ncle Amos from early childhood. I could faintly remember a
weary waste of waters before I came to Parkville,--in which the cottage
was located,--but nothing more. During the preceding year I had drawn it
out of my uncle that my father was dead, and my mother an inmate of an
insane asylum, and that no property was left for me by my parents. Who
they were, where my father died, or where my mother was imprisoned, he
refused to tell me.

This gentleman who sat in the buggy had been to the cottage several
times. High words had generally attended his visits. I had once asked my
uncle who he was, and the fact that an answer was refused, was enough to
assure me that a better knowledge of him would assist me in finding a
clew to my own history.

Mrs. Loraine appeared at the door, and "Tom" nimbly leaped from his
seat, and assisted her into the buggy.

"Who was that young fellow that came out of the house as I drove up?"
asked he, as he took his place at her side.

"Ernest Thornton," replied the lady.

"Whew!" exclaimed he, as he drove off.

CHAPTER IV.

IN WHICH ERNEST RELEASES THE CAPTIVE MAIDEN FROM HER PRISON.

WHAT the precise signification was of the "whew!" which the gentlemanly
Tom had uttered, I did not know; but it seemed to indicate that he was
not particularly pleased to learn that I had been a visitor at the
house. I felt that there was work for me to do, which I could commence
at once by following out the clew afforded me by Mrs. Loraine's visitor.
My first business was to ascertain who this gentleman was. Doubtless any
one in the house could tell me. Probably Kate knew all about him, and I
was all the more eager to see her.

I walked down to the pier in a brown study. Mrs. Loraine had positively
refused to let me see Kate, at the present time or in the future. She
was again confined to her room, not to leave it, I judged, for weeks,
unless I put my plan of intervention into execution. Her oppressor was
away, and the present seemed to be the most favorable time for releasing
the captive.

"Come, Ernest, are you going home, or not?" called Bob, who was getting
impatient at my delay.

"Not yet, Bob; there is something for us to do before we go."

"What's that?"

"I don't intend to leave Miss Kate here."

"I don't see what we can do about it," said he.

"I haven't any idea of leaving her to the tender mercies of that
tigress. She shall be a passenger in the Splash," I added, as I stepped
int