At this Mrs. Chapman rose from her chair with an air of injured dignity, and walked in silence up and down the room for several minutes. Then she heaved a sigh, extended her hand, and resumed: "Your tears, my daughter, are what tear down my pride. No use, I see; my advice is all thrown away--all thrown away! Oh, what a thing it is to have a daughter, and yet not have a daughter. I mean to have a daughter that will have her own way." Again Mrs. Chapman resumed her chair, and became thoughtful and silent. "You know I love to please you, mother, for you are such a good mother to me in everything else," rejoined Mattie, kneeling beside her mother, placing her arms on her knees, and looking up lovingly in her face. "You know I like to please you, mother," she repeated; "and I won't marry anybody until Tite comes home. But then you must not say anything more to me about Mr. Gusher." "That's poor consolation--very poor consolation, my daughter," replied Mrs. Chapman, rebukingly. "Exactly what I did'nt want you to promise. Then you have promised yourself to the young man? I'd never have got your father if I'd made such a promise to such a young man. I have always looked forward to the time when we should have a fine house on the Battery, and move in the higher circles." Chapman now entered the room, which put an end to the conversation between Mattie and her mother. Chapman smiled for once, and was evidently in a pleasant mood. After rubbing his hands and taking a seat by the fire, and looking first at Mattie and then at her mother, he said: "I have good news to tell you. The storm has prevented Gusher from getting here to-night. But the Kidd Discovery Company matter is settled, and will be a great success. No need of inventing a new religion now. Hanz has got his head full of the project. Has made all his Dutch neighbors believe there is a fortune in it for them all. We go on an expedition up the river to-morrow night, in search of the d----l's sounding-rock. That's the place where Kidd buried his treasure, you see. These honest old Dutchmen firmly believe that Kidd had an understanding with the devil when he buried it there. Just show them how to start an enterprise and make money, and they are as ready to make it as anybody." CHAPTER XVI. A NIGHT EXPEDITION.