. He began to think there might at least be some
misunderstanding, and that it would be as well to let the young man
exhaust the subject once for all; then he could judge the better
regarding the treatment he needed.

"Well, then, to begin at the beginning," Ray resumed. "A woman, giving
her name as Mrs. William Vanderbeck, called at my father's store on the
day I came here, and asked to look at diamonds. You will remember, I told
you my father is a diamond dealer. They were shown to her, and she
selected several very expensive ornaments, which she said she wished to
wear at a reception that evening. But she represented that she could not
purchase them unless they were first submitted to her husband for
examination and his sanction. He was an invalid; he could not come to
the store, consequently the stones must be taken to him; was there not
some reliable person who could be sent to her residence with them, when,
if Mr. Vanderbeck was satisfied with the ornaments, a check for their
price would be filled out and returned to my father. This seemed fair and
reasonable, and I was commissioned to attend the lady and take charge of
the diamonds. I put the package in my pocket, and my hand never left it
until the _coupe_ stopped before this house, when Mrs. Vanderbeck
suddenly discovered that her dress had caught in the carriage door, and
she could not rise. Of course I offered assistance in disengaging it; but
in spite of our united efforts, the garment was torn during the
operation. I suppose she robbed me at that moment, but am not quite sure,
as I did not discover my loss until you--whom I supposed to be the lady's
husband--entered the room, and I slipped my hand into my pocket for the
diamonds, only to find that they were gone. You know the rest, and the
treatment I received from yourself. Is it any wonder that I believed you
an accomplice when I found myself in that padded chamber and losing all
sense and reason beneath the influence of a powerful mesmerist?"

Doctor Wesselhoff had listened gravely throughout the young man's
recital, and, though astonished and puzzled by what he heard, felt that
he was relating a very connected story.

He was upon the point of replying to his questions, when he chanced to
glance at his assistant, Doctor Huff, who had been in the room all the
time, and saw that he was startlingly pale, and laboring under extreme
agitation.

"Sir," cried the man, hoarsely, "can it be possible that he is