o him what had occurred, and his fears regarding the safety
of his son, and he was by no means reassured when that official at once
exclaimed that "the whole thing was a put-up job."

"Keep quiet," he advised, "for a day or two, and we will see what we can
do."

He set his detectives at work upon the case immediately, while the
anxious father endeavored to endure his suffering in silence. But the
"day or two" brought no revelations, and his agony could no longer be
controlled; he believed that his son had been murdered for the sake of
the diamonds, and thus the matter became public.

The newspapers were full of the affair, and caused great excitement. The
city offered a large reward for any intelligence regarding the missing
young man or the diamonds, and this was doubled by Mr. Palmer himself.

But days and weeks passed, and no clew was obtained regarding either the
stolen jewels or Ray's mysterious fate; therefore the belief that he had
been foully dealt with prevailed very generally.

Mr. Palmer had placed in the hands of a private detective a detailed
account in writing of the woman's visit to the store, and also a minute
description of herself, and the moment he had finished reading it the
man's face lighted up with eager interest, even enthusiasm.

"Great Scott!" exclaimed the detective, with a resounding slap upon his
knee, "I'll wager my badge that it's a sequel to that Bently affair, when
a young broker of Chicago was wretchedly fooled with some diamonds about
three years ago!--that woman also had short, curly red hair."

He related the story to Mr. Palmer, and informed him that he had been
engaged upon the case, off and on, for a long time; but since he had come
to New York to reside he had about given it up as hopeless.

"This may put me on the trail again, however," finally remarked Mr.
Rider, who was the detective that Justin Cutler had employed.

Of course, the house which Mrs. Vanderbeck had given as her place of
residence was visited, but as in the Bently affair, it proved to be
empty, and Mrs. Vanderbeck seemed to have vanished as completely as
if she had been a visitant from some other sphere.

All this had occurred while Mona was so absorbed in her grief for her
uncle; when she had had no interest in anything outside her home, and so
not having read any of the newspapers, she was entirely ignorant of the
excitement that had prevailed over the robbery, and Ray's disappearance.
Thus she believ