f legislation, by which a moneyless guest could be starved out but
not expelled, and put many questions as to the stranger, his age,
appearance, and nation. All the waiter knew was that he was a
venerable-looking man, portly, advanced in life, with specious manners,
a soft voice, and a benevolent smile; as to his country, he could n't
guess. He spoke several languages, and his German was, though peculiar,
good enough to be a native's.

"But how does he live?" said Davis; "he must eat."

"There's the puzzle of it!" exclaimed Carl; "for a while he used to
watch while I was serving a breakfast or a dinner, and sallying out of
his room, which is at the end of the corridor, he 'd make off, sometimes
with a cutlet,--perhaps a chicken,--now a plate of spinach, now an
omelette, till, at last, I never ventured upstairs with the tray without
some one to protect it. Not that even this always sufficed, for he was
occasionally desperate, and actually seized a dish by force."

"Even these chances, taken at the best, would scarcely keep a man
alive," said Davis.

"Nor would they; but we suspect he must have means of getting out at
night and making a 'raid' over the country. We constantly hear of fowls
carried off; cheese and fruit stolen. There he is now, creeping along
the gallery. Listen! I have left some apples outside."

With a gesture to enforce caution, Davis arose, and placed a
percussion-cap on a pistol, a motion of his hand sufficing to show that
the weapon was not loaded.

"Open the door gently," said he; and the waiter, stealing over
noiselessly, turned the handle. Scarcely had the door been drawn back,
when Grog saw the figure of a man, and snapped off the pistol. At the
same moment he sprang from the spot, and rushed out to the corridor. The
stranger, to all seeming, was not even startled by the report, but was
gravely occupied in examining his sleeve to see if he had been struck.
He lifted up his head, and Davis, with a start, cried out,--

"What, Paul!--Paul Classon! Is this possible!"

"Davis--old fellow!--do I see you here?" exclaimed the other, in a deep
and mellow voice, utterly devoid of irritation or even excitement.

"Come in,--come in here, Paul," said Davis, taking him by the arm; and
he led him within the room. "Little I suspected on whom I was playing
this scurvy trick."

"It was not loaded," said the other, coolly.

"Of course not"

"I thought so," said he, with an easy smile; "they 've had so