r anywhere in the house. He had disappeared
suddenly, strangely, totally.

XII.

_CHIVALROUS PROCEEDINGS._

Thus the question of what should be done with his guest, which Mr.
Villars knew not how to decide, had been decided for him.

Great was the mystery. There was the bed precisely as Penn had left it a
minute since. There was the candle dimly burning. The medicines remained
just where Toby had placed them, on the table under the mirror. But the
patient had vanished.

What had become of him? It was believed that he was too ill to leave his
bed without assistance. And, even though he had been strong, it was by
no means probable that one so uniformly discreet in his conduct, and
ever so regardful of the feelings of others, would have quitted the
house in this abrupt and inexplicable manner.

In vain the premises were searched. Not a trace of him could be anywhere
discovered. Neither were there any indications of a struggle. Yet it was
Toby's firm conviction that the ruffians had entered the house, and
seized him; that Pepperill was in the plot, the object of whose visit
was merely a diversion, while Ropes and the rest accomplished the
abduction. This could not, of course, have been done without the aid of
magic and the devil; but Toby believed in magic and the devil. The fact
that Dan had taken advantage of the confusion to escape, appeared to the
Ethiopian mind conclusive.

Nor was the negro alone in his bewilderment. Carl was utterly
confounded. The old clergyman, usually so calm, was deeply troubled;
while Virginia herself, pierced with the keenest solicitude, could
scarce keep her mind free from horrible and superstitious doubts. The
doors between the sitting-room and back stairs were all wide open, and
it seemed impossible that any one could have come in or gone out that
way without being observed. On the other hand, to have reached the front
stairs Penn must have passed through Salina's room. But Salina, who was
in her room at the time, averred that she had not been disturbed, even
by a sound.

"He has got out the vinder," said Carl. But the window was fifteen feet
from the ground.

Thus all reasonable conjecture failed, and it seemed necessary to accept
Toby's theory of the ruffians, magic, and the devil. Only one thing was
certain: Penn was gone. And, as if to add to the extreme and painful
perplexity of his friends, the clothes, which had been stripped from him
by the lynchers, which he had