very thoughtful.

"I think you must be mistaken, Bessie," she said. "There's no reason why
he shouldn't tell us if he'd ever been there, and he certainly couldn't
have forgotten it if he's been there as often as you say. Can't you see
that! What object could he have in trying to deceive us?"

"I don't know. I can't guess that unless--well, I can tell you who it
was he saw when he was there--every time. It was Farmer Weeks. And I
think he was there the day before they took Zara's father away. I'm not
sure, but I think so."

"If you could be certain," said Eleanor, doubtfully, "that would make it
different, Bessie. We'll tell Mr. Jamieson, and see what he thinks. But
I'm sure you must be mistaken."

CHAPTER VI

A SUDDEN TURN

Jamieson was in his office when they entered.

"Well, I wondered where you two were!" he exclaimed, by way of greeting.
"I tried to get you on the telephone a couple of times, but I supposed
you were probably on your way here."

"We telephoned before we left the house, but we understood that you
would be busy," said Eleanor. "So we started to walk into town, and Mr.
Holmes saw us, and took us for a ride in his car. I hope it hasn't made
any difference--that you didn't want us? Have you found out anything,
Charlie?"

"No, it didn't make any difference," said the lawyer, gloomily. "As for
finding out things, well, I have, and I haven't! There's no trace of
Zara, but there's other news."

"What is it?"

"Well, it's mighty queer, I'll say that for it. When I went to see
Zara's father this morning, he refused to see me--sent out word that he
didn't want me to act as his lawyer any more. He's got another lawyer,
and who do you suppose it is?"

The two girls stared at him, surprised and puzzled.

"Brack!" exclaimed Jamieson. "What do you know about that for a mess,
eh? If half of what I believe is right, Brack's his worst enemy. He's
hand in glove with the people who are responsible for all his trouble,
and yet here he goes and gets the scoundrel to act as his lawyer!"

"Oh, what a shame!" said Eleanor, indignantly. "And he wouldn't even see
you to explain?"

"Absolutely not! I tried to get them to let me in, and I sent him an
urgent message, telling him it was of the utmost importance for us to
have a talk, but I couldn't budge him."

Eleanor was flushed with resentment.

"Well, that settles it!" she said, indignantly. "If people don't want to
be helped, one can't help them.