ll try to see her, too. It seems wrong to
try to do anything of that sort without letting her father know, but we
haven't any choice. He certainly wouldn't allow her to see me if he
knew that she was planning anything of that sort. I'll try that in the
morning."

But in the morning when Dick went to the hotel, he was told that Mr.
Burton and his daughter were gone, and that they had left no address.
No one at the hotel could give him any idea of where they might be
found, and they had left no orders, it was said, about the forwarding
of any letters that might come for them. Dick, resourceful as he was,
felt that he was facing a blind wall. There was nothing more for him
to do. He could only wait, and trust that chance, or the detective
abilities of Captain Haskin, would enable him to pick up the trail
again.

Jack Danby, needless to say, was bitterly disappointed when he heard
what Dick had to tell him the next evening, after his fruitless effort
to see the Burtons again. Jack had never wavered in his belief that
some time he would settle the mystery of his birth, that had worried
him ever since he had been able to understand that he was set apart
from others. To see a chance now and then just as he felt that he was
about to read the secret have that chance vanish, was doubly hard. It
was worse than if he had never had the hope of success.

But he tried hard not to let Dick Crawford see how badly the incident
made him feel. Dick had done what he had for the best, and he had
honestly thought that there was a chance for Jack's great ambition to
be realized. He felt as disappointed as did Jack himself.

"Gee, Jack," he said, "who'd ever guess that a sweet girl like that
would have such an old curmudgeon of a father? He's the limit! But
there's nothing we can do right away. I think Captain Haskin will be
able to find out where they came from, and where they've gone to
without any trouble--that's the sort of thing detectives are supposed
to be able to do."

"But if the old gentleman won't help us at all it's going to be pretty
hard to get anything done. I've seen crusty old fellows like that
before. When they've been deceived in a person it takes a long time
before they're willing to trust anyone else--and, of course, you can't
blame them so very much, at that.

"I'm not going to give up, Dick, anyhow. I'm surer than ever now that
the secret of who I am is worth a lot of trouble, and I'll find out
wh