"Don't think of it, my dear!" begged Grace. "Any of us might have forgotten the lunch, just as you did." As they walked past the place which the tramp had selected for his dining room, Betty saw some papers on the ground. They appeared to be letters, and, rather idly, she picked them up. She looked into one or two of the torn envelopes. "I wouldn't do that," said Grace. "Maybe those are private letters. He must have forgotten them. I wonder where he has gone? Perhaps we can catch him--he might need these papers. But I wouldn't read them, Betty." "They're nothing but advertising circulars," retorted the Little Captain. "Nothing very private about them. I guess he threw them all away." She was about to let them fall from her hand, when a bit of paper fluttered from one envelope. Picking it up Betty was astonished to read on the torn portion the words: "_I cannot carry out that deal I arranged with you, because I have had the misfortune to lose five hundred dollars and I shall have to_--" There the paper, evidently part of a letter to someone, was torn off. There were no other words. "Girls!" cried Betty, "look--see! This letter! That man may be the one whose money we found! He has written about it--as nearly as I can recall, the writing is like that in the note pinned to the five hundred dollars. Oh, we must find that tramp!" "He wasn't a tramp!" exclaimed Grace. "No, I don't believe he was, either," admitted Betty. "That's what he meant when he spoke of his disguise, and looking for something. He's hunting for his five hundred dollars. Oh, dear! which way did he go?" "Toward Middleville," returned Amy. "Then we must hurry up and catch him. We can explain that we have his money." "But are you sure it is his?" asked Mollie. "This looks like it," said Betty, holding out the torn letter. "But some one else might have lost five hundred dollars," protested Grace. "Come on, we'll find him, and ask him about it, anyhow," suggested Betty. "Middleville is on our way. Oh, to think how things may turn out! Hurry, girls!" They hastily gathered up their belongings and walked on, talking of their latest adventure. "He was real nice looking," said Mollie. "And quite polite," added Amy. "And do you think he may be traveling around like a tramp, searching for that bill?" asked Grace. "It's possible," declared Betty: "Perhaps he couldn't help looking like a tramp, because if he has lost all his money he can't afford any other clothes. Oh, I do hope we find him!" But it was a vain hope. They did not see the man along the road, and inquiries of several persons they met gave no trace. Nor had he reached Middleville, as far as could be learned. If he had, no one had noticed him.