At the door of the hotel he was joined by his cousin, Frank Bassett. The latter proposed a farewell visit to the Church of St. Stephen, and also a short stroll in the Graben, where he wished to make a trifling purchase. Fred assented, and they started at once. [Illustration: FRED'S REMINDER.] They had not gone far before Fred perceived at a window the face of a girl busily engaged in writing. He paused a moment, and then suggested to Frank that he wished to return to the hotel in time to write a letter to his sister before the closing of the mail. "I really believe," said he, "that I should have neglected Mary this week if I had not been reminded by that girl in the window and her occupation." Frank laughed as he rejoined that he had never yet known his cousin to forget his duty, and it would have been pretty sure to occur to him that he owed his sister a letter before it was too late for writing it. [Illustration: ST. STEPHEN'S CATHEDRAL, VIENNA.] They made a hasty visit to the church, which is by far the finest religious edifice in Vienna, and may be said to stand in the very heart of the city. Fred had previously made a note of the fact that the church is more than seven hundred years old, and has been rebuilt, altered, and enlarged so many times that not much of the original structure remains. On the first day of their stay in Vienna the youths had climbed to the top of the building and ascended the spire, from which they had a magnificent view of the city and the country which surrounds it. The windings of the Danube are visible for many miles, and there are guides ready at hand to point out the battle-fields of Wagram, Lobau, and Essling. Our young friends had a good-natured discussion about the height of the spire of St. Stephen's; Frank claimed that his guide-book gave the distance from the ground to the top of the cross four hundred and fifty-three feet, while Fred contended, on the authority of another guide-book, that it was four hundred and sixty-five feet. Authorities differ considerably as to the exact height of this famous spire, which does not appear to have received a careful measurement for a good many years. From the church the youths went to the Graben, the famous street where idlers love to congregate on pleasant afternoons, and then they returned to the hotel. Fred devoted himself to the promised letter to his sister. With his permission we will look over his shoulder as he writes, and from the closing paragraph learn the present destination of our old friends with whom we have travelled in other lands.[1] [1] "The Boy Travellers in the Far East" (five volumes) and "The Boy Travellers in South America" (one volume). Adventures of Two Youths in a Journey to and through Japan, China, Siam, Java, Ceylon, India, Egypt, Palestine, Central Africa, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Brazil, and the Argentine Republic. New York. Harper & Brothers.