r's wake and landed him at the same hour in New York.

This is what he did. Instead of shutting himself up in his room he
expressed an immediate desire to visit some neighboring mines, and,
procuring a good horse, started off at the first available moment. He
rode north, lost himself in the mountains, and wandered till he found a
guide intelligent enough to lend himself to his plans. To this guide he
confided his horse for the few days he intended to be gone, paying
him well and promising him additional money if, during his absence, he
succeeded in circulating the report that he, Abner Fairbrother, had gone
deep into the mountains, bound for such and such a camp.

Having thus provided an alibi, not only for himself, but for his master,
too, in case he should need it, he took the direct road to the nearest
railway station, and started on his long ride east. He did not expect to
overtake the man he had been personating, but fortune was kinder than is
usual in such cases, and, owing to a delay caused by some accident to
a freight train, he arrived in Chicago within a couple of hours of Mr.
Fairbrother, and started out of that city on the same train. But not on
the same car. Sears had caught a glimpse of Fairbrother on the platform,
and was careful to keep out of his sight. This was easy enough. He
bought a compartment in the sleeper and stayed in it till they arrived
at the Grand Central Station. Then he hastened out and, fortune favoring
him with another glimpse of the man in whose movements he was so
interested, followed him into the streets.

Fairbrother had shaved off his beard before leaving El Moro. Sears had
shaved his off on the train. Both were changed, the former the more,
owing to a peculiarity of his mouth which up till now he had always
thought best to cover. Sears, therefore, walked behind him without fear,
and was almost at his heels when this owner of one of New York's most
notable mansions, entered, with a spruce air, the doors of a prominent
caterer.

Understanding the plot now, and having everything to fear for his
mistress, he walked the streets for some hours in a state of great
indecision. Then he went up to her apartment. But he had no sooner come
within sight of it than a sense of disloyalty struck him and he slunk
away, only to come sidling back when it was too late and she had started
for the ball.

Trembling with apprehension, but still strangely divided in his
impulses, wishing to serve mas