"You dread a rival in this handsome young man. You would brand his name, already an obscure one, with shame and infamy; you would cause him to be driven from the doors of Villa Moraquitos, and stamped with ignominy in the eyes of the woman who loves him." "Yes," cried Augustus, fiercely; "I would do all this! Dog, what right has he to cross my path? I accede to your condition, Silas Craig, ten thousand down, and twenty thousand more upon my wedding day." "Then the business shall be done." "Soon?" "Very soon." "That is well; Silas, lose no time in turning the fellow from your doors, and let me be the first to hear of his dismissal. I shall not grudge you your reward." As Augustus Horton left the office he once more flung a sinister glance at the articled clerk; but this time there was triumph as well as hatred in the flash of the planter's eye. As he glanced at Paul Lisimon the glitter of some gold ornaments hanging to the Mexican's watch chain caught his eye. Amongst these was an oval locket, of dead gold, ornamented with two initials in purple enamel. The planter passed so close to Paul that he was enabled to distinguish these initials. They were a C and an M. "So!" he muttered, as he mounted the thorough-bred Arabian waiting him at the door of Silas Craig's house, "He wears a locket inscribed with her initials--a locket containing her portrait, no doubt. She loved him, then; but by the blue sky above me, she shall be taught ere long to despise and loathe him." Silas Craig was not long in putting his foul plot into execution. In order to carry it out, he had recourse to a plan as subtle as it was diabolical. The lawyer's private office communicated, as the reader is aware, with an outer apartment occupied by clerks. There was but this one door of communication between the two rooms, and there was no other visible mode of entering the inner office. But there was a secret entrance through the map of America, which communicated with the passage leading into the house in Columbia street. The existence of this secret passage was known only to Silas Craig, William Bowen, and the banker and manager of the gambling-house. It was by means of this very passage that the foul plot, which was to entrap Paul Lisimon, was to be carried out. Three days after his interview with the planter, Silas Craig summoned the young Mexican to his private office. "My dear Lisimon," he said, motioning Paul to a seat, "for once in my life I am tempted to desert business earlier than usual. I have an engagement to dine with my client, Mr. Horton. The dinner hour is five, and I have, unfortunately, an appointment here at half-past five with a wealthy old client of mine, who is going to bring me a few thousand dollars he wishes me to invest for him. Now, in this dilemma, I fancy, my dear Lisimon, that you can assist me."