y years
of age, her hair was white, and she had the look of one who had known
much care and sorrow."

He then proceeded to relate all that had occurred during the interview,
and Ray was astonished at the daring scheme which had been so
successfully planned and carried out.

When the physician concluded his account, Ray gravely and positively
declared:

"I do not know any person by the name of Walton. If this woman told
you that she was my mother, she uttered a falsehood, for I have no
mother--she died more than ten years ago, and her place has been
filled, as well as another could fill it, by a housekeeper. My home is
No. 119 ---- street; but, Doctor Wesselhoff, if you still doubt my
statements, and imagine that I am laboring under a peculiar mania, you
can easily ascertain the truth by bringing my father here to prove
my assertions. I beg that you will do so without delay, for he must be
suffering the most harrowing suspense on my account."

Doctor Wesselhoff looked very much disturbed, for the more he talked with
Ray, the more fully convinced he was that he had been unconsciously
lending his aid to further an atrocious crime.

But as he saw how pale and weary his patient was, he was recalled to a
sense of his duty as a physician.

He arose and kindly took the young man's hand.

"I am very much afraid," he said, "that we are both the victims of a
complicated plot; but let me assure you that so far as I am concerned,
the wrong to you shall be made right without a moment's delay. Now I want
you to go to sleep, and while you are resting I will seek an interview
with the man whom you claim as your father."

Ray's weak fingers closed over the hand he held in a friendly clasp at
this assurance, and he was at once inspired with implicit confidence in
the physician.

"Thank you," he said, a trustful smile wreathing his thin lips, "I will
be obedient and go to sleep, but I shall expect to find my father here
when I awake."

"If Amos Palmer is your father, you will surely find him by your bedside
after you have had your nap," Doctor Wesselhoff responded, and with
another hand-clasp he withdrew from the room.

In less than five minutes Ray was sleeping quietly and restfully.

Half an hour later the great brain specialist rang the bell of Amos
Palmer's handsome residence. The servant who answered it replied in the
affirmative when asked if the gentleman of the house was in, and ushered
the visitor into a richly fur