interview
with him--he did not once suspect her of having seen Edith--while
Edith, upon reconnoitering and finding the back way clear, had taken
advantage of the situation and flown.

He was almost frantic with mingled rage and despair.

He angrily berated the servants for their carelessness, and vowed
that he would have them discharged; then, having exhausted his
vocabulary upon them, he went back to the library, wrathfully cursing
Giulia for having forced herself into his presence to distract his
attention, and thus allow his captive an opportunity to escape.

Mr. and Mrs. Goddard returned about this time, both looking as if they
also had met with some crushing blow, for the former was white and
haggard, and the latter wild-eyed, and shivering from time to time, as
if from a chill.

Both were apparently too absorbed in some trouble of their own to feel
very much disturbed by the flight of Edith, although Mr. Goddard's
face involuntarily lighted for an instant when he was told of her
escape.

Emil Correlli flew to the nearest telegraph office and dashed off a
message to a New York policeman, with whom he had had some dealings
while living in that city, giving him a description of Edith, and
ordering him, if he could lay his hands upon her, to telegraph back,
and then detain her until he could arrive and relieve him of his
charge.

He reasoned--and rightly, as we have seen--that Edith, would be more
likely to return to her old home, where she knew every crook and turn,
rather than to seek refuge in Boston, where she was friendless and a
comparative stranger.

A few hours later he received a reply from the policeman, giving him
an account of his adventure with Miss Edith Allandale and her escort.

"By heavens, she shall not thus escape me!" he exclaimed; and at once
made rapid preparations for a journey.

Half an hour afterward he was on the eleven o'clock express train, in
pursuit of the fair fugitive, in a state of mind that was far from
enviable.

CHAPTER XXVII.

MRS. GODDARD BECOMES AN EAVESDROPPER.

When, after her interview with Edith, Mrs. Goddard went out to make
her call, leaving her brother to keep watch and ward over their fair
captive, she proceeded with all possible speed to the Copley Square
Hotel, where she inquired for Mrs. Stewart.

The elevator bore her to the second floor, and the pretty maid, who
answered her ring at the door of the elegant suite to which she had
been direct