id not allow his unpleasant situation to take away his appetite,
and though he was fully determined to make the earliest possible attempt
to escape, he was sensible enough first to eat the food which his jailer
had brought him.

His lunch dispatched, he began at once to revolve plans of escape.

There were three windows in the room, two on the front of the house, the
other at the side.

He tried one after another, but the result was the same. All were so
fastened that it was quite impossible to raise them.

Feeling that he could probably escape through one of the windows when
he pleased, though at the cost of considerable trouble, Frank did not
trouble himself much, or allow himself to feel unhappy. He decided to
continue his explorations.

In the corner of the room was a door, probably admitting to a closet.

"I suppose it is locked," thought Frank, but on trying it, he found that
such was not the case. He looked curiously about him, but found little
to repay him. His attention was drawn, however to several dark-colored
masks lying upon a shelf.

He also discovered a small hole in the wall of the size of a marble.
Actuated by curiosity, he applied his eye to the opening, and peeped
into what was probably the adjoining room. It was furnished in very much
the same way as the one in which he was confined, but at present it was
untenanted. Having seen what little there was to be seen, Frank withdrew
from his post of observation and returned to his room.

It was several hours later when he again heard steps ascending the
stairs, and the slide in the door was moved.

He looked toward it, but the face that he saw was not that of Nathan
Graves.

It was the face of a woman.

CHAPTER XVIII

"OVER THE HILL TO THE POORHOUSE"

We are compelled for a time to leave our hero in the hands of his
enemies, and return to the town of Crawford, where an event has occurred
which influences seriously the happiness and position of his sister,
Grace.

Ever since Frank left the town, Grace had been a welcome member of Mr.
Pomeroy's family, receiving the kindest treatment from all, so that she
had come to feel very much at home.

So they lived happily together, till one disastrous night a fire broke
out, which consumed the house, and they were forced to snatch their
clothes and escape, saving nothing else.

Mr. Pomeroy's house was insured for two-thirds of its value, and he
proposed to rebuild immediately, but it woul