old man, striding into the
sitting-room, "Mrs. Condiment, mum, tell Miss Black to come down from
her room until the storm is over; the upper chambers of this old house
are not safe in a tempest. Well, mum, why don't you go, or send
Pitapat?"

"Major Warfield, sir, I'm very sorry, but Miss Black has not come in
yet," said Mrs. Condiment, who for the last half hour had suffered
extreme anxiety upon account of Capitola.

"Not come in yet! Demmy, mum! Do you tell me she has gone out?" cried
Old Hurricane, in a voice of thunder, gathering his brows into a dark
frown, and striking his cane angrily upon the floor.

"Yes, sir, I am sorry to say she rode out about an hour ago and has not
returned," said Mrs. Condiment, summoning all her firmness to meet Old
Hurricane's "roused wrath."

"Ma'am! You venture to stand there before my face and tell me
composedly that you permitted Miss Black to go off alone in the face of
such a storm as this?" roared Old Hurricane.

"Sir, I could not help it!" said the old lady.

"Demmy, mum! You should have helped it! A woman of your age to stand
there and tell me that she could not prevent a young creature like
Capitola from going out alone in the storm!"

"Major Warfield, could you have done it?"

"Me? Demmy, I should think so; but that is not the question! You--"

He was interrupted by a blinding flash of lightning, followed
immediately by an awful peal of thunder and a sudden fall of rain.

Old Hurricane sprang up as though he had been shot off his chair and
trotted up and down the floor exclaiming:

"And she--she out in all this storm! Mrs. Condiment, mum, you deserve
to be ducked! Yes, mum, you do! Wool! Wool! you diabolical villain!"

"Yes, marse, yes, sir, here I is!" exclaimed that officer, in
trepidation, as he appeared in the doorway. "De windows and doors, sir,
is all fastened close and de maids are all in the dining-room as you
ordered, and--"

"Hang the maids and the doors and windows, too! Who the demon cares
about them? How dared you, you knave, permit your young mistress to
ride, unattended, in the face of such a storm, too! Why didn't you go
with her, sir?"

"'Deed, marse--"

"Don't ''deed marse' me you atrocious villain! Saddle a horse quickly,
inquire which road your mistress took and follow and attend her home
safely--after which I intend to break every bone in your skin, sirrah!
So--"

Again he was interrupted by a dazzling flash of lightning, accompanied