ied. The key of the
door between the bedroom and the sitting-room fitted this other
door, so that he was able to open it. The occupant was not in.
Through this door he designed to retreat in case of a surprise. But
he still thought it most likely that any pursuers would come in by
the main door of the hotel, relying upon his information to the boy
that he was to be absent. So with this view he stationed himself at
the bedroom window, as he had at first stationed himself at the
sitting-room window, and watched the main entrance. It was a task
which needed the utmost vigilance. A great crowd was thronging there
and sweeping by; and among the multitudes that filled the sidewalk it
was impossible to distinguish any particular forms or faces except
among those who passed up the steps into the hotel. Any one who had
less at stake would have wearied of such a task, self-imposed as it
was; but Gualtier had too much at stake to allow of weariness, and
therefore he kept all his senses wide awake, looking with his eyes at
the main entrance, and with his ears listening to the footsteps that
came along the hall, to discover any signs of danger to himself.

At last a cab drove up and stopped in front of the door. Gualtier,
who had been watching every thing, noticed this also. A man got out.
The sight of that man sent a shock to Gualtier's heart. He knew that
face and that figure in spite of the changed dress. It was Black
Bill.

A second look to confirm that first impression was enough. Like
lightning there came to his mind the thought that Black Bill had been
watching for him ever since with inexhaustible patience, had
encountered the boy, perhaps with the co-operation of the landlord,
and had now come to arrest him. One moment sufficed to bring to his
mind the thought, and the fear which was born of the thought. Without
waiting to take another glance, or to see who else might be in the
cab, he hastily unlocked the doors of the bedroom, glided into the
hall, passed down a back stairway, and left the hotel by a side
entrance far removed from the front-door. Then darting swiftly
forward he mingled with the crowd in the Strand, and was soon lost to
the pursuit of any followers.

Such was Gualtier's story. To all this strange account Hilda listened
attentively.

"It seems," said she at length, "as though Black Bill has been more
persevering than we supposed."

"Far more so than I supposed," said Gualtier. "I thought that he
woul