er and mother?"

"Yes! often! But I used to think you were my father, and that my mother
was dead."

"I wish to the Lord that I had been your father, Cap, and that Marah
Rocke had been your mother! But Cap, your father was a better man than
I, and your mother as good a woman as Marah. And Cap, my dear, you
vagabond, you vagrant, you brat, you beggar, you are the sole heiress
of the Hidden House estate and all its enormous wealth! What do you
think of that, now? What do you think of that, you beggar?" cried Old
Hurricane.

A shriek pierced the air, and Capitola starting up, stood before Old
Hurricane, crying in an impassioned voice:

"Uncle! Uncle! Don't mock me! Don't overwhelm me! I do not care for
wealth or power; but tell me of the parents who possessing both, cast
off their unfortunate child--a girl, too! to meet the sufferings and
perils of such a life as mine had been, if I had not met you!"

"Cap, my dear, hush! Your parents were no more to blame for their
seeming abandonment of you, than I was to blame for the desertion of my
poor wife. We are all the victims of one villain, who has now gone to
his account, Capitola. I mean Gabriel Le Noir. Sit down, my dear, and I
will read the copy of his whole confession, and afterwards, in
addition, tell you all I know upon the subject!"

Capitola resumed her seat, Major Warfield read the confession of
Gabriel Le Noir, and afterwards continued the subject by relating the
events of that memorable Hallowe'en when he was called out in a snow
storm to take the dying deposition of the nurse who had been abducted
with the infant Capitola.

And at the end of his narrative Cap knew as much of her own history as
the reader has known all along.

"And I have a mother, and I shall even see her soon! You told me she
was coming home with the party--did you not, Uncle?" said Capitola.

"Yes, my child. Only think of it! I saved the daughter from the streets
of New York, and my son saved the mother from her prison at the
madhouse! And now, my dear Cap, I must bid you good night and go to
bed, for I intend to rise to-morrow morning long before daylight, to
ride to Tip Top to meet the Staunton stage," said the old man, kissing
Capitola.

Just as he was about to leave the room he was arrested by a loud
ringing and knocking at the door.

Wool was heard running along the front hall to answer the summons.

"Cap, I shouldn't wonder much if that was our party. I wish it may be,
for I