e's fortune, of course, and
went to live on Madison Avenue."

"Well--is that significant?" asked the girl, puzzled.

"I don't know that it is. But there is something you mentioned just now
that _is_ of importance."

"What is that, Dud?"

"Why, the bookkeeper--Allen Chesterton. He's the missing link. If we could
get him I believe the truth would easily be learned. In one newspaper
story of the Grimes & Morrell trouble, it was said that Grimes and
Chesterton had been close friends at one time--had roomed together in the
very house from which the bookkeeper seemed to have fled a couple of days
before the embezzlement was discovered."

"Would detectives be able to pick up any clue to the missing man--and
missing link?" asked Helen, thoughtfully.

"It's a cold trail," Dud observed, shaking his head.

"I don't mind spending some money. I can send to Big Hen for more----"

"Of course you can. I don't believe you realize how rich you are, Helen."

"I--I never had to think about it."

"No. But about hiring a detective. I hate to waste money. Wait a few days
and see if I can get on the blind side of Mr. Grimes in some way."

So the matter rested; but it was Helen herself who made the first
discovery which seemed to point to a weak place in Fenwick Grimes's
armor.

Helen had been once to the poor lodging of Mr. Lurcher to "mend him up";
for she was a good little needlewoman and she knew she could make the old
fellow look neater. He had got his glasses, and at first could only wear
them a part of the day. The doctor at the hospital gave him an ointment
for his eyelids, too, and he was on a fair road to recovery.

"I can cobble shoes pretty good, Miss," he said. "And there is work to be
had at that industry in several shops in the neighborhood. Once I was a
clerk; but all that is past, of course."

Helen did not propose to let the old fellow suffer; but just yet she did
not wish to do anything further for him, or Sadie might suspect that her
friend, Helen, was something different from the poor girl Sadie thought
she was.

After the above interview with Dud, Helen went downtown to see Sadie
again; and she ran around the corner to spend a few minutes with Mr.
Lurcher. As she went up the stairs she passed a man coming down. It was
dark, and she could not see the person clearly. Yet Helen realized that
the individual eyed her sharply, and even stopped and came part way up the
stairs again to see where she went.

When