ry unsettled state, for she was
continually looking for a summons from Mr. Rider.

When they were finished she helped about the packing of Mrs. Montague's
wardrobe, and then repaired to her chamber, to get her own in readiness
to leave; but still no word from the detective, and she thought it very
strange.

It might have been an hour after Mona's return to the hotel, when that
official sauntered into the office, where he picked up a paper and looked
it over for a few minutes. Then he went to the counter, pulled the
register before him, and began to glance up and down its pages.

He finally found the names he was searching for, then turning to the
clerk, he requested that a boy might take a note from him to Mrs. J.M.
Walton's room.

"Mrs. Walton?" repeated the clerk, with some surprise.

"Yes; I have a little matter of business with her," said Mr. Rider, who
intended to make his arrest very quietly.

"I am sorry you did not come earlier, then," regretfully responded the
clerk, "for Mrs. Walton and her son left the hotel about two hours ago,"

The detective's heart sank with a sudden shock.

Gone! his birds flown when he had them so nearly captured!

"Are you sure?" he sharply demanded, while in spite of his long and
severe training, he turned very white, and his under lip twitched
nervously.

"Certainly, or I should not have so stated," returned the clerk, with
some dignity. "When young Mr. Walton settled his bill, he ordered a
carriage to be in waiting at eleven o'clock, and both he and his
mother left the house at that time. I regret your disappointment,
sir, in missing them."

This was almost more than Mr. Rider could bear; but he could not doubt
the man's word, and he feared the thieves had escaped him again. They
must have left while Mona was telling him her story at the detective
headquarters.

They had been very sharp. Finding themselves in a bad box, they had
planned their movements with great cunning. He believed that Mrs. Walton
had deposited the amount required for bail in the bank, with the
deliberate intention of forfeiting it, rather than have her accomplice
brought to trial; doubtless he was too useful to her to run any risk of
his being found guilty, and imprisoned for a term of years, and thus
put an end to their successful career.

The detective berated himself soundly again for not objecting to the
acceptance of bail at all, but it was too late now to remedy the matter.
Regrets were us