de a successful appeal to the Orphans' Court, and been taken
out of our hands?" angrily replied Colonel Le Noir.

"Whe--ew! My colonel, I think I could have managed that matter better!
I think if I had had that girl in my power as you had, she should not
have escaped me!"

"Bah! bah! bah! Stop boasting, since it was through your
neglect--yours! yours! that I lost this girl!"

"Mine!" exclaimed Black Donald, in astonishment.

"Aye, yours! for if you had done your duty, performed your engagement,
kept your word, and delivered me from this fatal Capitola, I had not
lost my ward, nor my son his wealthy bride!" exclaimed Le Noir, angrily.

"Capitola! Capitola again! What on earth had she to do with the loss of
Clara Day?" cried Black Donald, in wonder.

"Everything to do with it, sir! By a cunning artifice she delivered
Clara from our power--actually set her free and covered her flight
until she was in security!"

"That girl again! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho ho, ho!" laughed and
roared Black Donald, slapping his knees.

Le Noir ground and gnashed his teeth in rage, muttering hoarsely:

"Yes, you may laugh, confound you, since it is granted those who win to
do so! You may laugh; for you have done me out of five thousand
dollars, and what on earth have you performed to earn it?"

"Come, come, my colonel, fair and easy! I don't know which is
vulgarest, to betray loss of temper or love of money, and you are doing
both. However, it is between friends. But how the demon did that girl,
that capital Capitola, get Clara off from right under your eyes?"

"By changing clothes with her, confound you! I will tell you all about
it," replied Le Noir, who thereupon commenced and related the whole
stratagem by which Capitola freed Clara, including the manner in which
she accompanied them to the church and revealed herself at the altar.

Black Donald threw himself back and roared with laughter, vigorously
slapping his knees and crying:

"That girl! that capital Capitola! I would not sell my prospect of
possessing her for double your bribe."

"Your 'prospect!' Your prospect is about as deceptive as a fata
morgana! What have you been doing, I ask you again, toward realizing
this prospect and earning the money you have already received?"

"Fair and easy, my colonel! Don't let temper get the better of justice!
What have I been doing toward earning the money you have already paid
me? In the first place, I lost time and risked