“Don’t blame yourself, Uncle,” said Helen, with some bitterness. “I certainly did not learn to be kind to poor people from your example. And I am sure I have gained no harm from being with them once in a while—only good. To help them a little has helped me—I assure you!”
But Mr. Starkweather listened not at all to this. “Where did you find these low companions?” he demanded.
“I met Sadie the night I arrived here in the city. The taxicab driver carried me to Madison Street instead of Madison Avenue. Sadie was kind to me. As for old Mr. Lurcher, I saw him first in Mr. Grimes’s office.”
Uncle Starkweather suddenly lost his color and fell back in his chair. For a moment or two he seemed unable to speak at all. Then he stammered:
“In Fenwick Grimes’s office?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What—what was this—ahem!—this beggar doing there?”
“If he is a beggar, perhaps he was begging. At least, Mr. Grimes seemed very anxious to get rid of him, and gave him a dollar to go away.”
“And you followed him?” gasped Mr. Starkweather.
“No. I went to see Sadie, and it seems Mr. Lurcher lives right in that neighborhood. I found he needed spectacles and was half-blind and I——”