"Possibly," said Dud, eyeing the girl sharply. "Have you told me all your uncle has said to you about the affair?" "I think so, Dud. Why?" "Well, nothing much. Only, in hunting through the files of the newspapers for articles about the troubles of Grimes & Morrell I came across the statement that Mr. Starkweather was in financial difficulties about the same time. _He_ settled with his creditors for forty cents on the dollar. This was before your uncle came into _his_ uncle'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.