s friend than as his enemy. Now, however, it was
too late. Jack was out of the way, and capture the child he must. Once
manage that, and he could dictate what terms he pleased.

He made up his mind that Jack could not know where Estelle's home was,
for it was not likely that, since the little girl had not been able to
tell him all this long time, she could tell him now. Her want of memory
gave him time.

He had failed with the door. He must try some other way. Meantime, he
would continue to live at the Hospice de la Providence, and pursue his
nightly investigations of that rocky coast.

On his return the following morning, Jack was alarmed at what his mother
had to tell him. She took care to speak when Estelle was not near, and
they agreed to keep a stricter watch. Jack secured the bookcase against
a second attempt to move it, and then went to M. le Prefet to see what
he advised. The result was that Thomas was hunted from one place of
concealment in the caves to another. No hiding in dark corners would
have saved him, however, had he not remembered a certain broad ledge of
open rock which he had discovered accidentally a few days before. On
this he managed to scramble, and remained there, watching his pursuers
with a great deal of bitterness and wrath.

(_Continued on page 310._)

THE DUKE'S RUSE.

The eccentric Duke of Bridgewater, who owned extensive coal-mines near
Manchester, and spent a large fortune in opening them out, and in
constructing a canal to carry the coal to Manchester and Liverpool, took
great pleasure in watching his men at work. He used to come every
morning to the place where they were boring for coal, and stand looking
on for hours at a time. He was often there when the bell rang at twelve
o'clock, at which hour the men ceased work for their noonday meal and
rest. But the men scarcely liked to give up work while the Duke was
watching them, and they continued on until he went away. As it was not
pleasant to have their dinner-hour deferred day after day in this way,
the men tried to avoid working at the boring which the Duke was
accustomed to visit, and the Duke's engineer, Brindley, had great
difficulty in finding sufficient men for that particular work. Upon
inquiry, he discovered the reason of it, and explained matters to the
Duke, who took care after that to walk away before the bell rang at
noon.

The Duke was a shrewd, observant man, and he did not fail to notice that
his workme