He had got Harrison Miller's narrative from him on the way from the
station, and it had only confirmed his suspicions.

"He had been in a stupor all day," Miller related, "and was being
cared for by a man named Bassett. I daresay that's the man Gregory had
referred to. He may have become suspicious of Bassett. I don't know. But
a chambermaid recognized him as he was making his escape, and raised an
alarm. He got a horse out of the courtyard of the hotel, and not a sign
of him has been found since."

"It wasn't Bassett who raised the alarm?"

"No, apparently not. The odd thing is that this Bassett disappeared,
too, the same night. I called up his paper yesterday, but he hasn't
shown up."

And with some small amplifications, that is all there was to it.

Before Harrison Miller and Doctor Reynolds left him to rest, David
called Lucy in, and put his plea to all of them.

"It is my hope," he said, "to carry on exactly as though Dick might walk
in to-morrow and take his place again. As I hold to my belief in God,
so I hold to my conviction that he will come back, and that before
I--before long. But our friends will be asking where he is and what he
is doing, and we would better agree on that beforehand. What we'd better
say is simply that Dick was called away on business connected with
some property in the West. They may not believe it, but they'll hardly
disprove it."