n your sign--"

"Is only kept as a firm name. His partner is in."

"Are you the gentleman?"

"No. His name is Decker. But he is engaged at present."

"I wish to see him personally."

"Won't you sit down?"

"Thank you. I am in a great hurry."

"In that case, perhaps I can arrange an interview."

"I won't detain him a minute."

The clerk passed into the little private office, and Harry heard the low
hum of voices. Then the proprietor said:

"Send him in."

The salesman reappeared, nodded, smiled and said:

"Go right in, sir, through that door in the partition."

Harry pushed the door open.

It was a small room containing a desk at which sat a bald-headed, little,
old man with a mass of diamonds spread before him on the desk.

He had a magnifying glass in his eye, a pair of tweezers in his hand, and a
small delicate scale in front of him.

Evidently he had been weighing and sizing up the stones.

In a chair beside him sat Clara La Croix!

As Harry stepped forward with a smile on his face, their glances met.

She half started from her chair, uttering a smothered cry of intense
dismay, and her face turned as pale as death.

"Young King Brady!" she gasped, faintly.

"Clara, I've run you down at last!"

She fairly groaned.

Her defeat was hard to bear.

"This is terrible!" she muttered.

Harry pointed at the diamonds in front of the astonished dealer.

"Ain't those the smuggled diamonds?" he asked.

Before she could reply, Mr. Decker sprang to his feet, crying in alarm:

"Good heavens! Are these smuggled diamonds?"

"Yes," replied Harry, with a nod.

"No wonder she wanted to sell them so cheap!"

"Mr. Decker, I am a Custom House officer."

"Ah!"

"This girl is a smuggler."

"I see!"

"We've been on her trail since she brought those gems from Holland to
Canada, and thence over the border without paying duty on them."

"The little wretch!"

"Are you a party to this deal?"

"No, indeed!" emphatically replied the dealer. "I'm a victim. She came in a
while ago and said her father died, leaving a stock of diamonds to her as
he had been an importer. As she offered to sell them very cheap, I was
selecting a lot to buy, when you came in."

"I believe you, sir."

"I am a respectable business man."

"Oh, there can't be any doubt of that. This girl is developing into one of
the most expert crooks in the country. For her own good it's a blessing
that I've caught her before she gets any