, Dec. 14, 18--

MY DEAR CRAVEN--You are losing time. Do not hope to win the girl by
the means you propose. She is too acute to be deceived, and too
firm to be persuaded. We must not hesitate to use the only possible
means by which we can coerce her into compliance. I shall follow
this letter by the first stage coach, and before the beginning of
the next month Clara Day shall be your wife. Your Affectionate
Father,

GABRIEL LE NOIR,

C. LE NOIR, ESQ., Hidden House.

When Craven Le Noir read this letter his thin, white face and deep-set
eyes lighted up with triumph. But Craven Le Noir huzzaed before he was
out of the woods. He had not calculated upon Capitola.

The next day Colonel Le Noir came to the Hidden House. He arrived late
in the afternoon.

After refreshing himself with a bath, a change of clothing and a light
luncheon, he went to the library, where he passed the remainder of the
evening in a confidential conference with his son. Their supper was
ordered to be served up to them there; and for that evening Clara had
the comfort of taking her tea alone.

The result of this conference was that the next morning, after
breakfast, Colonel Le Noir sent for Miss Day to come to him in the
library.

When Clara, nerving her gentle heart to resist a sinful tyranny,
entered the library, Colonel Le Noir arose and courteously handed her
to a chair, and then, seating himself beside her, said:

"My dear Clara, the responsibilities of a guardian are always very
onerous, and his duties not always very agreeable, especially when his
ward is the sole heiress of a large property and the object of pursuit
by fortune hunters and maneuverers, male and female. When such is the
case, the duties and responsibilities of the guardian are augmented a
hundredfold."

"Sir, this cannot be so in my case, since you are perfectly aware that
my destiny is, humanly speaking, already decided," replied Clara, with
gentle firmness.

"As--how, I pray you, my fair ward?"

"You cannot possibly be at a loss to understand, sir. You have been
already advised that I am betrothed to Doctor Rocke, who will claim me
as his wife upon the day that I shall complete my twenty-first year."

"Miss Clara Day! no more of that, I beseech you! It is folly, perversity,
frenzy! But, thanks to the wisdom of legislators, the law very properly
invests the guardian with great latitude of dis