The car stopped at Doctor O’Neill’s, and he got out. He rang the bell, and was shown into the consulting-room, where the doctor was busy, seated before a large roll-top desk. He glanced up as the door opened. “That you, Palmer? I’ll have finished directly.” He scribbled something in a book, while Palmer looked slowly round him. Presently the doctor closed the book with a snap and threw it into a drawer. He pushed back his chair a little, and smiled at his visitor. “So you managed to get away? No further news, I suppose?” Palmer shook his head, and the doctor opened another drawer, from which he took a revolver――not the old one Palmer had been obliged to relinquish, but a new one, smaller and lighter. The boy examined it admiringly before dropping it into his coat pocket. “That is a present from me,” said the doctor, “though I couldn’t get you a licence for it, because they won’t issue licences to anyone under eighteen. You must keep it a secret,――I mean, until you go back to your own home. Miss Annesley would only be nervous if she knew you had it.” Palmer took out the revolver and examined it anew. “Thanks, awfully,” he murmured, his face beaming with pleasure. “As an expression of confidence I think it really _does_ go pretty far,” the doctor admitted. “In fact, from this on, I’ll probably suffer agonies of remorse. My only stipulation is that you tell your father about it.” “I promise to tell him,” said Palmer. “That’s all right then. And now I suppose we may as well go and call upon our friend.” Palmer looked up in surprise. “It’s too soon,” he exclaimed. “We must wait till it gets dark; otherwise, we won’t be able to tell whether he is in or out.” “Can’t we ask?” “Of course; but that won’t be much good if he happens to be there. You see, we must call when he’s _not_ in.” The doctor looked doubtful. “You still keep to that plan?” Palmer was silent, sitting with lowered eyes. “I fancy perhaps I’d better do it alone,” he said at last. “You think I’m trying to back out of it?” the doctor laughed. Palmer had once more taken the revolver from his pocket, and this time he laid it quietly down on the desk. At the same moment he got up and looked round for his cap. The doctor placed his hands on his shoulders, and pushed him back into his chair. He felt slightly annoyed, but he also felt――perhaps unnecessarily――that he was in the wrong, and apologized. “Come, you mustn’t mind what I said. I undertook this job and I’ll go through with it.” As a matter of fact, he regretted his undertaking, but he was at the same time young enough to be amused by it, and his curiosity was keen.