"Ladies, you are free."

"Thank you," said Clara, with a pleasant smile.

"Go your way. We can't secure anything but revenge by prosecuting you, and
that isn't what we are after. I must say, though, Mrs. La Croix, that was
an inhuman thing for you and your husband to do, boxing us up and shipping
us to California. We are more merciful to you when it lies in our power to
put you in prison."

The woman's face reddened with shame.

She hung her head, but made no reply.

Old King Brady then said to Harry in hurried tones:

"Come. We must get on La Croix's trail. We'll run him down if it takes a
year to do it!"

They rushed from the room.

Harry, however, paused outside the door and listened.

The woman and her daughter uttered a merry peal of laughter.

"Good for papa!" cried the girl. "He'll save the gems yet."

"Those detectives have gone on a wild goose chase," contemptuously replied
her mother. "Paul will outwit them. To-morrow you and I will go back to New
York, and put up at the Waldorf. When your father has safely disposed of