"Are you sure the lame boy took the pocketbook and the money?" asked the Curlytops' father of his clerk.
"Pretty sure; yes, sir. The pocketbook—it was a sort of wallet I had some papers in besides money—was left on this bench right near where he was sitting while he was waiting for you. I went away and when I came back he was gone and so was the pocketbook. He must have taken it."
"Was there much money in it?"
"Only about fifteen dollars."
"That's too bad. I wonder what the boy wanted. Didn't he say?"
"Not to me, though to one of the other clerks who spoke to him as he sat near the bench he said he was in need of help."
"Then it couldn't have been Hal Chester," said Mr. Martin, "for his father is able to provide for him. Besides, Hal wouldn't go away without waiting to see Ted and Jan, for they had such good times together at Cherry Farm and on Star Island.
"Hal Chester," went on Mr. Martin to the clerk, who had never been to Cherry Farm, "was a lame boy who was almost cured at the Home for Crippled Children not far from my father's house. He left there to go to his own home about the time we broke up our camp. I don't see why he would come here to see me."
"Maybe his father lost all his money and Hal wanted to see if you'd give him more," suggested Jan.
"Or maybe he wanted to get work in your store," added Ted.