ity home. Some time in the winter Mr. Joselyn ran away from her, they
say, but I guess old Cragg had nothing do with that. Around here,
Joselyn wasn't liked. He put on too many airs of superiority to
please the country folks. Sol Jerrems thinks he made away with Mr.
Cragg's money, in unwise speculations, but I don't believe Cragg had
any money to lose. He seems as poor as I am."

"What do you suppose drew those two men together, Miss Huckins?"
inquired the girl.

"I can't say. I've tried to figure it out, but the truth is that old
Cragg don't confide in anyone--not even in me, and we're close
neighbors. You couldn't find two men in all America more different than
Joselyn and Cragg, and yet they had dealings of some sort together and
were friendly, for a time."

Josie sighed regretfully.

"I like to hear about these mysterious things," said she. "It's almost
as good as reading a story. Only, in this case, we will never know how
the story ends."

"Well, perhaps not," admitted the dressmaker. "Joselyn is gone and no
one'll ever get the truth out of Cragg. But--I'd like to know, myself,
not only how the story ends but what it was all about. Just now all we
know is that there _was_ a story, of some sort or other, and perhaps is
yet."

A period of silence, while both mused.

"I don't suppose you could find a bit of red thread?" said Josie.

"No, I haven't used it for ages. Is it to mend with?"

"Yes."

"If it's a red dress, use black thread. It won't show, if you're
careful; and it won't fade away and leave a white streak, like red
sometimes does."

"Thank you, Miss Huckins." She rose to go. "I'd like to drop in again,
sometime, for a little visit."

"Come as often as you like," was the cordial reply.

"Cragg's Crossing people are rather interesting; they're so different
from city folks," said Josie.

"Yes, they really are, and I know most of them pretty well. Come in
again, Josie."

"Thank you; I will."

CHAPTER IX
JOSIE INVESTIGATES

"Well, what luck?" asked Mary Louise, as she came into Josie's room
while her friend was dressing for dinner.

"Not much," was the reply. "I'm not at all sure, Mary Louise, that this
chase will amount to anything. But it will afford me practice in
judging human nature, if nothing else comes of it, so I'm not at all
sorry you put me on the trail. When are we to see Ingua again?"

"To-morrow afternoon. She's coming to tea in the pavilion."

"That's good. Let me se