"Well, we have to be," responded Larry. "Can I go up now? Has the man who was here yesterday been back?"
"Yes to your first question, and no to the second. You can go up. The superintendent left word to that effect. He is quite friendly to you."
Larry started for the ward where Retto was. His heart was beating strangely. He felt that he was on the verge of solving the secret of the millionaire's disappearance and restoring to Grace her father.
As he approached the bed where Retto reclined he was motioned back by another nurse on duty there.
"He has just fallen asleep," she said. "When he awakens again you may speak to him. He has been writing a letter."
Larry was disappointed. He looked at the man who had played such an important part in the disappearance of the millionaire, and who, he believed, was destined to assume a much more important rôle. The patient's beard and moustache had grown since the accident, and the smooth-shaven man was no more. Instead, Larry saw before him a person who, as he recalled the
photographs of Mr. Potter, bore a remarkable resemblance to the millionaire.
Of course, Mr. Potter had only a moustache and no beard, but aside from that Larry was positive that, lying on the bed in front of him, was Grace's father.