Mr. Belding related the story of the accident and the unfortunate mental
condition of the injured man. "They tell me all the money he had with him
was new money--fresh from the Treasury."

"He probably did not make it himself," chuckled the jolly banker. "Poor
chap! Don't the doctors think he will recover his memory?"

"That I cannot say," the jeweler said, rising. "Then you think I may
relieve Chet's mind?"

"Oh, yes. I will give you another hundred for this bill, if you want me to.
I will send this to Washington, where they probably already have a record
of it. Bills of this denomination are printed by twos, and the other has
probably turned up--as in the case of the Kansas bank-note."

Aside from the satisfaction this interview of his father's with Mr. Monroe
accorded Chet Belding, further interest on the part of all the young people
was aroused in the case of the injured stranger. Oddly enough, when Laura
and Jess went to the hospital to inquire about the man, they found Janet
Steele, the Red Cross girl, there on the same errand.

Since the Ice Carnival, that had proved such a money-making affair for the
Red Cross, the Central High girls had considered Janet almost one of
themselves. Although nobody seemed to know who or what the Steeles were,
and they certainly lived very oddly in the old house at the lower end of
Whiffle Street, Janet was so likable, and her invalid mother was evidently
so much of a gentlewoman, that Laura and her chum had vouched for Janet and
declared her to be "all right."

The matron of the hospital was the person whom the girls interviewed on