storekeeper with a quick
laugh. "Old Herman has more money than anyone in this town. He
inherited plenty when his sister Jennie died in the East. Herman was
her only heir, and when he dies the money probably will go to his
grandson, Perry."

"Doesn't Mr. Crocker have any other living relatives?" Penny
questioned. She was thinking of Walter Crocker.

"Not to my knowledge," answered the storekeeper. "The Crocker family
has just about died out."

Penny paid for the bread and walked slowly back toward the cottage.
She glanced curiously at the Crocker homestead as she passed it, but as
usual the blinds were drawn and the place seemed deserted.

"How unhappy Perry must be there," she thought. "He should go to
school and have playmates his own age. I can't see why someone doesn't
take an interest in his welfare."

During the next two days Penny found time heavy upon her hands. Mr.
Nichols frequently was absent from the cottage and Mrs. Masterbrook and
Michael proved very poor company. The housekeeper talked entirely too
much about nothing while Michael scarcely spoke a word unless Penny
asked him a direct question.

On the afternoon of the second day, for want of another occupation,
Penny wandered up to the attic to look around once more.

"If I really mean to learn anything about Herman Crocker I'll have to
examine those letters," she reflected. "I don't know whether to do it
or not."

Penny opened the trunk and noticed that the layer of clothing had been
disturbed. She did not remember having left the garments so
carelessly. She refolded the clothes and then felt down in the bottom
of the trunk for the packet of letters. It did not seem to be there.

Not until Penny had removed all the clothing piece by piece could she
realize that the letters were gone. The only papers remaining in the
trunk were old receipts for bills paid. Many of them were stamped tax
statements.

"Someone has taken the letters," she told herself. "How foolish I was
not to examine them when I had a chance."

Penny could only speculate upon what had become of the missing packet.
She did not believe that Herman Crocker had taken the letters, for to
her knowledge he had not returned to the cottage since his first visit.
It was possible that the night prowler had opened the trunk, but a more
likely supposition seemed to be that Mrs. Masterbrook had decided to
get more "inside information."

"That woman is a natural born snoope