“No, I don’t even know his name,” said Mr. Brown. “Why do you ask?”
“Because he was just now hurt—run down by an automobile,” said Mr. Merton. “I saw it happen. The police came and took the old man away in the ambulance. No one seemed to know who he was, and I remembered that he had come out of your house. So I told the police maybe you knew him, and if you did I’d find out about it.”
“No, I don’t know him,” said Mr. Brown. “I’m sorry he was hurt. He’s as much a stranger to me as you are, Mr. Merton. He came here to inquire about a Jim Denton who used to be in the circus business; but I know no such man.”
“Neither do I,” said Mr. Merton. “Well, I won’t trouble you any further. I don’t suppose much can be done for the old man. He doesn’t seem to have any friends.”
“What hospital did they take him to?” asked Mr. Brown, for there were two not far from Bellemere. “I might go to see him, poor chap!”
Mr. Merton told what hospital it was and then left, for there was nothing more he could do, though he said he would inquire around and see if he could locate “Jim Denton,” or any one else who knew the old man.
“Poor fellow,” said Mrs. Brown, when her husband came back into the dining room, where Bunny and Sue were patting their new trick dog. “I wish we could do something for him.”
“I could give him some money from my bank,” offered Bunny.
“So could I!” chimed in Sue.
“I guess he doesn’t need money—not as long as he is in the hospital, anyhow,” remarked their father. “I wonder who this Jim Denton, a circus man, can be. And I wonder why the old man wants to find him.”