ous employer was sick, perhaps dangerously.

"Thank you; I shall feel relieved. Of course you can communicate with
his friends and arrange to have him carried home."

"Yes, sir; I live at his house."

"That is well."

They had turned down Bleecker Street, when it occurred to Phil to say:

"I don't understand how Mr. Carter should be in this neighborhood."

"That is something I can't explain, as I know nothing about his
affairs," said the stranger pleasantly. "Perhaps he may have property on
the street."

"I don't think so. I attend to much of his business, and he would have
sent me if there had been anything of that kind to attend to."

"I dare say you are right," said his companion.

"Of course I know nothing about it. I only formed a conjecture."

"Has a physician been sent for?" asked Phil.

"Do you know of any we can call in?"

"My wife agreed to send for one on Sixth Avenue," said the stranger. "I
didn't wait for him to come, but set out for the store."

Nothing could be more ready or plausible than the answers of his new
acquaintance, and Phil was by no means of a suspicious temperament. Had
he lived longer in the city it might have occurred to him that there
was something rather unusual in the circumstances, but he knew that Mr.
Carter had spoken of leaving the house at the breakfast-table, indeed
had left it before he himself had set out for the store. For the time
being the thought of the sum of money which he carried with him had
escaped his memory, but it was destined very soon to be recalled to his
mind.

They had nearly reached Sixth Avenue, when his guide stopped in front of
a shabby brick house.

"This is where I live," he said. "We will go in."

He produced a key, opened the door, and Phil accompanied him up a shabby
staircase to the third floor. He opened the door of a rear room, and
made a sign to Phil to enter.

CHAPTER XXXII.

PHIL IS ROBBED.

When he was fairly in the room Phil looked about him expecting to
see Mr. Carter, but the room appeared unoccupied. He turned to his
companion, a look of surprise on his face, but he was destined to be
still more surprised, and that not in a pleasant way. His guide had
locked the door from the inside and put the key in his pocket.

"What does that mean?" asked Phil, with sudden apprehension.

"What do you refer to?" asked his guide with an unpleasant smile.

"Why do you lock the door?"

"I thought it might be safest," was the si