cess will spread far and wide."

"But why not let people call the mine by its real name now, papa? What
difference will one week make?"

"Because," replied Ralph Darrell, bending towards his daughter, and
lowering his voice almost to a whisper, as though fearful of being
overheard, "in one week's time--only one week from this very day--the
contract will expire, and the heirs of Richard Peveril can make no
claim."

"Richard Peveril!" cried the girl, with a sudden recollection; "why,
papa, that is the name of the young man who was in the cavern to-day,
for he told me so himself. He is the same, you know, who came for your
logs."

For an instant the old man glared at his daughter with an expression
so terrible that she shrank from him frightened. Then it cleared, and
in his ordinary tone he said, gently:

"I wish, dear, you would go and change your dress. I don't like to
have you wear this boy's costume in the evening."

With only a moment of hesitation the girl obeyed him and left the
room.

She had no sooner disappeared than the strange expression that he had
so successfully banished for a minute returned to the man's face, and,
possessing himself of a revolver, he proceeded to load it. As he did
so he muttered:

"I must do it for her sake, though she must never know. Richard
Peveril shall not be given an opportunity for making his claim. If he
is really in the cavern he must not be allowed to escape from it
alive."

So saying, the old man left the room, while Mary Darrell, who had been
anxiously watching his movements through a crack of the opposite
doorway, followed swiftly after him.

In the cavern, at that moment, two groups of men were confronting each
other suspiciously, but hesitating as to what attitude they should
assume. The expected schooner had reached the coast that evening, and,
assured of safety by the single light displayed from the cliffs, had
run boldly in to her accustomed anchorage. As the operations of the
smugglers were necessarily conducted with great promptness, a portion
of her valuable cargo was immediately transferred to a small boat, and
four men accompanied it to the usual landing-place on the black
ledge. Here the goods were taken out, and two of the men returned to
the schooner with the boat while the others remained on shore. These
became so impatient at not receiving the usual intimation from above
that all was in readiness for hoisting, nor any answer to their
repeated sig