"And why did the shadow of suspicion not fall upon him as strongly as it did upon my father?" cried the girl, dropping, in her earnestness, her assumed uncouthness of speech. "Perhaps it did--perhaps it did," muttered Mr. Starkweather. "Yes, of course it did! They both ran away, you see----" "Didn't you advise dad to go away--until the matter could be cleared up?" demanded Helen. "Why--I--ahem!" "Both you and Mr. Grimes advised it," went on the girl, quite firmly. "And father did so because of the effect his arrest might have upon mother in her delicate health. Wasn't that the way it was?" "I--I presume that is so," agreed Mr. Starkweather. "And it was wrong," declared the girl, with all the confidence of youth. "Poor dad realized it before he died. It made all the firm's creditors believe that he was guilty. No matter what he did thereafter----" "Stop, girl!" exclaimed Mr. Starkweather. "Don't you know that if you stir up this old business the scandal will all come to light? Why--why, even _my_ name might be attached to it." "But poor dad suffered under the blight of it all for more than sixteen years." "Ahem! It is a fact. It was a great misfortune. Perhaps he _was_ advised wrongly," said Mr. Starkweather, with trembling lips. "But I want you to understand, Helen, that if he had not left the city he would undoubtedly have been in a cell when you were born." "I don't know that that would have killed me--especially, if by staying here, he might have come to trial and been freed of suspicion." "But he could not be freed of suspicion." "Why not? I don't see that the evidence was conclusive," declared the girl, hotly. "At least, _he_ knew of none such. And I want to know now every bit of evidence that could be brought against him." "Useless! Useless!" muttered her uncle, wiping his brow. "It is not useless. My father was accused of a crime of which he wasn't guilty. Why, his friends here--those who knew him in the old days--will think me the daughter of a criminal!" "But you are not likely to meet any of them----" "Why not?" demanded Helen, quickly. "Surely you do not expect to remain here in New York long enough for that?" said Uncle Starkweather, exasperated. "I tell you, I cannot permit it." "I must learn what I can about that old trouble before I go back--if I go back to Montana at all," declared his niece, doggedly. Mr. Starkweather was silent for a few moments. He had begun the discussion with the settled intention of telling Helen that she must return at once to the West. But he knew he had no real right of control over the girl, and to claim one would put him at the disadvantage, perhaps, of being made to support her. He saw she was a very determined creature, young as she was. If he antagonized her too much, she might, indeed, go out and get a position to support herself and remain a continual thorn in the side of the family.