"He'll have to be mighty slippery from now on. Once dad has a few clues to work on he never lets up till he gets his man." "Well, let's hope he gets this one. He'll think a lot more of us as detectives if he does." And with that, the boys fell asleep. When they went down to breakfast the following morning they found that Fenton Hardy had left for New York on an early morning train. The Hardy boys went to school, but all through that morning they could scarcely keep their minds on their work. Their thoughts were far afield. They were wondering how Fenton Hardy was faring on his quest in New York and it was not until after Frank had drawn a reprimand from one of his teachers because he absent-mindedly answered, "Red wig," when asked to name the capital of Kansas that they settled down to work and tried to put the affair of the wig and the abandoned clothes from their minds. Slim Robinson was at school that day, but after four o'clock he confided to the Hardy boys that he was leaving. "It's no use," he said. "Father can't keep me in school any longer and it's up to me to pitch in and help the family. I'm to start work to-morrow for a grocery company." "And you wanted to go to college!" exclaimed Frank. "It's a shame, that's what it is!" "Can't be helped," replied Perry, with a grimace. "I can consider myself lucky I got this far. I guess I'll have to give up all those ideas now and settle down to learn the grocery business. There's one good thing about it--I'll have a chance to learn it from the ground up. I'm starting in the delivery department. Perhaps in about fifty years I'll be head of the firm." "You'll make good at whatever you tackle," Joe assured him. "But I'm sorry you won't be able to go through college as you wished. Don't give up hope yet, Slim. You never know what may happen. Perhaps they'll find the fellow who _did_ rob Tower Mansion." Both boys wanted to tell their chum about the clues they had discovered the previous day, but the same thought was in their minds--that it would be unwise to raise false hopes. It would go much harder with Perry, they knew, if he began to think the capture of the thief was imminent, only to have the hope dashed to earth again. So they said good-bye to him and wished him good luck. Perry tried hard to be cheerful, but his smile was very faint as he turned away from them and walked off down the street. "Gosh, but I'm sorry for him," said Frank as they went home. "He was such a hard worker in school and he counted so much on going to college." "We've just _got_ to clear up the Tower robbery, that's all there is to it!" declared his brother. "Perhaps dad is back by now. There's a train from New York at three o'clock. Let's hurry home and see." But when the Hardy boys arrived home they found that their father had not yet returned from the city. "We'll just have to be patient, I guess," said Frank. "No news is good news."