"Whe-ew! My colonel, I think I could have managed that matter better! I think if I had had that girl in my power as you had, she should not have escaped me!"
"Bah! bah! bah! Stop boasting, since it was through your neglect—yours! yours! that I lost this girl!"
"Mine!" exclaimed Black Donald, in astonishment.
"Aye, yours! for if you had done your duty, performed your engagement, kept your word, and delivered me from this fatal Capitola, I had not lost my ward, nor my son his wealthy bride!" exclaimed Le Noir, angrily.
"Capitola! Capitola again! What on earth had she to do with the loss of Clara Day?" cried Black Donald, in wonder.
"Everything to do with it, sir! By a cunning artifice she delivered Clara from our power—actually set her free and covered her flight until she was in security!"
"That girl again! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho ho, ho!" laughed and roared Black Donald, slapping his knees.
Le Noir ground and gnashed his teeth in rage, muttering hoarsely:
"Yes, you may laugh, confound you, since it is granted those who win to do so! You may laugh; for you have done me out of five thousand dollars, and what on earth have you performed to earn it?"
"Come, come, my colonel, fair and easy! I don't know which is vulgarest, to betray loss of temper or love of money, and you are doing both. However, it is between friends. But how the demon did that girl, that capital Capitola, get Clara off from right under your eyes?"