w it open a man at the farther side of the room arose
and came toward him with a quick, firm stride and a confident manner.
He saw at once that it was not Felix Brand.

"Good evening, Dr. Annister," said the stranger. "I know you were
expecting to see Mr. Brand, but I have come in his place. I am Hugh
Gordon."

"I am glad to see you, Mr. Gordon," the doctor replied, his interest
at once at high pitch. "You can tell me the other side of the case. I
met you once before, I believe. Will you come in?"

The physician cast a keen glance at his visitor and said to himself,
astonished, that he would never have believed this physical envelope
to be the same that housed the man with whom he had talked a few hours
before. Feature and coloring were there, it was true, but a different
soul animated the body and lighted the countenance and made of the
whole another man. The tell-tale signs of evil living had vanished
from the face, and so also had its expression of ultra refinement
and sensitiveness, while in the eyes no longer shone that winning,
caressing look which had been a magnet for the hearts of women. This
man held his head high, his eyes were keen, penetrating, virile,
and in his countenance the doctor read sincerity, forcefulness,
determination. "'As he thinketh in his heart, so is he'," Dr. Annister
mused as he leaned forward to listen to what the young man was saying.

"I have come to tell you the truth about this matter, so that you can
see for yourself that Felix Brand is not worth saving. You promised
him this morning that you would help him. But when you hear what I can
tell you I have no doubt you will feel, as I do, that he deserves the
fate he has brought upon himself and that the world will be better to
be rid of him."

"One moment," said the doctor. "Were you aware of all that passed
between us this morning? Do you know all that happens to him?"

"Everything he thinks and says and does I know, and I have always
known. That is one of the reasons why I have determined that he must
go. I will no longer be a witness within his body of his evil deeds. I
am never unconscious, as he is always when he goes under. And that
is why, also, I am able to tell you the simple truth. It is not so
strange a story as you may think. I wonder sometimes why something of
the sort has not happened to many a man.

"It began with that incident about his sister of which he told you.
But it wasn't an accident. He wanted her seat on