“We will be there, be assured.”

With this the villains departed.

Eveline continued to weep for some length of time and then, arousing herself, she summoned all the courage of which she was master, and braced herself to meet the fate in store for her, be it what it might.

In passing through the room, her eye fell upon a strip of paper, which lay in such a position as to indicate that it had been brushed from a table which was sometimes used by Duffel to write upon.  She listlessly took it up and glanced over it, when her eye caught a few lines penciled upon it.  Seating herself, she examined the writing more closely, and in a moment became interested.  On the paper were some characters, the meaning of which she could not comprehend, though she recognized them in a moment, as being the same in form and character as those on the letter which had fallen into her father’s hand, purporting to be from some one to Hadley, as related in the former part of this story, and in connection with these were clearly traced the following words: 

“And then Bill and Dick!  They are first rate fellows in their way, and have been very serviceable to me; but I don’t think it is best to have too many confidants.  I must get rid of them in some way, either by fair or foul means.  Then I shall feel safe and at ease.”

These few lines, it seemed to Eveline, had been written unintentionally, as a man would unconsciously “think aloud;” and she was persuaded in her own mind, that Duffel knew not of their existence, or he would have destroyed them.  And this was the fact.  He had written a letter to the captain on the day previous to Eveline’s abduction, the first draft of which was now in her hand.  This paper was on the table at his side, and after finishing the letter, he sat for some moments in deep thought, the burden of which was his own situation.  His pencil was in his hand, and in the course of his secret communion, the words we have quoted were spoken to himself, and recorded with the pencil—­his mind the while too completely absorbed in the current of his reflections to note the act or be aware of the mechanical action of his hand.

It instantly flashed across her mind that this document might be made serviceable to her, if, on the morrow, unperceived by Duffel, she could find an opportunity of slipping it into the hand of one of his confederates.  She turned it over, and wrote on the other side: 

“I found this paper in the room where I am confined.  You will know whether or not the writing is in the hand of your employer; should it prove to be, as I suspect it is, you will at once perceive his intentions toward you, and can act accordingly.  If, in this new phase of affairs, you feel willing to desert his service, and aid me to escape out of his hands, and from this place, you shall be abundantly rewarded, and I will ever be your debtor.

“E.  MANDEVILLE.”

She then folded the note into as small a compass as possible, and placed it about her person for future use.