ried journey to New York; his meeting
and identifying Capitola and bringing her home in safety to his house.

"And thus," said the old man, "you perceive that this child whose birth
was feloniously concealed, and who was cast away to perish among the
wretched beggars, thieves and street-walkers of New York, is really the
only living child of the late Eugene Le Noir, and the sole inheritrix of
the Hidden House, with its vast acres of fields, forests, iron and coal
mines, water power, steam mills, furnaces and foundries--wealth that I
would not undertake to estimate within a million of dollars--all of
which is now held and enjoyed by that usurping villain, Gabriel Le
Noir!"

"But," said the minister, gravely, "you have, of course, commenced
proceedings on the part of your protege."

"Listen; I will tell you what I have done. When I first brought Cap home
I was moved not only by the desire of wreaking vengeance upon a most
atrocious miscreant who had done me an irreparable injury, but also by
sympathy for the little witch who had won my heart at first sight.
Therefore, you may judge I lost no time in preparing to strike a double
blow which should ruin my own mortal enemy and reinstate my favorite in
her rights. With this view, immediately on my return home, I sent for
Breefe, my confidential attorney, and laid the whole matter before him."

"And he----"

"To my dismay he told me that, though the case was clear enough, it was
not sufficiently strong, in a legal point of view, to justify us in
bringing suit; for that the dying deposition of the mulatto nurse could
not be received as evidence in our county courts."

"You knew that before, sir, I presume."

"Of course I did; but I thought it was a lawyer's business to get over
such difficulties; and I assure you, parson, that I flew into a passion
and cursed court and county law and lawyers to my heart's content. I
would have quarreled with old Breefe then and there, only Breefe won't
get excited. He very coolly advised me to keep the matter close and my
eyes open, and gather all the corroborative testimony I could find, and
that, in the meantime, he would reflect upon the best manner of
proceeding."

"I think, Major Warfield, that his counsel was wise and disinterested.
But tell me, sir, of the girl's mother. Is it not astonishing--in fact,
is it not perfectly incomprehensible--that so lovely a woman as you have
represented her to be should have consented to the conc