"Girls!" exclaimed Belle. "That is very low. If we have made a mistake regarding Cousin Helen, of course it can be adjusted. But we need not be vulgar enough to say _why_ we change toward her." Mr. Starkweather thumped upon the table with the handle of his knife. "Girls!" he commanded. "I will have this explained. What do you mean?" Out it came then--in a torrent. Three girls can do a great deal of talking in a few minutes--especially if they all talk at once. But Mr. Starkweather got the gist of it. He understood what it all meant, and he realized what it meant to _him_, as well, better than his daughters could. Prince Morrell, whom he had always considered a bit of a fool, and therefore had not even inquired about after he left for the West, had died a rich man. He had left this only daughter, who was an heiress to great wealth. And he, Willets Starkweather, had allowed the chance of a lifetime to slip through his fingers! If he had only made inquiries about the girl and her circumstances! He might have done that when he learned that Mr. Morrell was dead. When Helen had told him her father wished her to be in the care of her mother's relatives, Mr. Starkweather could have then taken warning and learned the girl's true circumstances. He had not even accepted her confidences. Why, he might have been made the guardian of the girl, and handled all her fortune! These thoughts and a thousand others raced through the scheming brain of the man. Could he correct his fault at this late date? If he had only known of this that his daughters had learned from Jess Stone, before he had taken Helen to task as he had that very evening! Fenwick Grimes had telephoned to him at his office. Something Mr. Grimes had said--and he had not seen Mr. Grimes nor talked personally with him for years--had put Mr. Starkweather into a great fright. He had decided that the only safe place for Helen Morrell was back in the West--he supposed with the poor and ignorant people on the ranch where her father had worked. Where Prince Morrell had _worked_! Why, if Morrell had owned Sunset Ranch, Helen was one of the wealthiest heiresses in the whole Western country. Mr. Starkweather had asked a few questions about Sunset Ranch of men who knew. But, as the owner had never given himself any publicity, the name of Morrell was never connected with it. While the three girls chattered over the details of the story Mr. Starkweather merely played with his food, and sat staring into a corner of the room. He was trying to scheme his way out of the difficulty--the dangerous difficulty, indeed--in which he found himself. So, his first move was characteristic. He sent the tray upstairs to Helen. But none of the family saw Helen again that night. However, there was another caller. This was May Van Ramsden. She did not ask for Helen, however, but for Mr. Starkweather himself, and that gentleman came graciously into the room where May was sitting with the three much excited sisters.