locked up in the house.
+
+"Go, now," she said, in conclusion, "and help Mr. Ezy to rouse up and
+arm the farm hands and come immediately to the house! I am in agony lest
+my prolonged absence should excite the robbers' suspicion of my ruse,
+and that they should break out and perhaps murder poor Mrs. Condiment.
+Her situation is awful, if she did but know it! For the love of mercy,
+hasten!"
+
+Not an instant more of time was lost. Mr. Ezy and Herbert Greyson,
+accompanied by Capitola and Patty, hurried at once to the negro
+quarters, roused up and armed the men with whatever was at hand, and,
+enjoining them to be as stealthy as cats in their approach, set out
+swiftly for the Hall, where they soon arrived.
+
+"Take off all your shoes and walk lightly in your stocking feet--do not
+speak--do not breathe--follow me as silent as death," said Herbert
+Greyson, as he softly unlocked the front door and entered the house.
+
+Silently and stealthily they passed through the middle hall, up the
+broad staircase, and through the long, narrow passages and steep stairs
+that led to Capitola's remote chamber.
+
+There at the door they paused awhile to listen.
+
+All was still within.
+
+Herbert Greyson unlocked the door, withdrew the key, and opened it and
+entered the room, followed by all the men. He had scarcely time to close
+the door and lock it on the inside, and withdraw the key, before the
+robbers, finding themselves surprised, burst out from their hiding place
+and made a rush for the passage; but their means of escape had been
+already cut off by the forethought of Herbert Greyson.
+
+A sharp conflict ensued.
+
+Upon first being summoned to surrender the robbers responded by a
+hail-storm of bullets from their revolvers, followed instantly by a
+charge of bowie knives. This was met by an avalanche of blows from
+pick-axes, pokers, pitchforks, sledge-hammers, spades and rakes, beneath
+which the miscreants were quickly beaten down and overwhelmed.
+
+They were then set upon and bound with strong ropes brought for the
+purpose by Mr. Ezy.
+
+When they were thus secured, hand and foot, Capitola, who had been a
+spectator of the whole scene, and exposed as much as any other to the
+rattle of the bullets, now approached and looked at the vanquished.
+
+Black Donald certainly was not one of the party, who were no other than
+our old acquaintances--Hal, Steve and Dick--of the band!
+
+Each burglar was conveyed to a separate apartment and a strong guard set
+over him.
+
+Then Herbert Greyson, who had received a flesh wound in his left arm,
+returned to the scene of the conflict to look after the wounded. Several
+of the negroes had received gun-shot wounds of more or less importance.
+These were speedily attended to. Mrs. Condiment, who had slept securely
+through all the fight, was now awakened by Capitola, and cautiously
+informed of what had taken place and assured that all danger was now
+over.
+
+The worthy woman, as soon as she recovered from the consternation into
+which the news had plunged her, at once set about succoring the wounded.
+Cots and mattresses were made up in one of the empty rooms and bandages
+and balsams prepared.
+
+And not until all who had been hurt were made comfortable, did Herbert
+Greyson throw himself upon horseback, and ride off to the county seat to
+summon the authorities, and to inform Major Warfield of what had
+happened.
+
+No one thought of retiring to bed at Hurricane Hall that night.
+
+Mrs. Condiment, Capitola and Patty sat watching by the bedsides of the
+wounded.
+
+Bill Ezy and the men who had escaped injury mounted guard over the
+prisoners.
+
+Thus they all remained until sunrise, when the Major, attended by the
+Deputy Sheriff and half a dozen constables, arrived. The night ride of
+several miles had not sufficed to modify the fury into which Old
+Hurricane had been thrown by the news Herbert Greyson had aroused him
+from sleep to communicate. He reached Hurricane Hall in a state of
+excitement that his factotum Wool characterized as "boiling." But "in
+the very torrent, tempest and whirlwind of his passion" he remembered
+that to rail at the vanquished, wounded and bound was unmanly, and so he
+did not trust himself to see or speak to the prisoners.
+
+They were placed in a wagon and under a strong escort of constables were
+conveyed by the Deputy Sheriff to the county seat, where they were
+securely lodged in jail.
+
+But Old Hurricane's emotions of one sort or another were a treat to see!
+He bemoaned the sufferings of his poor wounded men; he raved at the
+danger to which his "women-kind" had been exposed, and he exulted in the
+heroism of Capitola, catching her up in his arms and crying out:
+
+"Oh, my dear Cap! My heroine! My queen! And it was you against whom I
+was plotting treason--ninny that I was! You that have saved my house
+from pillage and my people from slaughter! Oh, Cap, what a jewel you
+are--my dear!"
+
+To all of which Capitola, extricating her curly head from his embrace,
+cried only:
+
+"Bother!"
+
+Utterly refusing to be made a lioness of, and firmly rejecting the grand
+triumph.
+
+The next day Major Warfield went up to the county seat to attend the
+examination of the three burglars, whom he had the satisfaction of
+seeing fully committed to prison to await their trial at the next term
+of the Criminal Court, which would not sit until October; consequently
+the prisoners had the prospect of remaining in jail some months, which
+Old Hurricane declared to be "some satisfaction."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+SEEKING HIS FORTUNE.
+
+    A wide future smiles before him,
+      His heart will beat for fame,
+    And he will learn to breathe with love
+      The music of a name,
+    Writ on the tablets of his heart
+      In characters of flame.
+                                       --Sargent.
+
+
+When the winter's course of medical lectures at the Washington College
+was over, late in the spring, Traverse Rocke returned to Willow Heights.
+
+The good doctor gave him a glad welcome, congratulating him upon his
+improved appearance and manly bearing.
+
+Clara received him with blushing pleasure, and Marah Rocke with all the
+mother's love for her only child.
+
+He quickly fell into the old pleasant routine of his country life,
+resumed his arduous studies in the doctor's office, his work in the
+flower garden, and his morning rides and evening talk with the doctor's
+lovely child.
+
+Not the least obstacle was set in the way of his association with Clara,
+yet Traverse, grown stronger and wiser than his years would seem to
+promise, controlled both his feelings and his actions, and never
+departed from the most respectful reserve, or suffered himself to be
+drawn into that dangerous familiarity to which their constant
+companionship might tempt him.
+
+Marah Rocke, with maternal pride, witnessed his constant self-control
+and encouraged him to persevere. Often in the enthusiasm of her heart,
+when they were alone, she would throw her arm around him, and push the
+dark, clustering curls from his fine forehead, and, gazing fondly on his
+face, exclaim:
+
+"That is my noble-hearted boy! Oh, Traverse, God will bless you! He only
+tries you now to strengthen you!"
+
+Traverse always understood these vague words and would return her
+embrace with all his boyish ardor and say:
+
+"God does bless me now, mother! He blesses me so much, in so many, many
+ways, that I should be worse than a heathen not to be willing to bear
+cheerfully one trial?"
+
+And so Traverse would "reck his own rede" and cultivate cheerful
+gratitude as a duty to God and man.
+
+Clara, also, now, with her feminine intuition, comprehended her reserved
+lover, honored his motives and rested satisfied with being so deeply
+loved, trusting all their unknown future to heaven.
+
+The doctor's appreciation and esteem for Traverse increased with every
+new unfolding of the youth's heart and intellect, and never did master
+take more pains with a favorite pupil, or father with a beloved son,
+than did the doctor to push Traverse on in his profession. The
+improvement of the youth was truly surprising.
+
+Thus passed the summer in healthful alternation of study and exercise.
+
+When the season waned, late in the autumn, he went a second time to
+Washington to attend the winter's course of lectures at the Medical
+College.
+
+The doctor gave him letters recommending him as a young man of
+extraordinary talents and of excellent moral character, to the
+particular attention of several of the most eminent professors.
+
+His mother bore this second parting with more cheerfulness, especially
+as the separation was enlivened by frequent letters from Traverse, full
+of the history of the present and the hopes of the future.
+
+The doctor did not forget from time to time to jog the memories of his
+friends, the professors of the medical college, that they might afford
+his protege every facility and assistance in the prosecution of his
+studies.
+
+Toward spring Traverse wrote to his friends that his hopes were sanguine
+of obtaining his diploma at the examination to be held at the end of the
+session. And when Traverse expressed this hope, they who knew him so
+well felt assured that he had made no vain boast.
+
+And so it proved, for early in April Traverse Rocke returned home with a
+diploma in his pocket.
+
+Sincere was the joyful sympathy that met him.
+
+The doctor shook him cordially by the hands, declaring that he was the
+first student he ever knew to get his diploma at the end of only three
+years' study.
+
+Clara, amid smiles and blushes, congratulated him.
+
+And Mrs. Rocke, as soon as she had him alone, threw her arms around his
+neck and wept for joy.
+
+A few days Traverse gave up solely to enjoyment of his friends' society,
+and then, growing restless, he began to talk of opening an office and
+hanging out a sign in Staunton.
+
+He consulted the doctor upon this subject. The good doctor heard him out
+and then, caressing his own chin and looking over the tops of his
+spectacles, with good-humored satire, he said:
+
+"My dear boy, you have confidence enough in me by this time to bear that
+I should speak plainly to you?"
+
+"Oh, Doctor Day, just say whatever you like!" replied the young man,
+fervently.
+
+"Very well, then. I shall speak very plainly--to wit--you'll never
+succeed in Staunton! No, not if you had the genius of Galen and
+Esculapius, Abernethy and Benjamin Rush put together!"
+
+"My dear sir--why?"
+
+"Because, my son, it is written that 'a prophet hath no honor in his own
+city!' Of our blessed Lord and Saviour the contemptuous Jews said, 'Is
+not this Jesus, the carpenter's son?'"
+
+"Oh, I understand you, sir!" said Traverse, with a deep blush. "You mean
+that the people who used some years ago to employ me to put in their
+coal and saw their wood and run their errands, will never trust me to
+look at their tongues and feel their pulses and write prescriptions!"
+
+"That's it, my boy! You've defined the difficulty! And now I'll tell you
+what you are to do, Traverse! You must go to the West, my lad!"
+
+"Go to the West, sir--leave my mother--leave you--leave"--he hesitated
+and blushed.
+
+"Clara? Yes, my son, you must go to the West, leave your mother, leave
+me and leave Clara! It will be best for all parties! We managed to live
+without our lad, when he was away at his studies in Washington, and we
+will try to dispense with him longer if it be for his own good."
+
+"Ah, sir; but then absence had a limitation, and the hope of return
+sweetened every day that passed; but if I go to the West to settle it
+will be without the remotest hope of returning!"
+
+"Not so, my boy--not so--for just as soon as Doctor Rocke has
+established himself in some thriving western town and obtained a good
+practice, gained a high reputation and made himself a home--which, as he
+is a fast young man, in the best sense of the phrase--he can do in a
+very few years--he may come back here and carry to his western home--his
+mother," said the doctor, with a mischievous twinkle of his eyes.
+
+"Doctor Day, I owe you more than a son's honor and obedience! I will go
+wherever you think it best that I should," said Traverse, earnestly.
+
+"No more than I expected from all my previous knowledge of you,
+Traverse! And I, on my part, will give you only such counsel as I should
+give my own son, had heaven blessed me with one. And now, Traverse,
+there is no better season for emigration than the spring, and no better
+point to stop and make observations at than St. Louis! Of course, the
+place of your final destination must be left for future consideration. I
+have influential friends at St. Louis to whom I will give you letters."
+
+"Dear sir, to have matured this plan so well you must have been kindly
+thinking of my future this long time past!" said Traverse, gratefully.
+
+"Of course--of course! Who has a better right? Now go and break this
+plan to your mother."
+
+Traverse pressed the doctor's hand and went to seek his mother. He found
+her in his room busy among his clothing. He begged her to stop and sit
+down while he talked to her. And when she had done so, he told her the
+doctor's plan. He had almost feared that his mother would meet this
+proposition with sighs and tears.
+
+To his surprise and pleasure, Mrs. Rocke received the news with an
+encouraging smile, telling him that the doctor had long prepared her
+to expect that her boy would very properly go and establish himself
+in the West; that she should correspond with him frequently, and as
+soon as he should be settled, come and keep house for him.
+
+Finally she said that, anticipating this emergency, she had, during her
+three years' residence beneath the doctor's roof, saved three hundred
+dollars, which she should give her boy to start with.
+
+The tears rushed to the young man's eyes.
+
+"For your dear sake, mother, only for yours, may they become three
+hundred thousand in my hands!" he exclaimed.
+
+Preparations were immediately commenced for Traverse's journey.
+
+As before, Clara gladly gave her aid in getting ready his wardrobe. As
+he was about to make his debut as a young physician in a strange city,
+his mother was anxious that his dress should be faultless; and,
+therefore, put the most delicate needlework upon all the little articles
+of his outfit. Clara volunteered to mark them all. And one day, when
+Traverse happened to be alone with his mother, she showed him his
+handkerchiefs, collars and linen beautifully marked in minute
+embroidered letters.
+
+"I suppose, Traverse, that you, being a young man, cannot appreciate the
+exquisite beauty of this work," she said.
+
+"Indeed, but I can, mother! I did not sit by your side so many years
+while you worked without knowing something about it. This is wonderful!
+The golden thread with which the letters are embroidered is finer than
+the finest silk I ever saw!" said Traverse, admiringly, to please his
+mother, whom he supposed to be the embroideress.
+
+"Well they may be!" said Mrs. Rocke, "for that golden thread of which
+you speak is Clara's golden hair, which she herself has drawn out and
+threaded her needle with, and worked into the letters of your name."
+
+Traverse suddenly looked up, his color went and came, he had no words to
+reply.
+
+"I told you because I thought it would give you pleasure to know it, and
+that it would be a comfort to you when you are far away from us; for,
+Traverse, I hope that by this time you have grown strong and wise enough
+to have conquered yourself, and to enjoy dear Clara's friendship
+aright!"
+
+"Mother!" he said, sorrowfully, and then his voice broke down, and
+without another word he turned and left the room.
+
+To feel how deeply and hopelessly he loved the doctor's sweet
+daughter--to feel sure that she perceived and returned his dumb,
+despairing love--and to know that duty, gratitude, honor commanded him
+to be silent, to tear himself away from her and make no sign, was a
+trial almost too great for the young heart's integrity. Scarcely could
+he prevent the internal struggle betraying itself upon his countenance.
+As the time drew near for his departure self-control grew difficult and
+almost impossible. Even Clara lost her joyous spirits and despite all
+her efforts to be cheerful, grew so pensive that her father, without
+seeming to understand the cause, gayly rallied her upon her dejection.
+
+Traverse understood it and almost longed for the day to come when he
+should leave this scene of his love and his sore trial.
+
+One afternoon, a few days before he was to start, Doctor Day sent for
+Traverse to come to him in his study. And as soon as they were seated
+comfortably together at the table the doctor put into the young man's
+hand a well-filled pocketbook; and when Traverse, with a deep and
+painful blush, would have given it back, he forced it upon him with the
+old argument:
+
+"It is only a loan, my boy! Money put out at interest! Capital well and
+satisfactorily invested! And now listen to me! I am about to speak to
+you of that which is much nearer your heart----"
+
+Traverse became painfully embarrassed.
+
+"Traverse," resumed the doctor, "I have grown to love you as a son, and
+to esteem you as a man. I have lived long enough to value solid
+integrity far beyond wealth or birth, and when that integrity is adorned
+and enriched by high talents, it forms a character of excellence not
+often met with in this world. I have proved both your integrity and your
+talents, Traverse, and I am more than satisfied with you--I am proud of
+you, my boy."
+
+Traverse bowed deeply, but still blushed.
+
+"You will wonder," continued the doctor, "to what all this talk tends. I
+will tell you. Traverse, I have long known your unspoken love for Clara,
+and I have honored your scruples in keeping silent, when silence must
+have been so painful. Your trial is now over, my son! Go and open for
+yourself an honorable career in the profession you have chosen and
+mastered, and return, and Clara shall be yours!"
+
+Traverse, overwhelmed with surprise and joy at this incredible good
+fortune, seized the doctor's hand, and in wild and incoherent language
+tried to express his gratitude.
+
+"There--there," said the doctor, "go and tell Clara all this and bring
+the roses back to her cheeks, and then your parting will be the happier
+for this hope before you."
+
+"I must speak! I must speak first!" said the young man, in a choking
+voice. "I must tell you some little of the deep gratitude I feel for
+you, sir. Oh, when I forget all that you have done for me, 'may my right
+hand forget her cunning!' may God and man forget me! Doctor Day, the
+Lord helping me for your good sake, I will be all that you have
+prophesied, and hope and expect of me! For your sake, for Clara's and my
+mother's, I will bend every power of my mind, soul and body to attain
+the eminence you desire for me! In a word, the Lord giving me grace, I
+will become worthy of being your son and Clara's husband."
+
+"There, there, my dear boy, go and tell Clara all that!" said the
+doctor, pressing the young man's hand and dismissing him.
+
+Traverse went immediately to seek Clara, whom he found sitting alone in
+the parlor.
+
+She was bending over some delicate needlework that Traverse knew by
+instinct was intended for himself.
+
+Now, had Traverse foreseen from the first the success of his love, there
+might possibly have been the usual shyness and hesitation in declaring
+himself to the object of his affection. But although he and Clara had
+long deeply and silently loved and understood each other, yet neither
+had dared to hope for so improbable an event as the doctor's favoring
+their attachment, and now, under the exciting influence of the surprise,
+joy and gratitude with which the doctor's magnanimity had filled his
+heart, Traverse forgot all shyness and hesitation, and, stepping quickly
+to Clara's side, and dropping gently upon one knee, he took her hand,
+and, bowing his head upon it, said:
+
+"Clara, my own, own Clara, your dear father has given me leave to tell
+you at last how much and how long I have loved you!" and then he arose
+and sat down beside her.
+
+The blush deepened upon Clara's cheek, tears filled her eyes, and her
+voice trembled as she murmured: "Heaven bless my dear father! He is
+unlike every other man on earth!"
+
+"Oh, he is--he is!" said Traverse, fervently, "and, dear Clara, never
+did a man strive so hard for wealth, fame, or glory, as I shall strive
+to become 'worthy to be called his son!'"
+
+"Do, Traverse--do, dear Traverse! I want you to honor even his very
+highest drafts upon your moral and intellectual capacities! I know you
+are 'worthy' of his high regard now, else he never would have chosen you
+as his son--but I am ambitious for you, Traverse! I would have your
+motto be, 'Excelsior!'--higher!" said the doctor's daughter.
+
+"And you, dear Clara, may I venture to hope that you do not disapprove
+of your father's choice, or reject the hand that he permits me to offer
+you?" said Traverse, for though he understood Clara well enough, yet
+like all honest men, he wanted some definite and practical engagement.
+
+"There is my hand--my heart was yours long ago," murmured the maiden, in
+a tremulous voice.
+
+He took and pressed that white hand to his heart, looked hesitatingly
+and pleadingly in her face for an instant, and then, drawing her gently
+to his bosom, sealed their betrothal on her pure lips.
+
+Then they sat side by side, and hand in hand, in a sweet silence for a
+few moments, and then Clara said:
+
+"You have not told your mother yet! Go and tell her, Traverse; it will
+make her so happy! And Traverse, I will be a daughter to her, while you
+are gone. Tell her that, too."
+
+"Dear girl, you have always been as kind and loving to my mother as it
+was possible to be. How can you ever be more so than you have been?"
+
+"I shall find a way!" smiled Clara.
+
+Again he pressed her hand to his heart and to his lips, and left the
+room to find his mother. He had a search before he discovered her at
+last in the drawing-room, arranging it for their evening fireside
+gathering.
+
+"Come, mother, and sit down by me on this sofa, for I have glorious
+tidings for your ear! Dear Clara sent me from her own side to tell you!"
+
+"Ah, still thinking--always thinking, madly thinking of the doctor's
+daughter! Poor, poor boy!" said Mrs. Rocke.
+
+"Yes, and always intend to think of her to the very end of my life, and
+beyond, if possible! But come, dear mother, and hear me explain!" said
+Traverse, and as soon as Mrs. Rocke had taken the indicated seat,
+Traverse commenced and related to her the substance of the conversation
+between the doctor and himself in the library, in which the former
+authorized his addresses to his daughter, and also his own subsequent
+explanation and engagement with Clara.
+
+Mrs. Rocke listened to all this, in unbroken silence, and when, at
+length, Traverse had concluded his story, she clasped her hands and
+raised her eyes, uttering fervent thanksgivings to the fountain of all
+mercies.
+
+"You do not congratulate me, dear mother."
+
+"Oh, Traverse, I am returning thanks to heaven on your behalf! Oh, my
+son! my son; but that such things as these are Providential, I should
+tremble to see you so happy! So I will not presume to congratulate! I
+will pray for you!"
+
+"Dear mother, you have suffered so much in your life that you are
+incredulous of happiness! Be more hopeful and confiding! The Bible says,
+'There remaineth now these three--Faith, Hope and Charity--but the
+greatest of all is Charity.' You have Charity enough, dear mother; try
+to have more Faith and Hope, and you will be happier! And look--there is
+Clara coming this way! She does not know that we are here. I will call
+her. Dear Clara, come in and convince my mother--she will not believe in
+our happiness," said Traverse, going to the door and leading his
+blushing and smiling betrothed into the room.
+
+"It may be that Mrs. Rocke does not want me for a daughter-in-law," said
+Clara, archly, as she approached and put her hand in that of Marah.
+
+"Not want you, my own darling!" said Marah Rocke, putting her arm around
+Clara's waist, and drawing her to her bosom, "not want you! You know I
+am just as much in love with you as Traverse himself can be! And I have
+longed for you, my sweet, longed for you as an unattainable blessing,
+ever since that day when Traverse first left us, and you came and laid
+your bright head on my bosom and wept with me!"
+
+"And now if we must cry a little when Traverse leaves us, we can go and
+take comfort in being miserable together, with a better understanding of
+our relations!" said Clara with an arch smile.
+
+"Where are you all? Where is everybody--that I am left wandering about
+the lonely house like a poor ghost in Hades?" said the doctor's cheerful
+voice in the passage without.
+
+"Here, father--here we are--a family party, wanting only you to complete
+it," answered his daughter, springing to meet him.
+
+The doctor came in smiling, pressed his daughter to his bosom, shook
+Traverse cordially by the hand, and kissed Marah Rocke's cheek. That was
+his way of congratulating himself and all others on the betrothal.
+
+The evening was passed in unalloyed happiness.
+
+Let them enjoy it! It was their last of comfort--that bright evening!
+
+Over that household was already gathering a cloud heavy and dark with
+calamity--calamity that must have overwhelmed the stability of any faith
+which was not as theirs was--stayed upon God.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+A PANIC IN THE OUTLAW'S DEN.
+
+    Imagination frames events unknown,
+    In wild, fantastic shapes of hideous ruin,
+    And what it fears creates!
+                                       --Hannah More.
+
+    Dark doubt and fear, o'er other spirits lower,
+    But touch not his, who every waking hour,
+    Has one fixed hope and always feels its power.
+                                       --Crabbe.
+
+
+Upon the very same night, that the three robbers were surprised and
+captured by the presence of mind of Capitola at Hurricane Hall, Black
+Donald, disguised as a negro, was lurking in the woods around the
+mansion, waiting for the coming of his three men with their prize.
+
+But as hour after hour passed and they came not, the desperado began
+heartily to curse their sloth--for to no other cause was he enabled to
+attribute the delay, as he knew the house, the destined scene of the
+outrage, to be deserted by all for the night, except by the three
+helpless females.
+
+As night waned and morning began to dawn in the east, the chief grew
+seriously uneasy at the prolonged absence of his agents--a circumstance
+that he could only account for upon the absurd hypothesis that those
+stupid brutes had suffered themselves to be overtaken by sleep in their
+ambuscade.
+
+While he was cursing their inefficiency, and regretting that he had not
+himself made one of the party, he wandered in his restlessness to
+another part of the woods, and the opposite side of the house.
+
+He had not been long here before his attention was arrested by the
+tramping of approaching horsemen. He withdrew into the shade of the
+thicket and listened while the travelers went by.
+
+The party proved to consist of Old Hurricane, Herbert Greyson and the
+Sheriff's officers, on their way from the town to Hurricane Hall to take
+the captured burglars into custody. And Black Donald, by listening
+attentively, gathered enough from their conversation to know that his
+men had been discovered and captured by the heroism of Capitola.
+
+"That girl again!" muttered Black Donald, to himself. "She is doomed to
+be my destruction, or I hers! Our fates are evidently connected! Poor
+Steve! Poor Dick! Poor Hal! Little did I think that your devotion to
+your captain would carry you into the very jaws of death--pshaw! hang
+it! Let boys and women whine! I must act!"
+
+And with this resolution Black Donald dogged the path of the horsemen
+until he had reached that part of the woods skirting the road opposite
+the park gate. Here he hid himself in the bushes to watch events. Soon
+from his hiding place he saw the wagon approach, containing the three
+men, heavily ironed and escorted by a strong guard of county constables
+and plantation negroes, all well armed, and under the command of the
+Sheriff and Herbert Greyson.
+
+"Ha, ha, ha! They must dread an attempt on our part of rescue, or they
+never would think of putting such a formidable guard over three wounded
+and handcuffed men!" laughed Black Donald to himself.
+
+"Courage, my boys," he muttered. "Your chief will free you from prison
+or share your captivity! I wish I could trumpet that into your ears at
+this moment, but prudence, 'the better part of valor,' forbids! For the
+same words that would encourage you would warn your captors into greater
+vigilance." And so saying Black Donald let the procession pass, and then
+made tracks for his retreat.
+
+It was broad daylight when he reached the Old Inn. The robbers, worn out
+with waiting and watching for the captain and his men with the fair
+prize, had thrown themselves down upon the kitchen floor, and now lay in
+every sort of awkward attitude, stretched out or doubled up in heavy
+sleep. The old beldame had disappeared--doubtless she had long since
+sought her night lair.
+
+Taking a poker from the corner of the fireplace, Black Donald went
+around among the sleeping robbers and stirred them up, with vigorous
+punches in the ribs and cries of:
+
+"Wake up!--dolts! brutes! blockheads! Wake up! You rest on a volcano
+about to break out! You sleep over a mine about to be exploded! Wake
+up!--sluggards that you are! Your town is taken! Your castle is stormed!
+The enemy is at your throats with drawn swords! Ah, brutes, will you
+wake, then, or shall I have to lay it on harder?"
+
+"What the demon?"
+
+"How now?"
+
+"What's this?" were some of the ejaculations of the men as they slowly
+and sulkily roused themselves from their heavy slumber.
+
+"The house is on fire! The ship's sinking! The cars have run off the
+track! The boiler's burst, and the devil's to pay!" cried Black Donald,
+accompanying his words with vigorous punches of the poker into the ribs
+of the recumbent men.
+
+"What the foul fiend ails you, captain? Have you got the girl and drunk
+too much liquor on your wedding night?" asked one of the men.
+
+"No, Mac, I have not got the girl! On the contrary, the girl, blame her,
+has got three of my best men in custody! In one word, Hal, Dick and
+Steve are safely lodged in the county jail!"
+
+"What?"
+
+"Perdition!"
+
+"My eye!"
+
+"Here's a go!" were the simultaneous exclamations of the men as they
+sprang upon their feet.
+
+"In the fiend's name, captain, tell us all about it!" said Mac,
+anxiously.
+
+"I have no time to talk much, nor you to tarry long! It was all along of
+that blamed witch, Capitola!" said Black Donald, who then gave a rapid
+account of the adventure, and the manner in which Capitola entrapped and
+captured the burglars, together with the way in which he himself came by
+the information.
+
+"I declare, one can't help liking that girl! I should admire her even if
+she should put a rope about my neck!" said Mac.
+
+"She's a brick!" said another, with emphasis.
+
+"She's some pumpkins, now, I tell you!" assented a third.
+
+"I am more than ever resolved to get her into my possession! But in the
+mean time, lads, we must evacuate the Old Inn! It is getting too hot to
+hold us!"
+
+"Aye, captain!"
+
+"Aye, lads, listen! We must talk fast and act promptly; the poor fellows
+up there in jail are game, I know! They would not willingly peach, but
+they are badly wounded. If one of them should have to die, and be
+blessed with a psalm-singing parson to attend him, no knowing what he
+may be persuaded to confess! Therefore, let us quickly decide upon some
+new rendezvous that will be unsuspected, even by our poor caged birds!
+If any of you have any place in your eye, speak!"
+
+"We would rather hear what you have to say, captain," said Mac; and all
+the rest assented.
+
+"Well, then, you all know the Devil's Punch Bowl!"
+
+"Aye, do we, captain!"
+
+"Well, what you do not know--what nobody knows but myself is this--that
+about half-way down that awful chasm, in the side of the rock, is a
+hole, concealed by a clump of evergreens; that hole is the entrance to a
+cavern of enormous extent! Let that be our next rendezvous! And now,
+avaunt! Fly! Scatter! and meet me in the cavern to-night, at the usual
+hour! Listen--carry away all our arms, ammunition, disguises and
+provisions--so that no vestige of our presence may be left behind. As
+for dummy, if they can make her speak, the cutting out of her tongue was
+lost labor--vanish!"
+
+"But our pals in prison!" said Mac.
+
+"They shall be my care. We must lie low for a few days, so as to put the
+authorities off their guard. Then if our pals recover from their wounds,
+and have proved game against Church and State, I shall know what
+measures to take for their deliverance! No more talk now--prepare for
+your flitting and fly!"
+
+The captain's orders were obeyed, and within two hours from that time no
+vestige of the robbers' presence remained in the deserted Old Inn.
+
+If any Sheriff's officer had come there with a search-warrant, he would
+have found nothing suspicious; he would have seen only a poor old dumb
+woman, busy at her spinning wheel; and if he had questioned her would
+only have got smiles and shakes of the head for an answer, or the
+exhibitions of coarse country gloves and stockings of her own knitting,
+which she would, in dumb-show, beg him to purchase.
+
+Days and weeks passed and the three imprisoned burglars languished in
+jail, each in a separate cell.
+
+Bitterly each in his heart complained of the leader that had,
+apparently, deserted them in their direst need. And if neither betrayed
+him it was probably because they could not do so without deeply
+criminating themselves, and for no better motive.
+
+There is said to be "honor among thieves." It is, on the face of it,
+untrue; there can be neither honor, confidence nor safety among men
+whose profession is crime. The burglars, therefore, had no confidence in
+their leader, and secretly and bitterly reproached him for his desertion
+of them.
+
+Meanwhile the annual camp meeting season approached. It was rumored that
+a camp meeting would be held in the wooded vale below Tip-Top, and soon
+this report was confirmed by announcements in all the county papers. And
+all who intended to take part in the religious festival or have a tent
+on the ground began to prepare provisions--cooking meat and poultry,
+baking bread, cakes, pies, etc. And preachers from all parts of the
+country were flocking in to the village to be on the spot for the
+commencement.
+
+Mrs. Condiment, though a member of another church, loved in her soul the
+religious excitement--"the warming up," as she called it, to be had at
+the camp meeting! But never in the whole course of her life had she
+taken part in one, except so far as riding to the preaching in the
+morning and returning home in the evening.
+
+But Capitola, who was as usual in the interval between her adventures,
+bored half to death with the monotony of her life at Hurricane Hall--and
+praying not against but wishing for--fire, floods or thieves, or
+anything to stir her stagnant blood, heard of the camp meeting, and
+expressed a wish to have a tent on the camp ground and remain there from
+the beginning to the end, to see all that was to be seen; hear all that
+was to be heard; feel all that was to be felt, and learn all that was to
+be known!
+
+And as Capitola, ever since her victory over the burglars, had been the
+queen regnant of Hurricane Hall, she had only to express this wish to
+have it carried into immediate effect.
+
+Old Hurricane himself went up to Tip-Top and purchased the canvas and
+set two men to work under his own immediate direction to make the tent.
+
+And as Major Warfield's campaigning experience was very valuable here,
+it turned out that the Hurricane Hall tent was the largest and best on
+the camp ground. As soon as it was set up under the shade of a grove of
+oak trees a wagon from Hurricane Hall conveyed to the spot the simple
+and necessary furniture, cooking materials and provisions. And the same
+morning the family carriage, driven by Wool, brought out Major Warfield,
+Mrs. Condiment, Capitola and her little maid Patty.
+
+The large tent was divided into two compartments--one for Major Warfield
+and his man Wool--the other for Mrs. Condiment, Capitola and Patty.
+
+As the family party stepped out of the carriage, the novelty, freshness
+and beauty of the scene called forth a simultaneous burst of admiration.
+The little snow-white tents were dotted here and there through the
+woods, in beautiful contrast with the greenness of the foliage, groups
+of well-dressed and cheerful-looking men, women and children were
+walking about; over all smiled a morning sky of cloudless splendor. The
+preachings and the prayer meetings had not yet commenced. Indeed, many
+of the brethren were hard at work in an extensive clearing, setting up a
+rude pulpit, and arranging rough benches to accommodate the women and
+children of the camp congregation.
+
+Our party went into their tent, delighted with the novelty of the whole
+thing, though Old Hurricane declared that it was nothing new to his
+experience, but reminded him strongly of his campaigning days.
+
+Wool assented, saying that the only difference was, there were no ladies
+in the old military camp.
+
+I have neither time nor space to give a full account of this camp
+meeting. The services commenced the same evening. There were preachers
+of more or less fervor, of piety and eloquence of utterance. Old
+Christians had their "first love" revived; young ones found their zeal
+kindled, and sinners were awakened to a sense of their sin and danger.
+Every Christian there said the season had been a good one!
+
+In the height of the religious enthusiasm there appeared a new preacher
+in the field. He seemed a man considerably past middle age and broken
+down with sickness or sorrow. His figure was tall, thin and stooping;
+his hair white as snow, his face pale and emaciated; his movements slow
+and feeble, and his voice low and unsteady! He wore a solemn suit of
+black, that made his thin form seem of skeleton proportions; a
+snow-white neck-cloth, and a pair of great round iron-rimmed spectacles,
+that added nothing to his good looks.
+
+Yet this old, sickly and feeble man seemed one of fervent piety and of
+burning eloquence. Every one sought his society; and when it was known
+that Father Gray was to hold forth, the whole camp congregation turned
+out to hear him.
+
+It must not be supposed that in the midst of this great revival those
+poor "sinners above all sinners," the burglars imprisoned in the
+neighboring town, were forgotten! no, they were remembered, prayed for,
+visited and exhorted. And no one took more interest in the fate of these
+men than good Mrs. Condiment, who, having seen them all on that great
+night at Hurricane Hall, and having with her own kind hands plastered
+their heads and given them possets, could not drive out of her heart a
+certain compassion for their miseries.
+
+No one, either, admired Father Gray more than did the little old
+housekeeper of Hurricane Hall, and as her table and her accommodations
+were the best on the camp ground, she often invited and pressed good
+Father Gray to rest and refresh himself in her tent. And the old man,
+though a severe ascetic, yielded to her repeated solicitations, until at
+length he seemed to live there altogether.
+
+One day Mrs. Condiment, being seriously exercised upon the subject of
+the imprisoned men, said to Father Gray, who was reposing himself in the
+tent:
+
+"Father Gray, I wished to speak to you, sir, upon the subject of those
+poor wretched men who are to be tried for their lives at the next term
+of the Criminal Court. Our ministers have all been to see them, and
+talked to them, but not one of the number can make the least impression
+on them, or bring them to any sense of their awful condition!"
+
+"Ah, that is dreadful!" sighed the aged man.
+
+"Yes, dreadful, Father Gray! Now I thought if you would only visit them
+you could surely bring them to reason!"
+
+"My dear friend, I would willingly do so, but I must confess to you a
+weakness--a great weakness of the flesh--I have a natural shrinking from
+men of blood! I know it is sinful, but indeed I cannot overcome it."
+
+"But, my dear Father Gray, a man of your experience knows full well that
+if you cannot overcome that feeling you should act in direct opposition
+to it! And, I assure you, there is no danger! Why, even I should not be
+at all afraid of a robber when he is double-ironed and locked up in a
+cell, and I should enter guarded by a pair of turnkeys!"
+
+"I know it, my dear lady, I know it, and I feel that I ought to overcome
+this weakness or do my duty in its despite."
+
+"Yes, and if you would consent to go, Father Gray, I would not mind
+going with you myself, if that would encourage you any!"
+
+"Of course it would, my dear friend; and if you will go with me, and if
+the brethren think that I could do any good I will certainly endeavor to
+conquer my repugnance and visit these imprisoned men."
+
+It was arranged that Father Gray, accompanied by Mrs. Condiment, should
+go to the jail upon the following morning; and, accordingly, they set
+out immediately after breakfast. A short ride up the mountain brought
+them to Tip-Top, in the center of which stood the jail. It was a simple
+structure of gray stone, containing within its own walls the apartments
+occupied by the warden. To these Mrs. Condiment, who was the leader in
+the whole matter, first presented herself, introducing Father Gray as
+one of the preachers of the camp meeting, a very pious man, and very
+effective in his manner of dealing with hardened offenders.
+
+"I have heard of the Rev. Mr. Gray and his powerful exhortations," said
+the warden, with a low bow; "and I hope he may be able to make some
+impression on these obdurate men and induce them, if possible, to 'make
+a clean breast of it,' and give up the retreat of their band. Each of
+them has been offered a free pardon on condition of turning State's
+evidence and each has refused."
+
+"Indeed! have they done so, case-hardened creatures?" mildly inquired
+Father Gray.
+
+"Aye, have they; but you, dear sir, may be able to persuade them to do
+so."
+
+"I shall endeavor! I shall endeavor!" said the mild old man.
+
+The warden then requested the visitors to follow him and led the way
+up-stairs to the cells.
+
+"I understand that the criminals are confined separately?" said Mr. Gray
+to the warden.
+
+"No, sir; they were so confined at first, for better security, but as
+they have been very quiet, and as since those rowdies that disturbed the
+camp meeting have been sent to prison and filled up our cells, we have
+had to put those three robbers into one cell."
+
+"I'm afraid I--" began the minister, hesitating.
+
+"Father Gray is nervous, good Mr. Jailor; I hope there's no danger from
+these dreadful men--all of them together--for I promised Father Gray
+that he should be safe, myself," said Mrs. Condiment.
+
+"Oh, ma'am, undoubtedly; they are double-ironed," said the warden, as he
+unlocked a door and admitted the visitors, into rather a darkish cell,
+in which were the three prisoners.
+
+Steve the mulatto was stretched upon the floor in a deep sleep.
+
+Hal was sitting on the side of the cot, twiddling his fingers.
+
+Dick sat crouched up in a corner, with his head against the wall.
+
+"Peace be with you, my poor souls," said the mild old man, as he entered
+the cell.
+
+"You go to the demon!" said Dick, with a hideous scowl.
+
+"Nay, my poor man, I came in the hope of saving you from that enemy of
+souls!"
+
+"Here's another! There's three comes reg'lar! Here's the fourth! Go it,
+old fellow! We're gettin' used to it! It's gettin' to be entertainin'!
+It's the only diversion we have in this blamed hole," said Hal.
+
+"Nay, friend, if you use profane language, I cannot stay to hear it,"
+said the old man.
+
+"Yaw-aw-aw-ow!" yawned Steve, half rising and stretching himself.
+"What's the row? I was just dreaming our captain had come to deliver
+us--yow-aw-aw-ooh! It's only another parson!" and with that Steve turned
+himself over and settled to sleep.
+
+"My dear Mr. Jailer, do you think that these men are safe--for if you
+do, I think we had better leave excellent Mr. Gray to talk to them
+alone--he can do them so much more good if he has them all to himself,"
+said Mrs. Condiment, who was, in spite of all her previous boasting,
+beginning to quail and tremble under the hideous glare of Demon Dick's
+eyes.
+
+"N-no! n-no! n-no!" faltered the preacher, nervously taking hold of the
+coat of the warden.
+
+"You go along out of this the whole of you! I'm not a wild beast in a
+cage to be stared at!" growled Demon Dick with a baleful glare that sent
+Mrs. Condiment and the preacher, shuddering to the cell door.
+
+"Mr. Gray, I do assure you, sir, there is no danger! The men are
+double-ironed, and, malignant as they may be, they can do you no harm.
+And if you would stay and talk to them you might persuade them to
+confession and do the community much service," said the warden.
+
+"I--I--I'm no coward, but--but--but--" faltered the old man, tremblingly
+approaching the prisoners.
+
+"I understand you, sir. You are in bad health, which makes you nervous."
+
+"Yes--yes. Heaven forgive me, but if you, Mr. Jailer, and the good lady
+here will keep within call, in case of accidents, I don't mind if I do
+remain and exhort these men, for a short time," said the old man.
+
+"Of course we will. Come, Mrs. Condiment, mum! There's a good bench in
+the lobby and I'll send for my old woman and we three can have a good
+talk while the worthy Mr. Gray is speaking to the prisoners," said the
+warden, conducting the housekeeper from the cell.
+
+As soon as they had gone the old man went to the door and peeped after
+them, and having seen that they went to the extremity of the lobby to a
+seat under an open window, he turned back to the cell, and, going up to
+Hal, said in a low, voice:
+
+"Now, then, is it possible that you do not know me?"
+
+Hal stopped twiddling his fingers and looked up at the tall, thin,
+stooping figure, the gray hair, the white eyebrows and the pale face,
+and said gruffly:
+
+"No! May the demon fly away with me if I ever saw you before!"
+
+"Nor you, Dick?" inquired the old man, in a mild voice, turning to the
+one addressed.
+
+"No, burn you, nor want to see you now!"
+
+"Steve! Steve!" said the old man, in a pitiful voice, waking the sleeper.
+"Don't you know me, either?"
+
+"Don't bother me," said that worthy, giving himself another turn and
+another settle to sleep.
+
+"Dolts! blockheads! brutes! Do you know me now?" growled the visitor,
+changing his voice.
+
+"Our captain!"
+
+"Our captain!"
+
+"Our captain!" they simultaneously cried.
+
+"Hush! sink your souls! Do you want to bring the warden upon us?"
+growled Black Donald, for it was unquestionably him in a new
+metamorphosis.
+
+"Then all I have to say, captain, is that you have left us here a blamed
+long time!"
+
+"And exposed to sore temptation to peach on me! Couldn't help it, lads!
+Couldn't help it! I waited until I could do something to the purpose!"
+
+"Now, may Satan roast me alive if I know what you have done to turn
+yourself into an old man! Burn my soul, if I should know you now,
+captain, if it wa'n't for your voice," grumbled Steve.
+
+"Listen, then, you ungrateful, suspicious wretches! I did for you what
+no captain ever did for his men before! I had exhausted all manner of
+disguises, so that the authorities would almost have looked for me in an
+old woman's gown! See, then, what I did! I put myself on a month's
+regimen of vegetable diet, and kept myself in a cavern until I grew as
+pale and thin as a hermit! Then I shaved off my hair, beard, mustaches
+and eyebrows! Yes, blame you, I sacrificed all my beauty to your
+interests! Fate helps those who help themselves! The camp meeting
+gathering together hosts of people and preachers gave me the opportunity
+of appearing without exciting inquiry. I put on a gray wig, a black
+suit, assumed a feeble voice, stooping gait and a devout manner,
+and--became a popular preacher at the camp meeting."
+
+"Captain, you're a brick! You are indeed! I do not flatter you!" said
+Hal. It was a sentiment in which all agreed.
+
+"I had no need of further machination!" continued the captain; "they
+actually gave me the game! I was urged to visit you here--forced to
+remain alone and talk with you!" laughed Black Donald.
+
+"And now, captain, my jewel, my treasure, my sweetheart--that I love
+with 'a love passing the love of woman'--how is your reverence going to
+get us out?"
+
+"Listen!" said the captain, diving into his pockets, "you must get
+yourselves out! This prison is by no means strongly fastened or well
+guarded! Here are files to file off your fetters! Here are tools to pick
+the locks, and here are three loaded revolvers to use against any of the
+turnkey who might discover and attempt to stop you! To-night, however,
+is the last of the camp meeting, and the two turnkeys are among my
+hearers! I shall keep them all night! Now you know what to do! I must
+leave you! Dick, try to make an assault on me that I may scream, but
+first conceal your tools and arms!"
+
+Hal hid the instruments and Dick, with an awful roar, sprang at the
+visitor, who ran to the grating crying:
+
+"Help--help!"
+
+The warden came hurrying to the spot.
+
+"Take 'im out o' this, then!" muttered Dick, sulkily getting back into
+his corner.
+
+"Oh, what a wretch!" said Mrs. Condiment.
+
+"I shall be glad when he's once hanged!" said the jailer.
+
+"I--I--fear that I can do them but little good, and--and I would rather
+not come again, being sickly and nervous," faltered Father Gray.
+
+"No, my dear good sir! I for one shall not ask you to risk your precious
+health for such a set of wretches! They are Satan's own! You shall come
+home to our tent and lie down to rest, and I will make you an egg-caudle
+that will set you up again," said Mrs. Condiment, tenderly, as the whole
+party left the cell.
+
+That day the outrageous conduct of the imprisoned burglars was the
+subject of conversation, even dividing the interest of the religious
+excitement.
+
+But the next morning the whole community was thrown into a state of
+consternation by the discovery that the burglars had broken jail and
+fled, and that the notorious outlaw Black Donald had been in their very
+midst, disguised as an elderly field preacher.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+THE VICTORY OVER DEATH.
+
+    "Glory to God! to God!" he saith,
+    "Knowledge by suffering entereth,
+    And life is perfected in death."
+                                       --E. B. Browning.
+
+
+One morning, in the gladness of his heart, Doctor Day mounted his horse
+and rode down to Staunton, gayly refusing to impart the object of his
+ride to any one, and bidding Traverse stay with the women until he
+should return.
+
+As soon as the doctor was gone, Traverse went into the library to
+arrange his patron's books and papers.
+
+Mrs. Rocke and Clara hurried away to attend to some little mystery of
+their own invention for the surprise and delight of the doctor and
+Traverse. For the more secret accomplishment of their purpose, they had
+dismissed all attendance, and were at work alone in Mrs. Rocke's room.
+And here Clara's sweet, frank and humble disposition was again manifest,
+for when Marah would arise from her seat to get anything, Clara would
+forestall her purpose and say:
+
+"Tell me--tell me to get what you want--just as if I were your child,
+and you will make me feel so well--do, now!"
+
+"You are very good, dear Miss Clara, but--I would rather not presume to
+ask you to wait on me," said Marah, gravely.
+
+"Presume! What a word from you to me! Please don't use it ever again,
+nor call me Miss Clara. Call me 'Clara' or 'child'--do, mamma," said the
+doctor's daughter, then suddenly pausing, she blushed and was silent.
+
+Marah gently took her hand and drew her into a warm embrace.
+
+It was while the friends were conversing so kindly in Marah's room, and
+while Traverse was still engaged in arranging the doctor's books and
+papers that one of the men-servants rapped at the library door, and
+without waiting permission to come in, entered the room with every mark
+of terror in his look and manner.
+
+"What is the matter?" inquired Traverse, anxiously rising.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Traverse, sir, the doctor's horse has just rushed home to the
+stables all in foam, without his rider!"
+
+"Good heaven!" exclaimed Traverse, starting up and seizing his hat.
+"Follow me immediately! Hurry to the stables and saddle my horse and
+bring him up instantly! We must follow on the road the doctor took to
+see what has happened! Stay! On your life, breathe not a word of what
+has occurred! I would not have Miss Day alarmed for the world!" he
+concluded, hastening down-stairs attended by the servant.
+
+In five minutes from the time he left the library Traverse was in the
+saddle, galloping toward Staunton, and looking attentively along the
+road as he went. Alas! he had not gone far, when, in descending the
+wooded hill, he saw lying doubled up helplessly on the right side of the
+path, the body of the good doctor!
+
+With an exclamation between a groan and a cry of anguish, Traverse threw
+himself from his saddle and kneeled beside the fallen figure, gazing in
+an agony of anxiety upon the closed eyes, pale features and contracted
+form and crying:
+
+"Oh, heaven have mercy! Doctor Day, oh, Doctor Day! Can you speak to
+me?"
+
+The white and quivering eyelids opened and the faltering tongue spoke:
+
+"Traverse--get me home--that I may see--Clara before I die!"
+
+"Oh, must this be so! Must this be so! Oh, that I could die for you, my
+friend! My dear, dear friend!" cried Traverse, wringing his hands in
+such anguish as he had never known before.
+
+Then feeling the need of self-control and the absolute necessity of
+removing the sufferer, Traverse repressed the swelling flood of sorrow
+in his bosom and cast about for the means of conveying the doctor to his
+house. He dreaded to leave him for an instant, and yet it was necessary
+to do so, as the servant whom he had ordered to follow him had not yet
+come up.
+
+While he was bathing the doctor's face with water from a little stream
+beside the path, John, the groom, came riding along, and seeing his
+fallen master, with an exclamation of horror, sprang from his saddle and
+ran to the spot.
+
+"John," said Traverse, in a heart-broken tone, "mount again and ride for
+your life to the house! Have--a cart--yes--that will be the easiest
+conveyance--have a cart got ready instantly with a feather bed placed in
+it, and the gentlest horse harnessed to it, and drive it here to the
+roadside at the head of this path! Hasten for your life! Say not a word
+of what has happened lest it should terrify the ladies! Quick! quick! on
+your life!"
+
+Again, as the man was hurrying away, the doctor spoke, faintly
+murmuring:
+
+"For heaven's sake, do not let poor Clara be shocked!"
+
+"No--no--she shall not be! I warned him, dear friend! How do you feel?
+Can you tell where you are hurt?"
+
+The doctor feebly moved one hand to his chest and whispered:
+
+"There, and in my back."
+
+Traverse, controlling his own great mental agony, did all that he could
+to soothe and alleviate the sufferings of the doctor, until the arrival
+of the cart, that stopped on the road at the head of the little bridle
+path, where the accident happened. Then John jumped from the driver's
+seat and came to the spot, where he tenderly assisted the young man in
+raising the doctor and conveying him to the cart and laying him upon the
+bed. Notwithstanding all their tender care in lifting and carrying him,
+it was but too evident that he suffered greatly in being moved. Slowly
+as they proceeded, at every jolt of the cart, his corrugated brows and
+blanched and quivering lips told how much agony he silently endured.
+
+Thus at last they reached home. He was carefully raised by the bed and
+borne into the house and up-stairs to his own chamber, where, being
+undressed, he was laid upon his own easy couch. Traverse sent off for
+other medical aid, administered a restorative and proceeded to examine
+his injuries.
+
+"It is useless, dear boy--useless all! You have medical knowledge enough
+to be as sure of that as I am. Cover me up and let me compose myself
+before seeing Clara, and while I do so, go you and break this news
+gently to the poor child!" said the doctor, who, being under the
+influence of the restorative, spoke more steadily than at any time since
+the fall Traverse, almost broken-hearted, obeyed his benefactor and went
+to seek his betrothed, praying the Lord to teach him how to tell her
+this dreadful calamity and to support her under its crushing weight.
+
+As he went slowly, wringing his hands, he suddenly met Clara with her
+dress in disorder and her hair flying, just as she had run from her room
+while dressing for dinner. Hurrying toward him, she exclaimed:
+
+"Traverse, what has happened? For the good Lord's sake, tell me
+quickly--the house is all in confusion. Every one is pale with affright!
+No one will answer me! Your mother just now ran past me out of the store
+room, with her face as white as death! Oh, what does it all mean?"
+
+"Clara, love, come and sit down; you are almost fainting--(oh, heaven,
+support her!)" murmured Traverse, as he led the poor girl to the hall
+sofa.
+
+"Tell me! Tell me!" she said.
+
+"Clara--your father----"
+
+"My father! No, no--no--do not say any harm has happened to my
+father--do not, Traverse!--do not!"
+
+"Oh, Clara, try to be firm, dear one!"
+
+"My father! Oh, my father!--he is dead!" shrieked Clara, starting up
+wildly to run, she knew not whither.
+
+Traverse sprang up and caught her arm and drawing her gently back to her
+seat, said:
+
+"No, dear Clara--no, not so bad as that--he is living!"
+
+"Oh, thank heaven for so much! What is it, then, Traverse? He is ill!
+Oh, let me go to him!"
+
+"Stay, dear Clara--compose yourself first! You would not go and disturb
+him with this frightened and distressed face of yours--let me get you a
+glass of water," said Traverse, starting up and bringing the needed
+sedative from an adjoining room.
+
+"There, Clara, drink that and offer a silent prayer to heaven to give
+you self-control."
+
+"I will--oh, I must for his sake! But tell me, Traverse, is it--is it as
+I fear--as he expected--apoplexy?"
+
+"No, dear love--no. He rode out this morning and his horse got
+frightened by the van of a circus company that was going into the town,
+and----"
+
+"And ran away with him and threw him! Oh, heaven! Oh, my dear father!"
+exclaimed Clara, once more clasping her hands wildly, and starting up.
+
+Again Traverse promptly but gently detained her, saying:
+
+"You promised me to be calm, dear Clara, and you must be so, before I
+can suffer you to see your father."
+
+Clara sank into her seat and covered her face with her hands, murmuring,
+in a broken voice:
+
+"How can I be? Oh, how can I be, when my heart is with grief and fright?
+Traverse! Was he--was he--oh, dread to ask you! Oh, was he much hurt?"
+
+"Clara, love, his injuries are internal! Neither he nor I yet know their
+full extent. I have sent off for two old and experienced practitioners
+from Staunton. I expect them every moment. In the mean time, I have done
+all that is possible for his relief."
+
+"Traverse," said Clara, very calmly, controlling herself by an almost
+superhuman effort, "Traverse, I will be composed; you shall see that I
+will; take me to my dear father's bedside; it is there that I ought to
+be!"
+
+"That is my dear, brave, dutiful girl! Come, Clara!" replied the young
+man, taking her hand and leading her up to the bed-chamber of the
+doctor. They met Mrs. Rocke at the door, who tearfully signed them to go
+in as she left it.
+
+When they entered and approached the bedside, Traverse saw that the
+suffering but heroic father must have made some superlative effort
+before he could have reduced his haggard face and writhing form to its
+present state of placid repose, to meet his daughter's eyes and spare
+her feelings.
+
+She, on her part, was no less firm. Kneeling beside his couch, she took
+his hand and met his eye composedly as she asked:
+
+"Dear father, how do you feel now?"
+
+"Not just so easy, love, as if I had laid me down here for an
+afternoon's nap, yet in no more pain than I can very well bear."
+
+"Dear father, what can I do for you?"
+
+"You may bathe my forehead and lips with cologne, my dear," said the
+doctor, not so much for the sake of the reviving perfume, as because he
+knew it would comfort Clara to feel that she was doing something,
+however slight, for him.
+
+Traverse stood upon the opposite side of the bed fanning him.
+
+In a few moments Mrs. Rocke re-entered the room, announcing that the two
+old physicians from Staunton, Doctor Dawson and Doctor Williams, had
+arrived.
+
+"Show them up, Mrs. Rocke. Clara, love, retire while the physicians
+remain with me," said Doctor Day.
+
+Mrs. Rocke left the room to do his bidding. And Clara followed and
+sought the privacy of her own apartment to give way to the overwhelming
+grief which she could no longer resist.
+
+As soon as she was gone the doctor also yielded to the force of the
+suffering that he had been able to endure silently in her presence, and
+writhed and groaned with agony--that wrung the heart of Traverse to
+behold.
+
+Presently the two physicians entered the room and approached the bed,
+with expressions of sincere grief at beholding their old friend in such
+a condition and a hope that they might speedily be able to relieve him.
+
+To all of which the doctor, repressing all exhibitions of pain and
+holding out his hand in a cheerful manner, replied:
+
+"I am happy to see you in a friendly way, old friends! I am willing also
+that you should try what you--what you can do for me--but I warn you
+that it will be useless! A few hours or days of inflammation, fever and
+agony, then the ease of mortification, then dissolution!"
+
+"Tut--tut," said Doctor Williams, cheerfully. "We never permit a patient
+to pronounce a prognosis upon his own case!"
+
+"Friend, my horse ran away, stumbled and fell upon me, and rolled over
+me in getting up. The viscera is crushed within me; breathing is
+difficult; speech painful; motion agonizing; but you may examine and
+satisfy yourselves," said Doctor Day, still speaking cheerfully, though
+with great suffering.
+
+His old friends proceeded gently to the examination, which resulted in
+their silently and perfectly coinciding in opinion with the patient
+himself.
+
+Then, with Doctor Day and Traverse, they entered into a consultation and
+agreed upon the best palliatives that could be administered, and begging
+that if in any manner, professionally or otherwise, they could serve
+their suffering friend, at any hour of the day or night, they might be
+summoned, they took leave.
+
+As soon as they had gone, Clara, who had given way to a flood of tears,
+and regained her composure, rapped for admittance.
+
+"Presently, dear daughter--presently," said the doctor, who then,
+beckoning Traverse to stoop low, said:
+
+"Do not let Clara sit up with me to-night. I foresee a night of great
+anguish which I may not be able to repress, and which I would not have
+her witness! Promise you will keep her away."
+
+"I promise," faltered the almost broken-hearted youth. "You may admit
+her now," said the doctor, composing his convulsed countenance as best
+he could, lest the sight of his sufferings should distress his
+daughter.
+
+Clara entered, and resumed her post at the side of the bed.
+
+Traverse left the room to prepare the palliatives for his patient.
+
+The afternoon waned. As evening approached the fever, inflammation and
+pain arose to such a degree that the doctor could no longer forbear
+betraying his excessive suffering, which was, besides, momentarily
+increasing, so he said to Clara:
+
+"My child, you must now leave me and retire to bed. I must be watched by
+Traverse alone to-night."
+
+And Traverse, seeing her painful hesitation, between her extreme
+reluctance to leave him and her wish to obey him, approached and
+murmured:
+
+"Dear Clara, it would distress him to have you stay; he will be much
+better attended by me alone."
+
+Clara still hesitated; and Traverse, beckoning his mother to come and
+speak to her, left her side.
+
+Mrs. Rocke approached her and said: "It must be so, dear girl, for you
+know that there are some cases in which sick men should be watched by
+men only, and this is one of them. I myself shall sit up to-night in the
+next room, within call."
+
+"And may I not sit there beside you?" pleaded Clara.
+
+"No, my dear love; as you can do your father no good, he desires that
+you should go to bed and rest. Do not distress him by refusing."
+
+"Oh, and am I to go to bed and sleep while my dear father lies here
+suffering? I cannot; oh, I cannot."
+
+"My dear, yes, you must; and if you cannot sleep you can lie awake and
+pray for him."
+
+Here the doctor, whose agony was growing unendurable, called out:
+
+"Go, Clara, go at once, my dear."
+
+She went back to the bedside and pressed her lips to his forehead, and
+put her arms around him and prayed:
+
+"Oh, my dear father, may the blessed Saviour take you in his pitying
+embrace and give you ease to-night. Your poor Clara will pray for you as
+she never prayed for herself."
+
+"May the Lord bless you, my sweet child," said the doctor, lifting one
+hand painfully and laying it in benediction on her fair and graceful
+head.
+
+Then she arose and left the room, saying to Mrs. Rocke as she went:
+
+"Oh, Mrs. Rocke, only last evening we were so happy--'But if we have
+received good things at the hand of God, why should we not receive
+evil?'"
+
+"Yes, my child; but remember nothing is really evil that comes from His
+good hand," said Mrs. Rocke, as she attended Clara to the door.
+
+His daughter had no sooner gone out of hearing than the doctor gave way
+to his irrepressible groans.
+
+At a sign from Traverse Mrs. Rocke went and took up her position in the
+adjoining room.
+
+Then Traverse subdued the light in the sick chamber, arranged the
+pillows of the couch, administered a sedative and took up his post
+beside the bed, where he continued to watch and nurse the patient with
+unwearied devotion.
+
+At the dawn of day, when Clara rapped at the door, he was in no
+condition to be seen by his daughter.
+
+Clara was put off with some plausible excuse.
+
+After breakfast his friends the physicians called and spent several
+hours in his room. Clara was told that she must not come in while they
+were there. And so, by one means and another, the poor girl was spared
+from witnessing those dreadful agonies which, had she seen them, must
+have so bitterly increased her distress.
+
+In the afternoon, during a temporary mitigation of pain, Clara was
+admitted to see her father. But in the evening, as his sufferings
+augmented, she was again, upon the same excuse that had been used the
+preceding evening, dismissed to her chamber.
+
+Then passed another night of suffering, during which Traverse never left
+him for an instant.
+
+Toward morning the fever and pain abated, and he fell into a sweet
+sleep. About sunrise he awoke quite free from suffering. Alas! it was
+the ease that he had predicted--the ease preceding dissolution.
+
+"It is gone forever now, Traverse, my boy; thank God my last hours will
+be sufficiently free from pain to enable me to set my house in order.
+Before calling Clara in I would talk to you alone. You will remain here
+until all is over?"
+
+"Oh, yes, sir, yes; I would do anything on earth--anything for you! I
+would lay down my life this hour if I could do so to save you from this
+bed of death."
+
+"Nay, do not talk so; your young life belongs to others--to Clara and
+your mother. 'God doeth all things well.' Better the ripened ear should
+fall than the budding germ. I do not feel it hard to die, dear Traverse.
+Though the journey has been very pleasant the goal is not unwelcome.
+Earth has been very sweet to me, but heaven is sweeter."
+
+"Oh, but we love you so! we love you so! you have so much to live for!"
+exclaimed Traverse, with an irrepressible burst of grief.
+
+"Poor boy, life is too hopeful before you to make you a comforter by a
+death-bed. Yes, Traverse, I have much to live for but more to die for.
+Yet not voluntarily would I have left you, though I know that I leave
+you in the hands of the Lord, and with every blessing and promise of His
+bountiful providence. Your love will console my child. My confidence in
+you makes me easy in committing her to your charge."
+
+"Oh, Doctor Day, may the Lord so deal with my soul eternally as I shall
+discharge this trust," said Traverse, earnestly.
+
+"I know that you will be true; I wish you to remain here with Clara and
+your mother for a few weeks, until the child's first violence of grief
+shall be over. Then you had best pursue the plan we laid out. Leave your
+good mother here to take care of Clara, and you go to the West, get into
+practice there, and, at the end of a few years, return and marry Clara.
+Traverse, there is one promise I would have of you."
+
+"I give it before it is named, dear friend," said Traverse, fervently.
+
+"My child is but seventeen; she is so gentle that her will is subject to
+that of all she loves, especially to yours. She will do anything in
+conscience that you ask her to do. Traverse, I wish you to promise me
+that you will not press her to marriage until she shall be at least
+twenty years old. And----"
+
+"Oh, sir, I promise! Oh, believe me, my affection for Clara is so pure
+and so constant, as well as so confiding in her faith and so solicitous
+for her good, that, with the assurance of her love and the privilege of
+visiting her and writing to her, I could wait many years if needful."
+
+"I believe you, my dear boy. And the very promise I have asked of you is
+as much for your sake as for hers. No girl can marry before she is
+twenty without serious risk of life, and almost certain loss of health
+and beauty; that so many do so is one reason why there are such numbers
+of sickly and faded young wives. If Clara's constitution should be
+broken down by prematurely assuming the cares and burdens of matrimony,
+you would be as unfortunate in having a sickly wife as she would be in
+losing her health."
+
+"Oh, sir, I promise you that, no matter how much I may wish to do so, I
+will not be tempted to make a wife of Clara until she has attained the
+age you have prescribed. But at the same time I must assure you that
+such is my love for her that, if accident should now make her an invalid
+for life, she would be as dear--as dear--yes, much dearer to me, if
+possible, on that very account; and if I could not marry her for a wife,
+I should marry her only for the dear privilege of waiting on her night
+and day. Oh, believe this of me, and leave your dear daughter with an
+easy mind to my faithful care," said Traverse, with a boyish blush
+suffusing his cheeks and tears filling his eyes.
+
+"I do, Traverse, I do; and now to other things."
+
+"Are you not talking too much, dear friend?"
+
+"No, no; I must talk while I have time. I was about to say that long ago
+my will was made. Clara, you know, is the heiress of all I possess. You,
+as soon as you become her husband, will receive her fortune with her. I
+have made no reservation in her favor against you; for he to whom I can
+entrust the higher charge of my daughter's person, happiness and honor I
+can also intrust her fortune."
+
+"Dear sir, I am glad for Clara's sake that she has a fortune; as for me,
+I hope you will believe me that I would have gladly dispensed with it
+and worked for dear Clara all the days of my life."
+
+"I do believe it; but this will was made, Traverse, three years ago,
+before any of us anticipated the present relations between you and my
+daughter, and while you were both still children. Therefore, I appointed
+my wife's half-brother, Clara's only male relative, Colonel Le Noir, as
+her guardian. It is true we have never been very intimate, for our paths
+in life widely diverged; nor has my Clara seen him within her
+recollection; for, since her mother's death, which took place in her
+infancy, he has never been at our house, but he is a man of high
+reputation and excellent character. I have already requested Doctor
+Williams to write for him, so that I expect he will be here in a very
+few days. When he comes Traverse, you will tell him that it is my desire
+that my daughter shall continue to reside in her present home, retaining
+Mrs. Rocke as her matronly companion. I have also requested Doctor
+Williams to tell him the same thing, so that in the mouths of two
+witnesses my words may be established."
+
+Now, Traverse had never in his life before heard the name of Colonel Le
+Noir; and, therefore, was in no position to warn the dying father who
+placed so much confidence in the high reputation of his brother-in-law
+that his trust was miserably misplaced; that he was leaving his fair
+daughter and her large fortune to the tender mercies of an unscrupulous
+villain and a consummate hypocrite. So he merely promised to deliver the
+message with which he was charged by the dying father for his daughter's
+guardian, and added that he had no doubt but Clara's uncle would
+consider that message a sacred command and obey it to the letter.
+
+As the sun was now well up, the doctor consented that Mrs. Rocke and his
+daughter should be admitted.
+
+Marah brought with her some wine-whey that her patient drank, and from
+which he received temporary strength.
+
+Clara was pale but calm; one could see at a glance that the poor girl
+was prepared for the worst, and had nerved her gentle heart to bear it
+with patience.
+
+"Come hither, my little Clara," said the doctor, as soon as he had been
+revived by the whey.
+
+Clara came and kissed his brow and sat beside him with her hands clasped
+in his.
+
+"My little girl, what did our Saviour die for? First to redeem us, and
+also to teach us by His burial and resurrection that death is but a
+falling asleep in this world and an awakening in the next. Clara, after
+this, when you think of your father, do not think of him as lying in the
+grave, for he will not be there in his vacated body, no more than he
+will be in the trunk with his cast-off entries. As the coat is the
+body's covering, so the body is the soul's garment, and it is the soul
+that is the innermost and real man; it is my soul that is me; and that
+will not be in the earth, but in heaven; therefore, do not think of me
+gloomily as lying in the grave, but cheerfully as living in heaven--as
+living there with God and Christ and His saints, and with your mother,
+Clara, the dear wife of my youth, who has been waiting for me these many
+years. Think of me as being happy in that blessed society. Do not fancy
+that it is your duty to grieve, but, on the contrary, know that it is
+your duty to be as cheerful and happy as possible. Do you heed me, my
+daughter?"
+
+"Oh, yes, yes, dear father!" said Clara, heroically repressing her
+grief.
+
+"Seek for yourself, dear child, a nearer union with Christ and God. Seek
+it, Clara, until the spirit of God shall bear witness with your spirit
+that you are as a child of God; so shall you, as you come to lie where I
+do now, be able to say of your life and death, as I say with truth of
+mine: The journey has been pleasant, but the goal is blessed."
+
+The doctor pressed his daughter's hand and dropped suddenly into an easy
+sleep.
+
+Mrs. Rocke drew Clara away, and the room was very still.
+
+Sweet, beautiful and lovely as is the death-bed of a Christian, we will
+not linger too long beside it.
+
+All day the good man's bodily life ebbed gently away. He spoke at
+intervals, as he had strength given him, words of affection, comfort and
+counsel to those around him.
+
+Just as the setting sun was pouring his last rays into the chamber
+Doctor Day laid his hand upon his child's head and blessed her. Then,
+closing his eyes, he murmured softly: "'Lord Jesus, into thy hands I
+resign my spirit:'" and with that sweet, deep, intense smile that had
+been so lovely in life--now so much lovelier in death--his pure spirit
+winged its flight to the realms of eternal bliss.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+THE ORPHAN.
+
+    "Let me die, father! I fear, I fear
+    To fall in earth's terrible strife!"
+    "Not so, my child, for the crown must be won
+    In the battle-field of Life."
+                                       --_Life and Death._
+
+
+"He has gone to sleep again," said Clara, with a sigh of relief.
+
+"He has gone to heaven, my child," said Marah Rocke, softly.
+
+The orphan started, gazed wildly on the face of the dead, turned ghastly
+pale and, with a low moan and suffocating sob, fell fainting into the
+motherly arms of Mrs. Rocke.
+
+Marah beckoned Traverse, who lifted the insensible girl tenderly in his
+arms and, preceded by his mother, bore her to her chamber and laid her
+upon the bed.
+
+Then Marah dismissed Traverse to attend to the duties owed to the
+remains of the beloved departed, while she herself stayed with Clara,
+using every means for her restoration.
+
+Clara opened her eyes at length, but in reviving to life also returned
+to grief. Dreadful to witness was the sorrow of the orphan girl. She had
+controlled her grief in the presence of her father and while he lingered
+in life, only to give way now to its overwhelming force. Marah remained
+with her, Holding her in her arms, weeping with her, praying for her,
+doing all that the most tender mother could do to soothe, console and
+strengthen the bleeding young heart.
+
+The funeral of Doctor Day took place the third day from his decease, and
+was attended by all the gentry of the neighboring town and county in
+their own carriages, and by crowds who came on foot to pay the last
+tribute of respect to their beloved friend.
+
+He was interred in the family burial ground, situated on a wooded hill
+up behind the homestead, and at the head of his last resting place was
+afterwards erected a plain obelisk of white marble, with his name and
+the date of his birth and death and the following inscription:
+
+    "He is not here, but is risen."
+
+"When dear Clara comes to weep at her father's grave, these words will
+send her away comforted and with her faith renewed," had been Traverse
+Rocke's secret thought when giving directions for the inscription of
+this inspiring text.
+
+On the morning of the day succeeding the funeral, while Clara, exhausted
+by the violence of her grief, lay prostrate upon her chamber couch, Mrs.
+Rocke and Traverse sat conversing in that once pleasant, now desolate,
+morning reading-room.
+
+"You know, dear mother, that by the doctor's desire, which should be
+considered sacred, Clara is still to live here, and you are to remain to
+take care of her. I shall defer my journey West until everything is
+settled to Clara's satisfaction, and she has in some degree recovered
+her equanimity. I must also have an interview and a good understanding
+with her guardian, for whom I have a message."
+
+"Who is this guardian of whom I have heard you speak more than once,
+Traverse?" asked Marah.
+
+"Dear mother, will you believe me that I have forgotten the man's name;
+it is an uncommon name that I never heard before in my life, and, in the
+pressure of grief upon my mind, its exact identity escaped my memory;
+but that does not signify much, as he is expected hourly; and when he
+announces himself, either by card or word of mouth, I shall know, for I
+shall recognize the name the moment I see it written or hear it spoken.
+Let me see, it was something like Des Moines, De Vaughn, De Saule, or
+something of that sort. At all events, I'm sure I shall know it again
+the instant I see or hear it. And now, dear mother, I must ride up to
+Staunton to see some of the doctor's poor sick that he left in my charge
+for as long as I stay here. I shall be back by three o'clock. I need not
+ask you to take great care of that dear suffering girl up-stairs," said
+Traverse, taking his hat and gloves for a ride.
+
+"I shall go and stay with her as soon as she awakes," answered Mrs.
+Rocke.
+
+And Traverse, satisfied, went his way.
+
+He had been gone perhaps an hour when the sound of a carriage was heard
+below in the front of the house, followed soon by a loud rapping at the
+hall door.
+
+"It is dear Clara's guardian," said Marah Rocke, rising and listening.
+
+Soon a servant entered and placed a card in her hand, saying:
+
+"The gentleman is waiting in the hall below, and asked to see the person
+that was in charge here, ma'am; so I fotch the card to you."
+
+"You did right, John. Show the gentleman up here," said Marah; and as
+soon as the servant had gone she looked at the card, but failed to make
+it out. The name was engraved in Old English text, and in such a
+complete labyrinth, thicket and network of ornate flourishes that no one
+who was not familiar at once with the name and the style could possibly
+have distinguished it.
+
+"I do not think my boy would know this name at sight," was Marah's
+thought as she twirled the card in her hand and stood waiting the
+entrance of the visitor, whose step was now heard coming up the stairs.
+Soon the door was thrown open and the stranger entered.
+
+Marah, habitually shy in the presence of strangers, dropped her eyes
+before she had fairly taken in the figure of a tall, handsome,
+dark-complexioned, distinguished-looking man, somewhat past middle age,
+and arrayed in a rich military cloak, and carrying in his hand a
+military cap.
+
+The servant who had admitted him had scarcely retired when Marah looked
+up and her eyes and those of the stranger met--and--
+
+"Marah Rocke!!!"
+
+"Colonel Le Noir!!!"
+
+Burst simultaneously from the lips of each.
+
+Le Noir first recovered himself, and, holding out both hands, advanced
+toward her with a smile as if to greet an old friend.
+
+But Marah, shrinking from him in horror, turned and tottered to the
+farthest window, where, leaning her head against the sash, she moaned:
+
+"Oh, my heart: my heart! Is this the wolf to whom my lamb must be
+committed?"
+
+As she moaned these words she was aware of a soft step at her side and a
+low voice murmuring:
+
+"Marah Rocke, yes! the same beautiful Marah that, as a girl of
+fifteen--twenty years ago--turned my head, led me by her fatal charms
+into the very jaws of death--the same lovely Marah with her beauty only
+ripened by time and exalted by sorrow!"
+
+With one surprised, indignant look, but without a word of reply, Mrs.
+Rocke turned and walked composedly toward the door with the intention of
+quitting the room.
+
+Colonel Le Noir saw and forestalled her purpose by springing forward,
+turning the key and standing before the door.
+
+"Forgive, me, Marah, but I must have a word with you before we part," he
+said, in those soft, sweet, persuasive tones he knew so well how to
+assume.
+
+Marah remembered that she was an honorable matron and an honored mother;
+that, as such, fears and tremors and self-distrust in the presence of a
+villain would not well become her; so calling up all the gentle dignity
+latent in her nature, she resumed her seat and, signing to the visitor
+to follow her example, she said composedly:
+
+"Speak on, Colonel Le Noir--remembering, if you please, to whom you
+speak."
+
+"I do remember, Marah; remember but too well."
+
+"They call me Mrs. Rocke who converse with me, sir."
+
+"Marah, why this resentment? Is it possible that you can still be angry?
+Have I remained true to my attachment all these years and sought you
+throughout the world to find this reception at last?"
+
+"Colonel Le Noir, if this is all you had to say, it was scarcely worth
+while to have detained me," said Mrs. Rocke calmly.
+
+"But it is not all, my Marah! Yes, I call you mine by virtue of the
+strongest attachment man ever felt for woman! Marah Rocke, you are the
+only woman who ever inspired me with a feeling worthy to be called a
+passion----"
+
+"Colonel Le Noir, how dare you blaspheme this house of mourning by such
+sinful words? You forget where you stand and to whom you speak."
+
+"I forget nothing, Marah Rocke; nor do I violate this sanctuary of
+sorrow"--here he sank his voice below his usual low tones--"when I speak
+of the passion that maddened my youth and withered my manhood--a passion
+whose intensity was its excuse for all extravagances and whose enduring
+constancy is its final, full justification!"
+
+Before he had finished this sentence Marah Rocke had calmly arisen and
+pulled the bell rope.
+
+"What mean you by that, Marah?" he inquired.
+
+Before she replied a servant, in answer to the bell, came to the door
+and tried the latch, and, finding it locked, rapped.
+
+With a blush that mounted to his forehead and with a half-suppressed
+imprecation, Colonel Le Noir went and unlocked the door and admitted the
+man.
+
+"John," said Mrs. Rocke, quietly, "show Colonel Le Noir to the apartment
+prepared for him and wait his orders." And with a slight nod to the
+guest she went calmly from the room.
+
+Colonel Le Noir, unmindful of the presence of the servant, stood gazing
+in angry mortification after her. The flush on his brow had given way to
+the fearful pallor of rage or hate as he muttered inaudibly:
+
+"Insolent beggar! contradiction always confirms my half-formed
+resolutions. Years ago I swore to possess that woman, and I will do it,
+if it be only to keep my oath and humble her insolence. She is very
+handsome still; she shall be my slave!"
+
+Then, perceiving the presence of John, he said:
+
+"Lead the way to my room, sirrah, and then go and order my fellow to
+bring up my portmanteau."
+
+John devoutly pulled his forelocks as he bowed low and then went on,
+followed by Colonel Le Noir.
+
+Marah Rocke meanwhile had gained the privacy of her own chamber, where
+all her firmness deserted her.
+
+Throwing herself into a chair, she clasped her hands and sat with
+blanched face and staring eyes, like a marble statue of despair.
+
+"Oh, what shall I do? what shall I do while this miscreant remains
+here?--this villain whose very presence desecrates the roof and
+dishonors me? I would instantly leave the house but that I must not
+abandon poor Clara.
+
+"I cannot claim the protection of Traverse, for I would not provoke him
+to wrath or run him into danger; nor, indeed, would I even permit my son
+to dream such a thing possible as that his mother could receive insult!
+
+"Nor can I warn Clara of the unprincipled character of her guardian, for
+if she knew him as he is she would surely treat him in such a way as to
+get his enmity--his dangerous, fatal enmity!--doubly fatal since her
+person and property are legally at his disposal. Oh, my dove! my dove!
+that you should be in the power of this vulture! What shall I do, oh,
+heaven?"
+
+Marah dropped on her knees and finished her soliloquy with prayer. Then,
+feeling composed and strengthened, she went to Clara's room.
+
+She found the poor girl lying awake and quietly weeping.
+
+"Your guardian has arrived, love," she said, sitting down beside the bed
+and taking Clara's hand.
+
+"Oh, must I get up and dress to see a stranger?" sighed Clara, wearily.
+
+"No, love; you need not stir until it is time to dress for dinner; it
+will answer quite well if you meet your guardian at table," said Marah,
+who had particular reasons for wishing that Clara should first see
+Colonel Le Noir with other company, to have an opportunity of observing
+him well and possibly forming an estimate of his character (as a young
+girl of her fine instincts might well do) before she should be exposed
+in a tete-a-tete to those deceptive blandishments he knew so well how to
+bring into play.
+
+"That is a respite. Oh, dear Mrs. Rocke, you don't know how I dread to
+see any one!"
+
+"My dear Clara, you must combat grief by prayer, which is the only thing
+that can overcome it," said Marah.
+
+Mrs. Rocke remained with her young charge as long as she possibly could,
+and then she went down-stairs to oversee the preparation of the dinner.
+
+And it was at the dinner-table that Marah, with the quiet and gentle
+dignity for which she was distinguished, introduced the younger members
+of the family to the guest, in these words:
+
+"Your ward, Miss Day, Colonel Le Noir."
+
+The colonel bowed deeply and raised the hand of Clara to his lips,
+murmuring some sweet, soft, silvery and deferentially inaudible words of
+condolence, sympathy and melancholy pleasure, from which Clara, with a
+gentle bend of her head, withdrew to take her seat.
+
+"Colonel Le Noir, my son, Doctor Rocke," said Marah, presenting
+Traverse.
+
+The colonel stared superciliously, bowed with ironical depth, said he
+was "much honored," and, turning his back on the young man, placed
+himself at the table.
+
+During the dinner he exerted himself to be agreeable to Miss Day and
+Mrs. Rocke, but Traverse he affected to treat with supercilious neglect
+or ironical deference.
+
+Our young physician had too much self-respect to permit himself to be in
+any degree affected by this rudeness. And Marah, on her part, was glad,
+so that it did not trouble Traverse, that Le Noir should behave in this
+manner, so that Clara should be enabled to form some correct idea of his
+disposition.
+
+When dinner was over Clara excused herself and retired to her room,
+whither she was soon followed by Mrs. Rocke.
+
+"Well, my dear, how do you like your guardian?" asked Marah, in a tone
+as indifferent as she could make it.
+
+"I do not like him at all!" exclaimed Clara, her gentle blue eyes
+flashing with indignation through her tears; "I do not like him at all,
+the scornful, arrogant, supercilious--Oh! I do not wish to use such
+strong language, or to grow angry when I am in such deep grief; but my
+dear father could not have known this man, or he never would have chosen
+him for my guardian; do you think he would, Mrs. Rocke?"
+
+"My dear, your excellent father must have thought well of him, or he
+never would have intrusted him with so precious a charge. Whether your
+father's confidence in this man will be justified as far as you are
+concerned, time will show. Meanwhile, my love, as the guardian appointed
+by your father, you should treat him with respect; but, so far as
+reposing any trust in him goes, consult your own instincts."
+
+"I shall; and I thank heaven that I have not got to go and live with
+Colonel Le Noir!" said Clara, fervently.
+
+Mrs. Rocke sighed. She remembered that the arrangement that permitted
+Clara to live at her own home with her chosen friends was but a verbal
+one, not binding upon the guardian and executor unless he chose to
+consider it so.
+
+Their conversation was interrupted by the entrance of a servant with a
+message from Colonel Le Noir, expressing a hope that Miss Day felt
+better from her afternoon's repose, and desiring the favor of her
+company in the library.
+
+Clara returned an answer pleading indisposition, and begging upon that
+account to be excused.
+
+At tea, however, the whole family met again. As before, Colonel Le Noir
+exerted himself to please the ladies and treated the young physician
+with marked neglect. This conduct offended Miss Day to such a degree
+that she, being a girl of truth in every thought, word and deed, could
+only exhibit toward the guest the most freezing politeness that was
+consistent with her position as hostess, and she longed for the time to
+come that should deliver their peaceful home and loving little circle
+from the unwelcome presence of this arrogant intruder.
+
+"How can he imagine that I can be pleased with his deference and
+courtesy and elaborate compliments, when he permits himself to be so
+rude to Traverse? I hope Traverse will tell him of our engagement, which
+will, perhaps, suggest to him the propriety of reforming his manners
+while he remains under a roof of which Traverse is destined to be
+master," said Clara to herself, as she arose from the table and, with a
+cold bow, turned to retire from the room.
+
+"And will not my fair ward give me a few hours of her company this
+evening?" inquired Colonel Le Noir in an insinuating voice, as he took
+and pressed the hand of the doctor's orphan daughter.
+
+"Excuse me, sir; but, except at meal times, I have not left my room
+since"--here her voice broke down; she could not speak to him of her
+bereavement, or give way in his presence to her holy sorrow. "Besides,
+sir," she added, "Doctor Rocke, I know, has expressed to you his desire
+for an early interview."
+
+"My fair young friend, Doctor Rocke, as you style the young man, will
+please to be so condescending as to tarry the leisure of his most humble
+servant," replied the colonel, with an ironical bow in the direction of
+Traverse.
+
+"Perhaps, sir, when you know that Doctor Rocke is charged with the last
+uttered will of my dear father, and that it is of more importance than
+you are prepared to anticipate, you may be willing to favor us all by
+granting this 'young man' an early audience," said Clara.
+
+"The last uttered will! I had supposed that the will of my late
+brother-in-law was regularly drawn up and executed and in the hands of
+his confidential attorney at Staunton."
+
+"Yes, sir; so it is; but I refer to my father's last dying wishes, his
+verbal directions entrusted to his confidential friend Doctor Rocke,"
+said Clara.
+
+"Last verbal directions, entrusted to Doctor Rocke. Humph! Humph! this
+would require corroborative evidence," said the colonel.
+
+"Such corroborative evidence can be had, sir," said Clara, coldly "and
+as I know that Doctor Rocke has already requested an interview for the
+sake of an explanation of these subjects, I must also join my own
+request to his, and assure you that by giving him an early opportunity
+of coming to an understanding with you, you will greatly oblige me."
+
+"Then, undoubtedly, my sweet young friend, your wishes shall be
+commands--Eh! you--sir! Doctor--What's-your-name! meet me in the library
+at ten o'clock to-morrow morning," said Le Noir, insolently.
+
+"I have engagements, sir, that will occupy me between the hours of ten
+and three; before or after that period I am at your disposal," said
+Traverse, coldly.
+
+"Pardieu! It seems to me that I am placed at yours!" replied the
+colonel, lifting his eyebrows; "but as I am so placed by the orders of
+my fair little tyrant here, so be it--at nine to-morrow I am your most
+obedient servant."
+
+"At nine, then, sir, I shall attend you," said Traverse, with a cold
+bow.
+
+Clara slightly curtsied and withdrew from the room, attended by Mrs.
+Rocke.
+
+Traverse, as the only representative of the host, remained for a short
+time with his uncourteous guest, who, totally regardless of his
+presence, threw himself into an armchair, lighted a cigar, took up a
+book and smoked and read.
+
+Whereupon Traverse, seeing this, withdrew to the library to employ
+himself with finishing the arranging and tying up of certain papers left
+to his charge by Doctor Day.
+
+
+
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