“Why, we met that boy once,” said Pepper. “But he wasn’t looking for the Robertson mill then. He was looking for——” And then Pepper stopped short, for he remembered what the strange lad had said—that he wished to find Jabez Trask without that individual being aware he was being sought out.
“What was he looking for?” asked Laura.
“Oh, it doesn’t matter.”
“He did ask us about something else,” said Flossie. “Oh, yes, I remember now. He wanted to know where a man named Trask lived—Jabez Trask.”
“Well, he asked us, too,” said Pepper. “Did you tell him? We never heard of such a person.”
“Yes, we told him. Trask lives between here and Lake Caboy, on the Ritchfield road. We know because papa once had some business dealings with him. He is an old man, and papa says he is a regular miser.”
“Was the boy a relative?”
“I don’t know. But he was certainly a strange fellow. He asked us a great number of questions and seemed to be grateful for the information we gave him. But this morning papa took me across the lake in his boat and when I was in the town over there I met him again, face to face, and he didn’t even recognize me.”
“That is queer,” said Jack thoughtfully. “Maybe he was afraid you’d say something in public he didn’t want you to. He told us he didn’t want this Jabez Trask to know he was asking for him.”
“I told papa about it, and he told me something that makes the matter queerer than ever. He says that the Trask family once had something to do with the old Robertson mill.”