iately; then he paused, turned, and
walked slowly back.

The store was on a corner, and there were two entrances to it--one on the
front, one at the side.

Virgie paid for her purchase, then worked her way around, going from
counter to counter, until she reached the side entrance, when she went
slyly out, waited until she saw a car approaching, hailed it, and in
another moment went rolling down the street, believing that she had eluded
the keen eyes that were on the watch for her.

Not so, however; for the man, having heard the car stop, darted around the
corner, and espied her in it just as it was about turning into another
street.

He could not overtake it, and with a muttered expression of annoyance, he
was obliged to wait for the next one. But he saw no more of Virgie that
day, for she took a transfer, and when about a mile from her home changed
cars and at length reached her own door, confident that she had escaped
her pursuer for that time.

A day or two afterward she saw a personal in one of the daily papers that
both puzzled and alarmed her.

F.V.A., whom I met on the corner of W. and C. streets, will communicate
with M.A., Lock Box 95, she will learn something to her advantage.

This was the advertisement, and Virgie knew at once that she had been
recognized by that man muffled in the cloak.

"That means me," she said, growing deadly white, "and I was not mistaken.
<i>He</i> has come back. How dare he? What can he want of me? But I will never
see him. I will have nothing to say to him. I will hide myself from him.
It is evident he has not discovered where I live, else he would have been
here before this, and I will take care that he does not find me out."

After that she was very careful about going out, always closely veiling
her face, and wearing a long circular to conceal her form, when she was
obliged to do so, which was not often, as, with rare exceptions, her
business with Mr. Knight could be mostly transacted by correspondence.

Thus several months passed without her seeing or hearing anything more of
the person who had so disturbed her, until at last she believed he must
have left the city, and she gave herself no further concern about him.

Chapter XXIV.

The Tie Is Broken.

There was no lack of employment now for Virgie. She had plenty to occupy
heart, and brain, and hands, and of such a congenial nature that she
reaped great benefit from it both mentally and physically.

Of