ore surprised.

"You saw him at Fort Greene. I don't know who he is myself, really. He
says his name is James Alexander, but he tells such frightful lies that
I don't believe it is his real name at all. He is a dreadful creature,
and he has treated us so--" Georgie broke down into another fit of
crying.

"But I don't understand," said Candace. "How could he treat you badly?
How did he come to know you? What right had he to speak to you at all?"

"Oh, no right!" explained Georgie, quivering with sobs. "It was only
that he found out about the advertisement, and then he frightened us. He
suspected something, and hung about the post-office and watched, till
one time when Berry and I went to get the 'Laura' letters. Then he
followed us home, and found out where we both lived, and wrote to say
that he had become possessed of our secret, and that he was a poor man
in need of money, and if we would at once send him twenty-five dollars
he would keep silent about it; but if not, he should feel bound to write
to our friends, and let them know what we had been doing. We were both
scared to death at this threat, and we made haste to send him the
money, hoping that he would keep his word, and that we should never hear
of him again. But we might have known better; for the very next week he
wrote again, demanding fifty. And so it has gone on ever since. He never
gives us any peace. We have to send him all he asks for, or else he
declares he will call on papa, and not only tell him about the
advertisement, but all sorts of horrible things which are not true at
all. He won't believe that it was only to amuse ourselves that we sent
the notice to the paper, and he hints the most dreadful things, and says
papa and Mrs. Joy will be sure to believe him! Berry and I have grown so
afraid that we would give a million, if we had it, to bribe him to go
away and never let us hear from him again. But even that would be no
use, for he would come back and demand another million," ended poor
Georgie.

"And he actually comes up to Newport, and follows you about, and makes
you give him money!" said Candace, horror-stricken at this glimpse of
the hidden suffering endured by these two prosperous, cared-for girls,
who were supposed to be without a sorrow in the world.

"Indeed, he does. He came that time when you saw him, the middle of
August; and he wrote Berry a note to say that he must speak to us, and
that if we didn't meet him somewhere, he should