t of his silence. As post after post came and brought
neither message nor tidings, the hearts of the watchers grew sick. To
the tutor especially, tied as he was to the scene of the tragedy, those
three weeks were a period of torture. He urged Dr Brandram to go over
to Paris to make inquiries; but the Doctor, after a fortnight of
fruitless search, returned empty-handed.

Mr Armstrong thereupon resolved at all hazards to quit his post and go
himself. He knew something of Paris. He had old associations with the
city, and once, as the reader has heard, possessed acquaintances there.
If any one could find the boy, he thought he could; and with such trusty
substitutes as the Doctor and Mr Headland, who remained at Yeld, to
leave behind, he felt that he might, nay rather that he must, venture on
the journey.

It was on the morning of his departure, as he was waiting for the trap
to carry him to the station, that Roger's telegram was put in his
hand:--

"Come--have been ill--better now--Hotel Soult--no news."

Twenty-four hours later the tutor was at his pupil's side, with a heavy
weight lifted from his heart, and resolved, come what would, not to quit
his post till he had the truant safe back at Maxfield.

The news he brought with him served to drive from Roger's mind all
thoughts of continuing his sojourn a day longer than was necessary to
recover his strength.

"It seems pretty certain," said he, "that my brother, when he left here,
returned to England, and probably went to sea very soon after. There is
no object in staying here. Look in that room there, Armstrong. That's
the billiard-room in which he spent most of his time, and that's the
very table on which he let himself be beaten regularly for the good of
the house."

The tutor walked across to the folding-doors and surveyed the dingy room
with critical interest.

"And that must have been little more than twelve years ago," said he.
"Do you still hold to your theory that Ratman is your brother?"

"I have no theory. I must find my brother, even if he is a--a
murderer," said the boy with a groan. "But, I say, has nothing been
heard of him?"

"The police have traced him to London; there the scent ends for the
present. He is probably in hiding there, and one may have to wait weeks
or months till he gets off his guard and is caught."

About ten days later they started, by slow stages, on the homeward
journey. Whether Madame received all she expected