"
"I wish to the Lord that I had been your father, Cap, and that Marah
Rocke had been your mother! But Cap, your father was a better man
than I, and your mother as good a woman as Marah. And Cap, my dear,
you vagabond, you vagrant, you brat, you beggar, you are the sole
heiress of the Hidden House estate and all its enormous wealth! What
do you think of that, now? What do you think of that, you beggar?
cried Old Hurricane."
A shriek pierced the air, and Capitola starting up, stood before Old
Hurricane, crying in an impassioned voice:
"Uncle! Uncle! Don't mock me! Don't overwhelm me! I do not care for
wealth or power; but tell me of the parents who possessing both,
cast off their unfortunate child--a girl, too! to meet the
sufferings and perils of such a life as mine had been, if I had not
met you!"
"Cap, my dear, hush! Your parents were no more to blame for their
seeming abandonment of you, than I was to blame for the desertion of
my poor wife. We are all the victims of one villain, who has now
gone to his account, Capitola. I mean Gabriel Le Noir. Sit down, my
dear, and I will read the copy of his whole confession, and
afterwards, in addition, tell you all I know upon the subject!"
Capitola resumed her seat, Major Warfield read the confession of
Gabriel Le Noir, and afterwards continued the subject by relating
the events of that memorable Hallowe'en when he was called out in a
snow storm to take the dying deposition of the nurse who had been
abducted with the infant Capitola.
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