h, exclaiming:

"Ha, ha, ha! Well, I suppose this is what people would call a piece of
splendid acting! Do you expect to frighten me, my dear, as you did
Craven Le Noir, with the peas!"

"Say 'Lord have mercy on my soul'--say it. Black Donald--say it. I
beseech you!" she prayed.

"Ha, ha, ha, my dear! You may say it for me! And to reward you, I will
give you, such a kiss! It will put life into those marble cheeks of
yours!" he laughed.

"I will say it for you! May the Lord pity and save Black Donald's soul,
if that be yet possible, for the Saviour's sake!" prayed Capitola, in a
broken voice, with her foot upon the concealed and fatal spring.

He laughed aloud, stretched forth his arms and rushed to clasp her.

She pressed the spring.

The drop fell with a tremendous crash!

The outlaw shot downwards--there was an instant's vision of a white and
panic-stricken face, and wild, uplifted hands as he disappeared, and
then a square, black opening, was all that remained where the terrible
intruder had sat.

No sight or sound came up from that horrible pit, to hint of the
secrets of the prison house.

One shuddering glance at the awful void and then Capitola turned and
threw herself, face downward, upon the bed, not daring to rejoice in
the safety that had been purchased by such a dreadful deed, feeling
that it was an awful, though a complete victory!

CHAPTER XX.

THE NEXT MORNING.

Oh, such a day!
So fought, so followed and so fairly won
Came not till now to dignify the times.
Since Caesar's fortunes.

--SHAKESPEARE.

Capitola lay upon the bed, with her face buried in the pillow, the
greater portion of the time from two o'clock until day. An
uncontrollable horror prevented her from turning lest she should see
the yawning mystery in the middle of the floor, or hear some awful
sound from its unknown depths. The very shadows on the walls thrown up
wildly by the expiring firelight were objects of grotesque terror.
Never--never--in her whole youth of strange vicissitude, had the nerves
of this brave girl been so tremendously shaken and prostrated.

It was late in the morning when at last nature succumbed, and she sank
into a deep sleep. She had not slept long when she was aroused from a
profound state of insensibility by a loud, impatient knocking at her
door.

She started up wildly and gazed around her. For a minute she could not
remember what w