further
reason for keeping you here."

"Then, unless you are remarkably quick in getting out of the country,
Mr. Holmes, you ought to be under arrest for kidnapping by to-morrow
night."

Holmes laughed.

"Oh, do let's be friends!" he said. "You and your friends have really
given me a lot of trouble. But do I bear you any malice? Not I! If you
hadn't taken care of those misguided girls after they ran away from
Hedgeville, none of this would have come about."

"I suppose you think you have some excuse for acting in this fashion?"

"I certainly have, Miss Mercer. The very best. After all, why shouldn't
I tell you! It's too late for you to do me any harm now--I have won the
game."

"But there will be a return match. Don't forget that! My father is as
rich as you are, Mr. Holmes, and when he hears of the way I have been
treated, he will spend his last cent, if necessary, to get his revenge
on you."

"Dear me, I hope he won't do anything so foolish, Miss Mercer! It would
be a dreadful waste of money--and he wouldn't get it, in any case.
However, I don't want you to be needlessly worried. Zara will soon be
safe with her father. She won't have to stay very long with the
estimable Farmer Weeks. You know, I really don't blame her for disliking
him."

Zara gave a little cry of joy.

"Will I see my father? Is he well?" she cried.

"Quite well--but very obstinate," said Holmes. "That's your fault, too,
Miss Mercer. I'm sorry to say that lately he has seemed to be inclined
to listen to your cousin, Mr. Jamieson. He is willing, you see, to deal
with whoever happens to be in charge of his daughter. He knows our
friend Silas very well--too well, I think. And so, when he knows that
Zara is being looked after by him, I think he will be glad to meet my
terms, and so secure his freedom."

"You brute!" said Eleanor, hotly. "What are your terms?"

"Ah, that would be telling! You will have to wait to discover that. You
see, Silas Weeks wasn't quite as stupid as the rest of the people at
Hedgeville, and when he couldn't find out what old Slavin was doing
there, he came to me--because he thought I probably could."

"Slavin!" said Eleanor, in an amazed tone. "Is that your father's name,
Zara? Why didn't you tell us?"

"He told me not to," said Zara, nervously.

"Zara's father had one bad fault; he wasn't at all ready to trust
people," Holmes went on, easily. "He didn't even trust me as he should
have done, and he's been posit