here. We had a quarrel, and he said he was going away; but I didn't
believe it."

"Did he ask you to go away with him? Out of town anywhere?"

"Yes; he said he would go anywhere I said."

A flash of anger burnt out the look of fear that had been lurking in Mr.
Clarke's face.

"He's the last man I would have suspected! Of course I knew he had been
in a reformatory at one time, but--"

The band that had been tightening around Nance's heart seemed suddenly
to burst. She sprang to her feet and stood confronting him with
blazing eyes.

"What right have you got to think Dan did it? There were two of them in
this room. Why don't you send for Mr. Mac and ask him questions?"

"Well, for one reason he's in New York, and for another, my son doesn't
have to resort to such means to get what money he wants."

"Neither does Dan Lewis! He was a street kid; he was had up in court
three times before he was fourteen; he was a month at the reformatory;
and he's knocked elbows with more crooks than you ever heard of; but you
know as well as me that there ain't anybody living more honest than Dan!"

"All he's got to do is to prove it," said Mr. Clarke, grimly.