at last in semi-darkness, lighted only by the dim rays of a
sputtering kerosene lamp, whose vile odor made the close air almost
insufferable.

"Mamma!" she murmured, stretching out her arms for the beloved one who
had slumbered by her side all night.

But her yearning arms touched empty air, and she found herself resting
on a hard and narrow mattress, while her eyes, growing accustomed to the
feeble light, showed her the bare stone wall of a narrow chamber like a
dungeon, whose only ventilation came from narrow slits in the heavy
oaken door.

Half-dazed, the girl lay and gazed about her unfamiliar surroundings
until, suddenly overpowered with terror, she shrieked aloud, and
springing up, dashed herself against the hard, unyielding door in the
wild desire of escape.

In vain! The pressure of her light form did not even shake the heavy,
cell-like door that was securely locked on the outside.

She could only sink back upon the narrow cot, while a terrified
realization of the truth forced itself on her bewildered senses.

She was a prisoner in some unknown dungeon, locked away from her beloved
forever.

The spite and malice of her enemies had triumphed at last. They had
parted her from Love before the dawn of her wedding-day. The second
attempt to kidnap her must have succeeded well, for she could remember
nothing of how she had been brought here.

"Ah! I comprehend all now!" she cried, despairingly. "That pitcher of
ice-water last night had somehow a bitter taste. We were drugged--mamma
and I--and I was stolen away in the hope of preventing my marriage to
Love, so that one of my rivals might be forced on him in my stead, lest
he lose his inheritance!"

Then, in spite of her misery, a sweet, mocking laugh dimpled the girl's
lips, as she added, gratefully:

"Oh, what a clever thought it was of Love's, that secret marriage! I
feared I did wrong letting him persuade me into it; but I see now his
presentiments of evil had good ground, and he did wisely in making me
his wife two weeks ago."

She clasped her dimpled hands together in a sort of ecstacy, as she
continued:

"And oh! how happy he has made me, my darling young husband! How full of
bliss our secret honeymoon! Oh, I can never forget while life lasts the
sweetness of our wedded love! But how chagrined Aunt Judith and my cruel
cousins will be when Love tells them the startling truth. I can guess
how they will try to deceive him. They will say to him: 'Dain