hat I could not evade, and came back as soon as I could. I fear the
Ferns thought it rather rough of me to stay away from the wedding, but I
could not very well help it. You were there, of course. Everything went
off well, I trust."

The speaker had the air of a man who tries to appear at ease when he is
not. His voice trembled slightly and his hands roamed from one portion
of his apparel to another.

"Then you have heard nothing!" repeated Gouger, gravely. "Prepare
yourself for a shock. There was no wedding last night at the Ferns'.
Miss Daisy disappeared yesterday morning, and has not been seen since."

If Mr. Weil had been pale before, his face was like a dead man's now.
With many expressions of incredulity he listened to the explanations
that followed. He declared that the occurrence was past belief, and that
he could see no way to account for it. Clearly something had happened
that the girl could not prevent. She would never have absented herself
of her own accord. She loved the man who was to be her husband, and if
she had wished to postpone her marriage she could have easily arranged
it.

"I can think of nothing but a fit of temporary insanity," he added, with
a sigh. "And Shirley--poor fellow--how does he take it? Completely
broken up, I suppose?"

When he heard the attitude that Mr. Roseleaf had assumed, Mr. Weil
seemed stupefied. Little by little Mr. Gouger revealed to him the
answers that the young man had made to Mr. Fern, finally referring to
the charge that he (Mr. Weil) had eloped with the bride. Archie's face
grew more and more rigid as he listened, but the anger that the relator
had anticipated did not show there.

"He is crazy," was the mild reply. "I will go and see him, at once, and
enlist his assistance in the thorough search that must be undertaken.
Come, Lawrence, leave your work for an hour and go with me."

Remembering his promise to return in the morning with the latest
tidings, Mr. Gouger put on his hat and coat and entered the cab which
his friend summoned. He felt that he was about to witness another
chapter that would make most dramatic reading in that great novel!

"You had best let me go in first," he whispered, when they stood at
Roseleaf's door. "He is in an excitable frame of mind, I fear."

For answer, Archie brushed the speaker aside and preceded him into the
chamber, without the formality of a knock. Roseleaf lay before them in
his easy chair, bearing evidence in his attir