IN POOR QUARTERS
In the meantime, the Hardy boys were finding the suspense almost
unbearable. They had expected that their father would be away but a day
at the most, but when two days dragged by, then three, and finally an
entire week, without word from Mr. Hardy further than a brief note from
New York stating that he was well and that the case was not as easy of
solution as he had hoped, they became depressed.
"If dad can't get the thief, no one can," declared Joe, with
conviction, "and I'm beginning to think that even dad is falling down
in this affair."
"Better wait till he admits it himself," suggested Frank. "Although I
don't mind telling you I'm not very hopeful myself."
Frank's preoccupied air had not gone unobserved. Callie Shaw had
noticed his abstraction. More than once, when she had smiled pleasantly
at him as they met one another in the hallways or in the classroom at
the high school, he had merely nodded moodily. Callie was too sensible
to be hurt by this, but she wondered what was worrying Frank. So one
afternoon, when they happened to leave school together, she taxed him
with it.
"What's on your mind, Frank?" she asked gaily. "You've been going
around looking like a human thundercloud for the last week."
"Who, me? I didn't notice," returned Frank heavily.
"Yes, you!" she replied, mimicking his lifeless tone. "You used to be
full of fun. What's the matter? Can't I help?" She glanced up at him
eagerly.
Frank shook his head.
"No, you can't help, Callie. It's about Slim."
"Slim Robinson! Oh, yes! Wasn't that too bad?" said Callie, with quick
sympathy. "He had to leave school. They tell me he's working."
"In a grocery."
"And he was so anxious to be a lawyer!"
"I was talking to him this morning. He pretends he likes the work he's
at, but I could tell he wishes he could get back to school again.
I'm real sorry for him. And all on account of that confounded Tower
robbery!"
"But nobody really believes Mr. Robinson did it!"
"Of course not. Nobody but Hurd Applegate. But until they find who
_did_ take the stuff, Mr. Robinson is out of a job and nobody will
hire him."
"Isn't that too bad? I'm going over to see Paula and Tessie and Mrs.
Robinson to-night. Where are they living?"
Frank gave Callie the address. Her eyes widened.
"Why that's in one of the poorest sections of the city! Frank, I had no
idea it was that bad!"
"It is--and it'll be a lot worse unless Mr. Robinson gets work pretty
soon. Slim's earnings aren't nearly enough to keep the family yet."
"Isn't there any chance that Mr. Robinson will be cleared?"
"That's what's worrying me. Dad is working on the case."
"Then why should you worry?" said Callie triumphantly. "Why, that means
it'll be all cleared up. Your father can do anything!"
"I used to think so, too. But he seems to be stuck, this time."
"What's the matter?"
"He went to New York almost a week ago with some clues that Joe and I
were certain would clear up the affair, and so far we haven't heard
from him, only to know that the case was harder than he expected."
"But he hasn't given up, has he?"
"Well--no--"
"Then what are you worrying about, silly? If your father had given
up the case there would be something to worry about. If he is still
working on it there's always hope."
They walked on in silence for a while.
"Let's go out to see the Robinsons," Callie said suddenly.
"I've been intending to go, but--I sort of--well--you know--"
"You thought it might embarrass them. Well, it won't. I know Paula and
Tessie well, and they're not that kind. They'd appreciate a friendly
visit."
Frank hesitated. He had the natural shyness of his age and he felt
awkward about visiting the Robinsons in their new home, for he knew
they were now in reduced circumstances and might not wish their former
friends to see them in their present plight. But Callie's words
reassured him.
"All right. I'll go. We can't stay long, though."
"We can't. I must be back in time for supper. We'll just drop in on
them so they'll know we haven't forgotten all about them."
"I thought you were going over to see them to-night?"
"I was, but I've changed my mind. I want you to come with me now."
Frank hailed a passing street car bound for the section of the city in
which the Robinsons lived and they got on board. It was a long ride and
the streets became poorer and meaner as they neared the outskirts of
Bayport.
"It's an outrage, that's what it is!" declared Callie abruptly. "Mrs.
Robinson and the girls were always accustomed to having everything so
nice! And now they have to live away out here! Oh, I hope your father
catches the man that committed that robbery!"
Her eyes flashed and for a moment she looked so fierce that Frank
laughed.
"I suppose you'd like to be the judge and jury at his trial, eh?" he
chuckled.
"I'd give him a hundred years in jail!"
When at length they came to the street to which the Robinsons had
moved they found that it was an even poorer thoroughfare than they
had expected. There were squalid shacks and tumbledown houses on
either side of the narrow street, and ragged children were playing
in the roadway. At the far end of the street they came to a small,
unpainted cottage that somehow contrived to look neat in spite of the
surroundings. The picket fence had been repaired and the yard had been
cleaned up.
"This is where they live," said Frank. "It's the neatest place on the
whole street."
Paula answered their knock. Her face lighted up with pleasure when she
saw who the callers were.
"Frank and Callie!" exclaimed the girl. "You've come to see us! Come
in. We're dying of loneliness. There hasn't been a soul out this way
since we moved."
Callie flashed Frank a look of triumph, and whispered:
"There, now! Didn't I tell you they'd be glad?" as they went into the
house.
They were greeted with kindly dignity by Mrs. Robinson and with
girlish good humor by Tessie. Mrs. Robinson received them with the
same self-possession she would have shown had they been back at Tower
Mansion, and Frank wondered at himself for thinking that these good
people might be ashamed to meet their old friends in this new and
humbler home.
"We can't stay long," explained Callie. "But Frank and I just thought
we'd run out to see how you all are."
"We're all well--that's one mercy to be thankful for," answered Mrs.
Robinson. "Perry is working. I suppose you knew that."
"And Mr. Robinson?" inquired Frank.
She shook her head.
"Not yet." Mrs. Robinson's lips quivered. "It's so hard for him," she
said. "Without a recommendation, you know. It looks as though he might
have to go to another city to get work."
"And leave you here?"
"I suppose so. We don't know what to do."
"It's so unjust!" flared Paula. "Papa didn't have a thing to do with
that miserable robbery, and yet he has to suffer for it just the same!"
"Has your father--discovered anything--yet, Frank?" asked Mrs. Robinson
hesitantly.
"I'm sorry," admitted Frank. "We haven't heard from him. He's been away
in New York following up some clues. But so far there's been nothing.
Of course, it isn't often he falls down on a case."
"We hardly dare hope that he'll be able to clear Mr. Robinson. The
whole case is so mysterious."
"I've given up thinking of it," Tessie declared. "If it is cleared up,
all well and good. If it isn't--we won't starve, at any rate, and papa
knows we all believe in him."
"Yes, I suppose it doesn't do much good to keep talking about it,"
agreed Mrs. Robinson. "We've gone over it all so thoroughly that there
is nothing more to say."
So, by tacit consent, the subject was changed, and for the rest of
their stay Frank and Callie chatted of doings at school. Mrs. Robinson
and the girls invited them to remain for supper, but Callie insisted
that she must go. When they left they promised faithfully to pay
another visit in the near future. Only once again was the subject that
was nearest their hearts brought up, and that was when Mrs. Robinson
drew Frank to one side as he was leaving.
"Promise me one thing," she said. "Let me know as soon as your father
returns--if he has any news."
"I'll do that, Mrs. Robinson," agreed the boy. "I know what this
suspense must be like for you."
"It's terrible. But as long as Fenton Hardy is working on the case I'm
sure that it will be cleared up if it is humanly possible."
And with that, the matter rested. Callie was unusually silent all the
way home. It was evident that she had been profoundly affected by the
change that the Tower Mansion mystery had caused in the lives of the
Robinsons. Naturally sympathetic and tender-hearted, she felt keenly
the injustice of it all, and she realized even more than Frank what it
had meant to Mrs. Robinson and the girls to move from their comfortable
home in the Mansion to the squalid and distant part of the city in
which they now lived.
Callie lived but a few blocks away from the Hardy home, and Frank
accompanied her to the gate.
"Mercy!" she exclaimed, glancing at her watch, "it's after six. I'm
away late for supper."
"So am I. See you to-morrow."
"Surely. But, Frank--"
"Yes?"
Callie hesitated, then looked directly into his eyes. "Frank," she
said, "if your father, somehow, doesn't clear up this affair, you and
Joe simply _must_ do it! You _must_! For the Robinsons. It
means so much to them."
"Dad won't fall down on it. Don't worry. And Joe and I are giving all
the help we can."
His confidence was contagious. Callie brightened up immediately.
"In that case," she said, gaily, "the mystery is as good as solved. The
three best detectives in the world are working on it. Good-bye, Frank."
With that she ran lightly into the house.