"I have not."

"Can he be found this morning?"

"Ah, I perceive your thoughts are running in the same direction as my own.
We will inquire after him."

The inquiries were instituted, but no Hadley was to be found; he had left
the day previous, but no one could tell whither he had gone, or what had
called him away. When these facts were ascertained, Mandeville and Duffel
exchanged a significant glance, as much as to say: "Just as we expected!"

The horse stolen was one of great value, and Mr. Mandeville was resolved to
make a desperate effort to recover him; and he was the more fixed in this
determination, because the horse was intended as a gift to Eveline on her
recovery, in case she _did_ recover, and, also, because, as he believed,
the detection of the culprit would expose the baseness of her lover to his
daughter, and cause her to discard him at once from her thoughts.--Full of
these thoughts, he offered a handsome reward for the horse, and a very
large one for the apprehension of the thief. In prospect of obtaining these
rewards, as well as to render a service to community, some six individuals
banded themselves together with the avowed intention of ferreting out the
matter, and immediately set out for that purpose.




CHAPTER VII.

FATHER AND DAUGHTER--DUFFEL.