imousine.

"Where are you taking us?" Jacob enquired.

"To your brother's house in Riverside Drive."

"Wouldn't it be more convenient for us to go to an hotel?" Jacob
suggested. "With sickness in the house, it seems to me that it would
be better."

"Your brother would never forgive me if I allowed such a thing," Morse
protested earnestly. "The house is very large, and there are half a
dozen suites well out of hearing of Mr. Pratt's rooms. Besides, you
will be able to see him then at the earliest possible moment."

"Just as you say," Jacob assented.

Their first drive through New York--up Fifth Avenue and along
Riverside Drive--was far too interesting for conversation to flourish.
The brownstone house which finally turned out to be their destination,
and which had once belonged to a famous multimillionaire, surpassed
all their expectations. An English butler hurried forward at the sound
of Morse's latchkey. A fountain banked with flowers was playing in
the middle of a circular hall. The light was toned and softened by
exquisite stained-glass windows. Everywhere was an air of unbounded
luxury. The adjoining suites into which Jacob and his companion were
ushered surpassed anything they had seen in domestic architecture.
They had scarcely had time to look around before a coloured servant in
livery, with a white linen coat, presented Scotch whisky and soda, and
a silver pail of ice, on a magnificent salver.

"I am going to like this country," Lord Felixstowe declared with
conviction. "Say when, Jacob."

The secretary, who had left them for a few minutes, returned presently
with a dignified personage whom he introduced as the senior of the
physicians in attendance upon Mr. Samuel Pratt.

"Doctor Bardolf has attended your brother for many years," he
explained.

"I am very glad to meet you, sir," the physician said, as he shook
hands. "I am going to pull your brother through this trouble, all
right, but you must be patient."

"That's good hearing," Jacob declared heartily.

"He is now," the physician continued, "in a state of coma, following
upon brain fever. I'd like you not to be in any hurry to visit him for
a day or two. I want him to come to himself quite naturally and not to
be brought round by the shock of seeing any one unexpectedly."

"I am entirely in your hands," Jacob replied. "Now that I am on the
spot, I feel much more comfortable."

"So do I," Morse echoed, with a little sigh of relief.

"Your