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 Eugenia must have brought this down on her own head, he surmised. But how on earth had they connected her—a sudden light dawned on him, and he almost sat up. Of course—she was wanted for the Auray affair. Damn the business! The police had stumbled on the New Orleans stuff in their hunt for the accessory to the burglary in the hotel.

A wave of hate inundated him. That Claudel girl!—why should she have appeared now, at the most crucial point of his career, to turn his triumph to defeat—to break the wonderful thread of luck that had led him from fortune to fortune, till he had wealth, power, and honesty within his grasp? The superstitious element in his nature awoke and nudged him. There was something uncanny in all this—there was a sequence—Fate! Was it vengeance of the saints, for whom the countess's jewels had been intended? What else could have made him so foolish, so blind?

A clear vision of Victoria rose before his eyes— strong, vigorous, fearless. Into his brain her level, piercing look seemed to penetrate. He felt 271