e vestibule, names of European
celebrity were called out and repeated from voice to voiqe along the
lofty corridors. Le Prince de Schwartzenberg, Count Pozzo di Borgo,
Le Duc de Dal-berg, Milord Cathcart, Le Comte de Nesselrode, Monsieur
Talleyrand de Perigord, with others equally noble and exalted, followed
in rapid succession.

Our turn came at last; and as we reached the hall we found O'Grady
waiting for our arrival.

'There 's no use in attempting to get forward for some time,' said he;
'so follow me, and I'll secure you a more comfortable place to wait in.'

As he spoke he passed through the hall, and, whispering a few words to a
servant, a door was opened in the wainscot, admitting us to a small and
neatly-fitted-up library, where a good fire and some easy-chairs awaited
us.

'I see your surprise,' said O'Grady, as my mother looked about her with
astonishment at his perfect acquaintance with the whole locality; 'but
I can't explain--it's part of my secret. Meanwhile, Jack, I have another
for your ear,' said he, in a low whisper, as he drew me aside into a
corner. 'I have made a very singular discovery, Jack, to-day, and I
have a notion it may lead to more. I met, by accident, at the
Adjutant-General's table, the brother of a French officer whose life I
saved at Nivelle; he remembered my name in a moment, and we became sworn
friends. I accepted his offer of a seat in his carriage to this ball,
and on the way he informed me that he was the chief of the secret police
of Paris, whose business it is to watch all the doings of the regular
police and report upon them to Fouche, whose spies are in every salon
and at every dinner-table in the capital I have no time at present to
repeat any of the extraordinary stories he told me of this horrible
system; but just as we entered the courtyard of this hotel, our carriage
was jammed up in the line and detained for some minutes. Guillemain
suddenly let down the glass, and gave a low, peculiar whistle, which,
if I had not been paying considerable attention to everything about him,
might have escaped my notice. In about a minute after a man, with a
hat slouched over his face, and a large cravat covering his mouth,
approached the carriage. They conversed together for some time, and I
could perceive that the new-comer spoke his French in a broken manner
and with a foreign accent. By a slight movement of the horses one of the
lamps threw the light full upon this man's face; I fix