were both seized at the same moment. All farther power of alarm was instantly taken from her, by the application of a shielded gag to her mouth, and in the space of a second or two, she was tied to her chair in so effectual a manner, that she could neither move hand nor foot; whilst Miss Malcolm was as instantaneously shrouded up in a large cloak, deprived of all possibility of resistance, or even of utterance, lifted up by a man, carried rapidly away through the glass-door, and borne off through the garden almost in a state of insensibility.

The party having hurried on with her towards the farther extremity of the peninsula, she felt herself lowered down, as if by means of a ladder, over the rampart wall of the enclosure, and placed in a boat that immediately pushed off from the shore; and, from the speed with which the passage was effected, she guessed that she had crossed one of the arms of the bay to the nearest landing-place. There she was lifted from the boat, and the cloak being removed, she was permitted to breathe more freely for a few moments, when she perceived some persons waiting under the shade of the trees with horses. A hat and mantle belonging to her

self, snatched up by the villains in the apartment where she was seized, were now hastily adjusted to her head and person, and as she was attempting to scream out, she was again wrapped up in the large cloak, in such a manner as to deafen her cries, and placed with the utmost expedition on a pad behind one of the men, and being strapped to his back, so as to remove all chance of her falling, the whole troop set off at full gallop through the wild and unfrequented chace, and then over the high downs towards the sea.

There the reports of cannon were distinctly heard coming from the water, and the party halted for some time on the brow of the precipice, in great confusion, as if their plans had been disconcerted by some unforeseen event. After a hasty debate, the import of which her terror and agitation enabled her to gather but very imperfectly, they again turned their horses' heads, and galloped towards the country.

A few minutes had hardly elapsed after the perpetration of this outrageous act, when Lord Eaglesholme, impatient to see his niece, tapped gently at the door of the drawing room. After having two or three times repeated his signal,

with that delicacy with which he always approached the abode of the ladies, he retired, and, ringing for Epingle, who, in the solitude of her apartment, was employed in giving way to her own woes, he sent her to inquire whether his niece would receive him, while he stood without, waiting for admission.

The girl had no sooner entered than she uttered a loud scream, and fell senseless on the floor. Filled with alarm, Lord Eaglesholme rushed into the apartment, when, to his astonishment and dismay, he found Madame Bossanville in the state she had been left by the ruffians. He hastened to release her, and soon learned from her all the dreadful particulars she had witnessed.

Frantic with despair, he called his servants, and searched through every part of the garden with torches. Numerous steps were traced across some of the new dug borders, where many of the plants and flowers had been broken and trodden down by the hasty feet of the ravishers. At length they were tracked to that part of the wall where the ladder, left behind them in their hurry, was still standing. But here all traces were of course lost. Once on the lake, their probable point of

landing became mere matter of conjecture. In a state of agitation bordering upon frenzy, he returned to the Castle, and dispatched servants in all directions, with a thousand different and even contradictory orders. As for himself, seizing his sword, he waited not for a horse, but hurrying out at the great gate, and over the draw-bridge, he flew with the rapidity of thought through the woods, and over the downs towards the cliffs. Why he went there, no one but himself could have explained; but, whatever were the reasons that urged him thither, his having taken that way produced the meeting with Cleaver the reader has so lately been made acquainted with.

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My Lord," said Cleaver, after listening to Lord Eaglesholme's short narration, " I think I can throw some light upon the track of these villains." And so saying, he told him what he had met with soon after quitting Sanderson Mains on his way to the shore, and described as nearly as he could the direction the party seemed to have taken.

From Cleaver's account, Lord Eaglesholme's suspicions at once rested on the Castle of Moatmallard as the most probable place of temporary

retreat for the ruffians. The reader may perhaps remember, that this ruined fortalice was formerly mentioned, though not by name, as forming a prominent feature in the uninteresting country near Sanderson Mains, being situated on a green mound at the upper end of the lake.

"From all the circumstances," said Cleaver, "it strikes me, that the event of Miss Malcolm being carried off, and that of the appearance of the smuggling vessel, which has just been captured, have somehow had a secret connection together. It is highly probable, that when first descried by the revenue cutter, the smuggler must have been lying off and on, by appointment, to take the rascals on board with their prey. The few words I caught from the scoundrels, as they flew past me on the downs, may have alluded to the disappointment of their expectations in this particular."

Lord Eaglesholme perfectly agreed with him in his conjectures, and became still more firmly of opinion, that Moatmallard was the place to which the villains must have fled; and both joined in thinking, that the crew whom Cleaver had seen escape in the boats, would also seek shelter in