"That woman, poor little Inez's aunt, would have slapped my face, I guess," she admitted. "Isn't it mean of her to speak so of the child? And she had beaten her! I don't see how you had the courage to face her, Walter."
"I should give him my medal," chuckled Nan. "Where now, Walter?"
"To see that officer," declared the boy.
The trio were again on the square where Inez had told Nan she almost always sold her flowers. Walter came back in a few moments from his interview with the police officer.
"Nothing doing," he reported. "The man says he hasn't seen her for several days, and she was always here."
"I suppose he knows whom we mean?" worried Bess.
"Couldn't be any mistake about that," Walter said. "He is afraid she is sick."
"I'm not," Nan said promptly. "It is just as Mrs. Beasley says. If her aunt took Inez's basket and money away, she is out of business. She's lost her capital. I only hope she is not hungry, poor thing."
"Dear, dear!" joined in Bess. "If she only knew how to come to us! She must know we'd help her."
"She knows where we are staying," Nan said. "Don't you remember I showed her Walter's card?"