"It was the treatment which he deserved as an unscrupulous fortune-hunter."
"That word will better apply to your son," said the young lady, coldly. "I shall not remain here to have Mr. Dewey insulted."
"You will repent this, Miss Douglas," said her guardian, with an ugly frown. "Mark my words: I will keep you and Dewey apart. I have the power, and I will exert it."
Two weeks later Richard Dewey sailed for California in search of fortune, and five months later Miss Douglas, fearing that her guardian might imprison her in a mad-house, escaped from his residence, and, aided by Ben, also managed to reach California. For a time Mr. Campbell was entirely ignorant of her place of refuge. The next chapter will show how he discovered it.
CHAPTER XXI.
MR. CAMPBELL RECEIVES TIDINGS OF HIS WARD.
"It is strange we can't find Florence," said Orton Campbell to his father one morning some months after the young lady's departure. "Is there no clue?"
"The detective I have employed has failed to trace her."