mentioned."

"What are they?" asked Mrs. Tracy, her face expressing curiosity.

"I shall keep them to myself for the present."

Mrs. Tracy looked disappointed.

"If you mention them to me, I may think of something that would help
you."

"If I need help in that way, I will come to you."

"Meanwhile, shall you continue to employ the boy?"

"Yes; why not?"

"He might steal something more."

"I will risk it."

Mrs. Merton returned to her room, and presently Harold entered his
mother's presence.

"What is this I hear about Aunt Eliza having some money stolen?" he
asked.

"It is true. She has lost sixty-five dollars."

"Felicie told me something about it--that it was taken out of her
drawer."

Mrs. Tracy went into particulars, unconscious that her son was better
informed than herself.

"Does aunt suspect anyone?" asked Harold, uneasily.

"She doesn't, but I do."

"Who is it?"

"That boy, Luke Walton."

"The very one I thought of," said Harold, eagerly. "Did you mention
him to Aunt Eliza?"

"Yes; but she is so infatuated with him that she didn't take the
suggestion kindly. She has promised to investigate, however, and
meanwhile doesn't want us to interfere."

"Things are working round as I want them," thought Harold.

CHAPTER XXXI

WHO STOLE THE MONEY?

Did Mrs. Merton suspect anyone of the theft? This is the question
which will naturally suggest itself to the reader.

No thought of the real thief entered her mind. Though she was fully
sensible of Harold's faults, though she knew him to be selfish,
bad-tempered, and envious, she did not suppose him capable of theft.
The one who occurred to her as most likely to have robbed her was her
recently returned nephew, Warner Powell, who had been compelled to
leave Chicago years before on account of having yielded to a similar
temptation. She knew that he was hard up for money, and it was
possible that he had opened the table drawer and abstracted the
pocketbook. As to Luke Walton, she was not at all affected by the
insinuations of her niece. She knew that Mrs. Tracy and Harold had a
prejudice against Luke, and that this would make them ready to believe
anything against him.

She was curious, however, to hear what Warner had to say about the
robbery. Would he, too, try to throw suspicion upon Luke in order to
screen himself, if he were the real thief? This remained to be
proved.

Warner Powell did not return to the house till five o'clock i