you now? Heavens! what a
blast was that! Enough to shake the house about our ears! I wish it
would! blamed if I don't!"

"Oh, Major! Major! don't say such awful things, nor make such awful
wishes!" said the appalled old lady--"you don't know what you might
bring down upon us!"

"No, nor care! If the old house should tumble in, it would bury under
its ruins a precious lot of good-for-nothing people, unfit to live!
Heavens! what a flash of lightning! Oh, Cap, Cap, my darling, where are
you in this storm? Mrs. Condiment, mum! if any harm comes to Capitola
this night, I'll have you indicted for manslaughter!"

"Major Warfield, if it is all on Miss Black's account that you are
raving and raging so, I think it is quite vain of you! for any young
woman caught out in a storm would know enough to get into shelter;
especially would Miss Black, who is a young lady of great courage and
presence of mind, as we know. She has surely gone into some house, to
remain until the storm is over," said Mrs. Condiment, soothingly.

This speech, so well intended, exasperated Old Hurricane more than all
the rest; stopping and striking his cane upon the floor, he roared
forth:

"Hang it, mum! hold your foolish old tongue! You know nothing about it!
Capitola is exposed to more serious dangers than the elements! Perils
of all sorts surround her! She should never, rain or shine, go out
alone! Oh, the little villain! the little wretch! the little demon! if
ever I get her safe in this house again, won't I lock her up and keep
her on bread and water until she learns to behave herself!"

Here again a blinding flash of lightning, a deafening peal of thunder,
a terrific blast of wind and flood of rain suddenly arrested his speech.

"Oh, my Cap! my dear Cap! I needn't threaten you! I shall never have
the chance to be cruel to you again--never! You'll perish in this
terrible storm and then--and then my tough old heart will break! It
will--it will, Cap! But demmy, before it does, I'll break the necks of
every man and woman, in this house, old and young! Hear it, heaven and
earth, for I'll do it!"

All things must have an end. So, as the hours passed on, the storm
having spent all its fury, gradually grumbled itself into silence.

Old Hurricane also raged himself into a state of exhaustion so complete
that when the midnight hour struck he could only drop into a chair and
murmur:

"Twelve o'clock and no news of her yet!"

And then unwillingly he