Old Hurricane was deeply moved by the sympathy of his little madcap,
and pressed her to his bosom, saying: "Cap, my dear, if you had not set your heart upon Herbert, I would
marry you to my son Traverse, and you two should inherit all that I
have in the world! But never mind, Cap, you have an inheritance of your
own. Cap, Cap, my dear, did it ever occur to you that you might have
had a father and mother?"
"Yes! often! But I used to think you were my father, and that my mother
was dead."
"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.
And at the end of his narrative Cap knew as much of her own history as
the reader has known all along.
"And I have a mother, and I shall even see her soon! You told me she
was coming home with the party--did you not, Uncle?" said Capitola.