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Show - 123 - Penny and Vicky were transfixed. They hardly touched their cookies and lemonade. Even Dixie sensed something unusual was going on and with her. nose between her paws, lay on the vernada floor motionless. "What happened, Maddie," burst out Vicky. "Yes, yes, go on." added Penny. "Dirk finally arrived with the shipment. When Chang Lin gave him the letter and, he read it he was jubilant. He had thought Claudine was lost to him forever'. It didn't make any difference that she was married to another man now. Nothing mattered. All that he could think Of was that she still loved him and wanted to be with him always. He would have raced up the hill and claimed her as his own immediately, but Chang Lin convinced him that it would be very dangerous to confront Andre' at that time. The old Oriental calmed him down until I could arrive. Plans had to be made first for Claudine to escape from the house without anyone's knowledge. Finally, Dirk heeded Chang Lin's advice. It was decided that I should convey the messages between them as I would arouse the least suspicion. "The final scheme was that Dirk would meet Claudine at the gardens when the entire household was asleep. Arrangements were made to transport them to the'ship that had sailed up the coast from Mexico carrying the contraband shipment. Money was no object to Kirk. He had accumulated a fortune in the illegal trafficking of liquor and he knew that, given sufficient funds* the captain ''would wait until they were aboard before sailing down the coast again to Mexico. "All this, Dirk wrote in a note which I carried back to Claudine. When she read it she was transformed. In a moment she changed into the beautiful and happy girl I knew from childhood. Her blue eyes sparkled again and she changed her clothes. I brushed her hair until it shone |