olemnly
down upon his quiet form. Florence, holding him closely to her heart, is
gently rocking him to and fro, as though she will not be dissuaded that
he still lives.

At length Captain Ringwood, stooping pitifully over her, loosens her
hold so far as to enable him to lay his hand upon Adrian's heart. After
a moment, during which they all watch him closely, he starts, and,
looking still closer into the face that a second ago he believed dead,
he says, with subdued but deep excitement--

"There may yet be time! He breathes--his heart beats! Who will help me
to carry him out of this dungeon?"

He shudders as he glances round him.

"I will," replies Florence calmly.

These words of hope have steadied her and braced her nerves. Ethel
and Mrs. Talbot, carrying the lamps, go on before, while Ringwood and
Florence, having lifted the senseless body of Adrian, now indeed
sufficiently light to be an easy burden, follow them.

Reaching the corridor, they cross it hurriedly, and carrying Adrian up
a back staircase that leads to Captain Ringwood's room by a circuitous
route, they gain it without encountering a single soul, and lay him
gently down on Ringwood's bed, almost at the very moment that midnight
chimes from the old tower, and only a few minutes before Arthur
Dynecourt steals from his chamber to make that last visit to his
supposed victim.

CHAPTER XII.

Slowly and with difficulty they coax Sir Adrian back to life. Ringwood
had insisted upon telling the old housekeeper at the castle, who had
been in the family for years, the whole story of her master's rescue,
and she, with tears dropping down her withered cheeks, had helped
Ringwood to remove his clothes and make him comfortable. She had also
sat beside him while the captain, stealing out of the house like a
thief, had galloped down to the village for the doctor, whom he had
smuggled into the house without awaking any of the servants.

This caution and secrecy had been decided upon for one powerful reason.
If Arthur Dynecourt should prove guilty of being the author of his
cousin's incarceration, they were quite determined he should not escape
whatever punishment the law allowed. But the mystery could not be quite
cleared up until Sir Adrian's return to consciousness, when they hoped
to have some light thrown upon the matter from his own lips.

In the meantime, should Arthur hear of his cousin's rescue, and know
himself to be guilty of this dastardly a