His mother, with whom Larry lived, was often worried about him, but Larry had to support her, as well as his sisters, Mary and Lucy, and his little brother James, so he did not give up because his work was hard.
Deserved success came to Larry, and he made considerable money, for he discovered deeds to some land that his mother had a right to, but which was being kept from her, and he managed to get possession of the real estate.
Larry came into real prominence in the newspaper world when he made his successful search for Mr. Hampton Potter, the millionaire, as related in the book called “Larry Dexter’s Great Search.”
In that volume are given the details of why Mr. Potter disappeared, and how the young reporter found him, after a long hunt, in which he ran many dangers. During the time he worked on this case Larry and Miss Grace Potter, the millionaire’s daughter, became good friends.
When the Consolidated National Bank was robbed of a million dollars one day, all Wall Street was astounded. An endeavor was made to keep the robbery secret for a time, but Larry, with the help of Mr. Potter, got the story and secured a “scoop,” or “beat.”
Then he began to solve the bank mystery, for it was a mystery as to where the million had gone. In the volume entitled “Larry Dexter and the Bank Mystery,” I give the details of how our hero solved the mystery, got back the million, and secured the arrest of the thief. He did not do this easily, however, and for a long time he was on the wrong “trail.”
The solving of this mystery added further to Larry’s fame, and he was more than ever the “star,” or chief reporter, on the Leader, where he had first obtained his start in journalism, and where he preferred to remain, though other papers made him handsome offers.
And now Larry was covering an ordinary concert to oblige a fellow scribe.
“But, unless I’m greatly mistaken,” mused Larry, as the orchestra played on, “this is going to be something more than an ordinary concert. Of course all the other papers will have the story about Madame Androletti fainting in the middle of her song, but I don’t believe they’ll find out why she did.
“I believe it was because she saw that man, though why the sight of him should affect her so is a mystery. That’s where I’ve got to begin; at that man with the foreign decoration. I don’t believe many people noticed him staring at her under the curtain. They were all too intent on the singer herself.”