Down he fell, the hushed attention of the big crowd being drawn to him. Just before reaching the life net, Joe straightened out and fell into the meshes feet first, bouncing out on a mat and from there bowing his thanks for the applause. Thus Joe brought his act to a close for that afternoon, and he was glad of it for he wanted to go out and see if Helen had returned. As soon as he had changed to his street clothes he sought her tent. The women of the circus dressed together, each one in a sort of canvas screened apartment, and in the Sampson Brothers' Show they also had a sort of ante-room to the dressing tent, where they could receive their friends. There was no one in this room when Joe entered, save some of the maids which the higher-salaried circus women kept to help them dress, "make up" and so on. "Is Miss Morton in?" asked Joe of a maid who knew him. "No, Mr. Strong. I don't believe she has returned yet. I'll go and look in her room, though." The maid came back shaking her head. "She isn't there," she told Joe. "I wonder where she can be," he mused. "Why didn't she leave some word? Are you sure there wasn't a letter or anything on her trunk?" he inquired of the maid. "Well, I didn't look. You may go in if you like. I guess it will be all right." None of the performers were in the dressing tent then, being out in the big one doing their acts. Joe knew his way to Helen's room, having been there many times, for there would often be little impromptu gatherings in it to talk over circus matters between the acts. He looked about for a letter, thinking she might have left one for him before going away. He saw nothing addressed to himself, but on the ground, where it had evidently dropped, was an open note. Joe could not help reading it at a glance. To his surprise it was signed by Sanford, the tricky law clerk. "I shall be glad to see you if you will call on me when you reach Lyledale," the letter read. "I am glad you think of buying more stock. I have some to sell. I will be at the Globe Hotel." "Whew!" whistled Joe. "It's just as I feared. She's been doing business with Sanford again--trying to make good her loss on the oil stock. He has an appointment with her here in Lyledale. That's where she's gone--to meet him. She must have sold some of her other securities to get money to buy more stock. I must stop this. I've got to follow her. Poor Helen!" Joe had found out what he wanted to know by accident. Helen, he reasoned, must have received the letter that day, or perhaps the day before, and had planned to meet Sanford on reaching Lyledale where the circus was then playing. In order to do this she had to be excused from the afternoon performance. "But I'll put a stop to that deal if I can," Joe declared. "I'll tell her how foolish and risky it is to invest any more money with Sanford. I only hope she'll believe me."