nd of the
passage, they found its entrance closed. The great slab, insecurely
supported, had fallen into place, and the utmost exertion of their
feeble strength was insufficient to move it.

As they realized the full extent of the disaster that had thus
befallen them, the girl was awed into a despairing silence; while the
old man's impaired intellect gave way completely beneath the awful
strain of the situation, and he broke into incoherent ravings. At
length Mary Darrell knew that her beloved father had lost his mind,
and that she must share her living tomb with a madman.

In his ravings he declared that the situation was exactly as he wanted
it; for now no one, not even Richard Peveril himself, could share
their new-found wealth. With the next breath he expressed an intention
of getting back to the piles of copper as quickly as possible, that he
might defend them with his life against all claimants.

Terrible as it was to the girl to hear her father talk in this way,
his mention of Peveril brought a faint ray of hope. If the young man
had indeed gained access to the cavern from this direction, then the
old workings must possess some other exit. If they could only discover
such a place, it was barely possible that they might still escape.
Thus thinking, she humored her father's desire to return to the piles
of copper, and even hastened his steps in that direction, for their
candle was burning perilously low. So nearly had it expired that they
had hardly regained the old workings before its feeble flame gave a
final flicker, and they were plunged into blackness.

Through this they still groped their way until the old man's strength
was exhausted and he refused to go farther. Then, clinging to him in
an agony of despair, the poor girl closed her eyes and prayed:

"Dear Christ, help me in this time of my bitter trouble, for I have no
strength save in Thee!"

Her cry was heard and her prayer was answered even as it was uttered;
for with the opening of her eyes she caught a far-away gleam of light.
A minute later, when Richard Peveril came to her, he seemed like one
sent from heaven, and at that moment she could have worshipped him.

Peveril's heart leaped at the sound of her voice, and he received two
other distinct thrills of delight from her father's incoherent words.
One was when he addressed the slight figure at his side as "Mary," and
the other was caused by his mention of the Copper Princess. By the
first Pev