Eric he was particularly glad to see; he had been worried about leaving him so long, alone, at the Hague; and Johnny had been too ill to travel or to be left with strangers, and Eric was too inexperienced, his uncle thought, to go from the Hague to Paris alone. So it was quite a relief to find him safely at hand. "And now," he said, after talking about home affairs for quite a while, "I see my way out of a dilemma. I have been anxious to attend two or three medical lectures at Heidelberg, and if you will look after the boys for a day or two, I can have my desire." "Certainly; I will for a day or two. At the end of that time I must go home. Here's this dutiful boy of mine, with never a word for mamma, Annie, or Adolphe. "Well," said Johnny, remonstrating, "you took me so by surprise, papa, that I forgot all about them." "Your filial affection must be strong," said his father, laughing at him. Johnny did not like this, and proposed to Eric to take a walk, and "see Paris." While they were gone, Mr. Van Rasseulger arranged with the doctor to meet them again at Heidelberg; meanwhile he would keep the boys with him for a week. They would leave Paris the next day, if John was well enough. Dr. Ward thought he would be. Mr. Van Rasseulger explained that he had been obliged to visit Rotterdam and Hague suddenly on business, and must go to Vienna, in Austria, and start for home, within a fortnight. "Don't neglect to take the boy to Munich, and show him to his grandfather; and don't forget your promise to 'make him as hearty and strong as Eric,'" he said. Poor little Johnny, in the interval between his own birth and that of his baby brother,--a space of seven years,--had been petted and pampered, and almost thoroughly spoiled. His temper had suffered with his constitution, and he became a delicate, sickly child. His parents, while living in New York, had lost three boys, and fearing to lose Johnny, too, had sent him to travel abroad, under Dr. Ward's care. Mr. Van Rasseulger was a native of Germany, and thought there was no air so invigorating as that breathed in on German soil. He had great hopes of its curing John's delicacy; and Dr. Ward thought that a strange country and traveller's hardships would be excellent aids in restoring the boy's natural health and good-nature. Meanwhile, Eric was seeing Paris under Johnny's guidance. To be sure, he could not see much in a day; but he took a look at the war column in the _Place Vendome_, saw the _Palace of the Tuileries_, the _Jardin des Plantes_, and entertained his little cousin with an account of his visit to the King of Holland, and his submarine diving, both of which Johnny thought very wonderful. Eric was not much concerned at seeing so little of Paris at the time, for he knew that the doctor intended to spend a month there, after visiting Munich. He bought a guide-book while out with Johnny, and then they returned to their rooms in time to see the doctor start for Heidelberg.