Rex glanced up at the clock.  They would not be able to catch the express now.  How good Scott was to stay with him.  He would pay him back for it all when they came into their fortune.

But he seemed to be a long while gone.  Rex left his position by Sydney and went to the window.  By leaning very far out he could just see over the heavy stone still to the street below.  But it was quite impossible to recognize any one at that distance.

He wriggled back till his feet touched the floor again, and then returned to take up his watch by Sydney once more.  He wished that Roy was with him.  Though they were twins he felt that his brother possessed twice the self reliance in emergencies that he did.

“I wonder if I ought to telegraph to mother,” was his next thought.

Then he heard the door of the elevator slide back, and the next instant Scott Bowman appeared, accompanied by a short man with side whiskers and spectacles.

CHAPTER IX

 The mystery about Sydney

The boys stood by in anxious suspense while the doctor made his examination.

“It is utter collapse from severe mental strain,” he said after a minute.  “He will come around presently.”

He wrote out a prescription and gave it to Scott to take out for him and then turned to Rex.

“You are Mr. Pell’s brother, I believe?” he said.

“Yes,” answered Rex, for the fact that there was no blood relation between them was one that very seldom recurred to the boys’ minds.

“Then perhaps you will be able to assign some cause for this seizure.  Was Mr. Pell excited by anything in particular when it took him?”

Rex hesitated.  Remembering how Sydney had been affected by learning that he had revealed the facts about Mr. Tyler’s will to Scott, he felt that he ought not to speak of the matter to any one else.

“Yes, he was excited by a—­ a family affair,” he replied, hoping this was all he need say on the matter.

“Humph!” muttered the physician, and he not only took another critical look at Sydney’s face, but favored Rex with a long stare, too.

“Will he be well enough to go down to Marley to-night?” asked the latter.

“You live out of town then?” returned the doctor.  “There’s no place where you could take him here in the city?”

“None, but a hotel,” rejoined Rex.  “And I’m sure my mother would rather have him home.”

At this point Sydney stirred and opened his eyes.  He looked first at the doctor, frowned deeply, and then as Rex came forward within his range of vision, he beckoned the boy to him.

Rex hurried over and knelt by his side.

“Who is that?” asked Sydney.

“It’s a doctor.  You fainted or something and Scott went out to get him.  How do you feel?”

“Pretty weak, but ask him to step into the next room a minute.  I want to speak to you.”