y
chance to get back some of the hard earned savings I had advanced him.
But Jason Jones isn't square, Alora; he's mean and shifty, as perhaps
you have discovered. He gave me some money at first, when I followed
him to New York, as you know; but after that the coward ran away. That
provoked me and made me determined to run him down. I traced him to
Europe and followed him there, but he evaded me for a full year, until
my money was gone and I was forced to return to America. For nearly
three years longer I worked as a nurse and hoarded my earnings. Then,
through your father's banker in New York I managed to learn his
address. The banker didn't tell me, but I did a little spy work and in
the bank's mail I found a letter in Jason Jones' handwriting postmarked
'Positano, Italy.' That was all the clew I needed and I went to Italy
and soon located my man. I faced him in his own villa--I believe you
were away at the time--and when he found he was caught he cringed and
begged for mercy and promised to give me all that belonged to me. He
said he had a lot of gold in his possession and he would pay me partly
in gold and partly in drafts on his New York banker. Then he left the
room to get the gold and returned with a husky Italian servant who
seized and bound me and threw me into a stone house used to store
grapes, where I was kept a prisoner for nearly ten days and treated
like a dog.

"Finally the Italian released me, asserting that Jason Jones was on his
way to America. I followed as soon as I could get passage in a ship,
but your clever father had left New York before I arrived there and I
could not discover where he had hidden himself. Once more he had beaten
me."

Her voice was hard and angry. Alora was tempted to believe the story,
for many of its details she knew were true. She remembered, for one
thing, that queer letter from Silvio which she had discovered tucked
inside one of her father's books. It stated that, according to orders,
the Italian had "released the prisoner." So the prisoner had been
Janet, and Alora could well understand her determination to secure
revenge.

"It seems to me," she said, "that you should have taken your contract
with my father to a lawyer, and brought suit to recover the money due
you. Surely that would have been the easiest way to collect it."

Janet's face grew red; her lashes dropped still further over the eyes;
but she answered after an instant's pause:

"I do not wish the world