hat had just been confided to his care.

He really believed that Ray--or young Walton, as he believed his
patient's name to be, in spite of the fact that he had given it as
Palmer--was a monomaniac; for his words and manner fully corroborated
the statement which his visitor of the previous day had made to him. He
had not the slightest suspicion that he also was the dupe of a cunning
plot to secure diamonds that were worth a large sum of money.

But before leaving the city he gave the most careful directions to his
pupil, Doctor Huff, who had been studying with him for more than a year,
regarding the treatment of his patient, and then he was obliged to hurry
away, promising, however, that he would return just as soon as it would
do to leave his wife.

It took him two days of continuous travel to reach his destination, and
then he found Mrs. Wesselhoff so very ill that all his thought and care
were concentrated upon her.

The place to which he went was a remote Southern town, where Northern
newspapers seldom found their way; consequently he could not know
anything of the intense excitement that was prevailing in New York over
the mysterious disappearance of Raymond Palmer and the costly stones he
had taken with him.

To his pupil he had hastily explained all that he could regarding the
young man's case, and had told him that his name was Walton; so, of
course, Doctor Huff, on reading an account of the diamond robbery
and the strange disappearance of the merchant's son, never dreamed that
the patient left in his charge was the missing young man.

Mr. Palmer did not seem to be at all troubled over the non-appearance of
his son until the time arrived to close the store for the night; then he
began to feel some anxiety.

Still, he told himself, Ray might possibly have been detained longer than
he had anticipated, and finding it rather late to return to the store,
had gone immediately home, where there was also a safe in which the
diamonds could be deposited for the night.

With this hope to rest upon, he hastened to his residence, but was made
even more anxious upon being told by the housekeeper "that Mr. Raymond
had not come in yet."

He kept hoping he might come, so he ate his supper and then tried to
compose himself to read his papers; but his uneasiness only continued to
increase.

He endured the suspense until nine o'clock, and then went down town to
consult with the superintendent of police.

He confided t