“Mr. Mason has placed a very shrewd detective on the track,” said an officer to our hero. “He will probably learn something sooner or later.”
Before leaving Philadelphia Frank called at the house where the missing man had boarded. He was met at the door by a sharp-faced woman with a high-pitched voice.
“Yes, I guess he has run away and for good,” she said, tartly. “They say he stole fifty thousand dollars. He owed me for two weeks’ board, and seventy-five cents that I paid only two days ago for his laundry. He was a villain if ever there was one.”
“Didn’t he leave anything behind?”
“Yes, a lot of old clothing and worn-out shoes worth about fifty cents to the junkman. Oh, I wish I could catch hold of him! I’d tear his eyes out!”
“I wish I could get hold of him, too,” returned Frank, and there being nothing more to say he withdrew.
CHAPTER V
FRANK AT THE STORE
When Frank returned home and told of what had occurred in Philadelphia, there was consternation in the Hardy family. Mr. Hardy shook his head over and over again, and Mrs. Hardy shed bitter tears.
“I was a fool to trust Garrison,” said the disabled husband. “Now, here he is running away while I cannot even make a search for him.”