make open inquiries you may ruin all." This advice was sound but irritating, our mistaken impression being that by remaining idle, we were playing into the enemy's hands. There was nothing else for it, however; we were bound to wait for further information and instruction. We sent Barbara to bed early, and bade her not to leave her room in the morning till we called for her; then we went out and paced the bright boulevards. As we strolled and chatted Ronald suggested that we ought to ascertain for ourselves whether Mr. Nisbet and Dr. Cooper were at the Hôtel Chatham; he had become very restless, and we endeavored in vain to argue him out of the idea. We only succeeded in prevailing upon him to allow Bob to go alone to the hotel, and find some excuse for looking over the book of arrivals in the office for the names of Nisbet and Cooper. "Mr. Nisbet knows you," I said to Ronald, "and if he should see you we may as well return at once to England, for we shall have put him on his guard and have brought about our own defeat. He may also have some idea of my appearance, either from seeing me without my being aware of it, or from the description given of me by Dr. Cooper, and there would be danger in my going to make inquiries. Your uncle is the safest party; Mr. Nisbet can know nothing of him, and if they meet his suspicions will not be aroused." Bob went by himself to the Hôtel Chatham, not without inward misgivings, for he knew but a few words of French, and Ronald's assurance that the waiters and the managers could all speak English did not set him at his ease. However, he left us at the corner of Rue Daonou, making us promise not to wander away, in case he should not be able to find us upon his return, for he was distrustful of himself in the Paris streets, this being his first visit to the Continent. It was also my first visit, and I could not help thinking how poor a match for Mr. Nisbet Bob and I would have been without the assistance of Ronald Elsdale. Ronald was blind, it is true, but he could speak French and German fluently, and it was really he who guided us through the streets; he was familiar with every shop and building of note, and there was no fear of our losing our way in his company. Bob was absent fifteen minutes or so, and he came back with the information that the name of Mr. Oliver Nisbet was on the books as having arrived this evening, but that he could not find the name of Cooper. "Did you see anyone answering to their description?" asked Ronald. "No one," replied Bob. "All the better," I remarked. "Why?" said Ronald. "Do you suppose they have any suspicion that they are being followed?"