in a contest for financial supremacy your chief
weapon, that of sex, is turned against you. Make no mistake! I shall
find Tia Juana, I shall obtain her order to treat with you, and you
will come to an agreement with me on my own terms. You cannot afford
to reject them if you would. You have not the slightest inkling of
their nature now, that is a card I am holding in reserve, but when you
learn what an indemnity you will be called upon to pay in the event of
a refusal, you will jump at the bargain, my dear Billie."

He uttered the old name deliberately, and she flushed.

"I am Willa Murdaugh, if you don't mind."

"Are you?" he asked significantly. "The clock struck twelve for
another Cinderella, you may remember, and all the jewels and gorgeous
apparel disappeared, as well as the pumpkin coach. I doubt if there
would be a fallen slipper or a fairy prince to put it on again if the
old story came to be rewritten to-day."

"What do you mean?" Willa turned to him, startled in spite of herself.

He shrugged.

"I will tell you when the time comes to drive our bargain, and I have
an idea that it will not be deferred long. You cannot conceal Tia
Juana indefinitely, and I shall have more able tools to aid me in my
search than the one you so cleverly removed a day or two ago."

"I?" Willa's tone was mechanical, her thoughts centered on his implied
threat and what it might portend. "What tool?"

"Vernon," he responded tersely. "He is to be congratulated on his
fortunate choice of a confidante. When he told you of our visit to the
empty house, close on your heels----"

"You weren't; you were just over my head!" she retorted. "Vernon told
me nothing. It was unnecessary, because I heard it all. I scarcely
listened, though, for it reminded me so forcibly of another secret
interview of yours that my mind wandered. It was a much more
significant occasion, Mr. Wiley, with results so far-reaching that they
have not yet culminated."

"Indeed?" He frowned. "I must confess I don't recall----"

"It was an interview at night, out in the open, beneath the stars!"
Her voice trembled with sudden passion. "It took place near a garage,
and you did not know a listener crouched in the shrubbery. The man you
met and bargained with there was Juan de Soria, agent of El Negrito,
and the next night El Negrito himself came down from the hills! What
price did you pay for that raid, Mr. Wiley; that raid which was to
force Un