m in no danger."

"I am of a different opinion. I am quite aware that Richard Dewey has
been seeking to ingratiate himself with you."

"Then," said his ward with dignity, "I have no hesitation in informing
you that he has succeeded."

"Ha! I thought so. That is why you rejected my son."

"Excuse me, sir: you are quite mistaken. I should refuse your son if
there were no other man in the world likely to marry me."

"And what is the matter with my son, Miss Douglas?" demanded her
guardian, stiffly.

Florence might have answered that he was too much like his father, but
she did not care to anger her guardian unnecessarily, and she simply
answered, "It would be quite impossible for me to regard him as I wish
to regard the man whom I hope to marry."

"But you could regard Richard Dewey in that way," sneered Campbell.
"Well, Miss Douglas, I may as well tell you that he asked my permission
yesterday to address you, and I ordered him out of my presence.
Moreover, I have charged the servants not to admit him into the house."

"So you have insulted him, Mr. Campbell?" said his ward, her eyes
flashing with resentment.

"It was the treatment which he deserved as an unscrupulous
fortune-hunter."

"That word will better apply to your son," said the young lady, coldly.
"I shall not remain here to have Mr. Dewey insulted."

"You will repent this, Miss Douglas," said her guardian, with an ugly
frown. "Mark my words: I will keep you and Dewey apart. I have the
power, and I will exert it."

Two weeks later Richard Dewey sailed for California in search of
fortune, and five months later Miss Douglas, fearing that her guardian
might imprison her in a mad-house, escaped from his residence, and,
aided by Ben, also managed to reach California. For a time Mr. Campbell
was entirely ignorant of her place of refuge. The next chapter will show
how he discovered it.

CHAPTER XXI.

MR. CAMPBELL RECEIVES TIDINGS OF HIS WARD.

"It is strange we can't find Florence," said Orton Campbell to his
father one morning some months after the young lady's departure. "Is
there no clue?"

"The detective I have employed has failed to trace her."

"Has he no theory?"

"He suggests that she may have gone to Europe," said Mr. Campbell, "but
I am not of that opinion."

"What do you think, then?"

"I suspect she has buried herself in some obscure country place under
some assumed name, there to remain till she has attained her
twenty-fif