suppose he should reappear," persisted Helen. "Suppose somebody who
loved him--a daughter, perhaps, as I am the daughter of Prince
Morrell--with just as great a desire to clear her father's name as I have
to clear mine---- Suppose such a person should appear determined to prove
Mr. Chesterton not guilty, too?"

"Ha, but we've beat 'em to it--don't you see?" demanded Mr. Grimes,
heartlessly.

"Oh, sir! I could not take such an apparent victory at such a cost!" cried
Helen, wiping her eyes again. "You say you _believe_ Allen Chesterton was
guilty instead of father. But you put forward no evidence--no more than
the mere suspicion that cursed poor dad. No, no, sir! To claim new
evidence, but to show no new evidence, is not enough. I must find out for
sure just who stole that money. That is what dad himself said would be the
only way in which his name could be cleared."

"Nonsense, girl!" ejaculated Fenwick Grimes, scowling again.

"I am sorry to go against both your wishes and Uncle Starkweather's," said
Helen, slowly. "But I want the truth! I can't be satisfied with anything
but the truth about this whole unfortunate business.

"It made poor dad very unhappy when he was dying. It troubled my poor
mother--so _he_ said--all her life out there in Montana. I want to know
where the money went--who got it--all about it. Then I can prove to people
that it was not _my_ father who committed the crime."

"This is a very quixotic thing you have undertaken, my girl," remarked Mr.
Grimes, with a sudden change in his manner.

"I hope not. I hope I shall learn the truth."

"How?"

He shot the question at her as from a gun. His face had grown very grim
and his sly little eyes gleamed threateningly. More than ever did Helen
dislike and fear this man. The avaricious light in his eyes as he noted
the money she carried on the train, had first warned her against him. Now,
when she knew so much more about him, and how he was immediately connected
with her father's old trouble, Helen feared him all the more.

Because of his love of money alone, she could not trust him. And he had
suggested something which was, upon the face of it, dishonest and unfair.
She rose from her seat and shook her head slowly.

"I do not know how," Helen said, sadly. "But I hope something may turn up
to help me. I understand that you have never known anything about Allen
Chesterton since he ran away?"

"Not a thing," declared Mr. Grimes, shortly, rising as w