otect them. But now let me thank you from the bottom of my
heart, for your kindness. I am unworthy to become your heir, but if it so
please Providence and you to permit me to become the recipient of your
bounty, I shall make it my endeavor to use and not abuse your wealth."

"God help you there, my boy! It is a difficult thing to make good use of
riches."

We shall not dwell to narrate all that transpired. In a few days Ida and
her mother came home, and learning the situation of their friends,
immediately installed themselves as nurses to the sick.

Hadley was now relieved from the weight of care and duty he had assumed,
and took more rest.

His meeting with Ida was cordial, and it was not many hours till they were
mutual confidants, and Ida said:

"So, you see, I _do_ thank you for your firmness. But, oh, I so much wish
to see Eveline. You must go back soon. She may need your aid."

And he did go soon. Mr. Scofield soon began to convalesce; his mother was
out of danger, and bidding all an affectionate adieu, with the hope soon to
meet again, he started in the early dawn of a beautiful morning for the
scene of his hopes and fears.

On the second day of his journey, a sad presentiment of impending evil took
possession of his mind. Ah! had he known the situation of his beloved at
that hour, how his heart would have died within him, and his soul burned to
inflict merited retribution on the heads of her enemies. But the dark fate
that hung over her at that hour was vailed from his view, and hope mingled
with fear in his bosom. Fear, however, kept increasing, and before the
close of the third day, a voice seemed to Whisper:

"Haste, Hadley, haste! Wings of lightning can scarcely bear thee swift
enough to the rescue of her thou lovest so dearly!"

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE UNKNOWN LISTENER.

Eveline continued to indulge in her pleasing reverie of hope, and in the
cheering thoughts that came crowding upon her mind in anticipation of a
speedy release from her dungeon, and restoration to her father and friends,
she forgot that her situation, in the meantime, was one of peril, even if
her newly found friends should be able to accomplish their object. Duffel
might return at any moment, and, in vindictive fury, bring about her ruin
or death. Such dark pictures, however, were, for the moment, driven from
her mind by those of a more enlivening nature, and she ceased to search
after, or even to bear in mind, the secret p