On entering the Palmer House Robert was very much surprised to run across Dr. Remington.

At first glance he did not recognize the physician, for the latter\'s face was much bloated, showing that he had been drinking heavily, and his general appearance was seedy to the last degree.

"Why, hullo!" cried Dr. Remington, on seeing our hero. "When did you get back to Chicago?"

"I got back yesterday," replied Robert coldly. He was about to pass on when the doctor detained him.

"Got back yesterday, eh? Did you have a nice trip?"

"Yes."

"Glad to hear it, Frost. And how is Mrs. Vernon?"

"Very well."

"Good enough. I suppose an ocean trip was just what she wanted."

"It was," said Robert. He was struck with a sudden idea that perhaps Remington knew something of Frederic Vernon\'s whereabouts. "How have you been?"

"Oh, so so. You see, I\'ve been troubled a good deal lately with the grippe."

"A doctor ought to be able to cure himself of that."

"So one would think, but it\'s pretty hard for a doctor to cure himself, even though he can cure others."

"How is your old friend Frederic Vernon these days?" went on our hero, in an apparently careless tone.

At this question Remington\'s face fell and took on a sour look.

"Vernon played me a mean trick," he muttered.

"How so?"

"Why, I--er--I loaned him some money, and he went off without paying me back."

"And you haven\'t seen anything of him since?"

"No. Do you know where he is?"

"I do not."

"Didn\'t he follow you to Europe?"

"He did. But he wasn\'t there long before he cleared out," added Robert.

By the manner in which Remington spoke he felt that the doctor had told the truth about Frederic Vernon, and if this was so it was likely that Vernon had not returned to Chicago.

"I\'ll wager he worried his aunt a good bit while he was there," went on Remington, closing one eye suggestively.

"He did. But I must go on, because I do not wish to miss meeting a friend of mine."

Robert tried to proceed, but again the seedy doctor detained him.

"Hold on a bit, Frost. I--er--that is, how are you fixed?"

"What do you mean?"

"Can you lend me ten dollars for a few days? I\'m out trying to collect some bills from my patients, but all of them seem to be out of town."

This statement was a falsehood, for Remington had neither an office nor a practice left, and the few people that he did treat now and then had to pay him his small fee in spot cash.

"You will have to excuse me, Dr. Remington," said Robert. He saw no reason for accommodating the man who had caused his best friend so much trouble.

"Won\'t you lend me the money?" demanded the doctor half angrily.

"I will not."

"Don\'t get on a high-horse about it, Frost. Anybody is liable to get into a hole now and then."

"I am not getting on a high-horse. I don\'t care to lend you ten dollars, that\'s all."

"Then make it five. I\'ll pay you back to-morrow evening, sure."

"Dr. Remington, I shall not lend you five cents. I understand you, and I have no use for you. Now let me pass."

"You--you monkey!" hissed the irate doctor, and raised the cane he carried as if to strike Robert on the head. But the steady gaze out of our hero\'s eyes disconcerted him, and lowering the stick he passed on, and was soon swallowed up in the crowd on the street.

Robert found Dick Marden\'s room without trouble, and came upon the miner just as the latter was preparing to go away for the day.

"Robert, my boy!" cried Dick Marden, as he shook our hero\'s hand warmly. "I was just wondering if you were in Chicago or in England. You look well. How has it been with you?"

"All right, on the whole," answered the boy. "But I\'ve had some strange adventures since I parted with you."

"Tell me about them."

The tw............