arry a pistol when you go out at night."

"I always do, Hartington; I always have one in each pocket of my coat."

"Well, they may be useful, but I should recommend you to be careful, and
to walk in the middle of the street when you are in doubtful
neighborhoods. A pistol is very good in its way, but it takes time to
get it out, and cock it, while one's fist is always ready for service at
an instant's notice."

By this time they had arrived at the door of the studio. Arnold made no
allusion to the subject for some days, and then meeting Cuthbert at the
door of his house, said--

"By the way, Hartington, I have reason to believe that you were right
that that blow you luckily escaped was meant for me. However, I don't
think there will be any recurrence of the matter; in fact, I may say
that I am sure there won't."

"That is all right then, Dampierre. Of course I don't want the matter
followed up in any way, and should not have spoken about it had I not
thought that I ought to give you warning."

"I feel very much indebted to you anyhow, Hartington. Probably had I
been in your place the matter would have gone altogether differently."

Arnold had in fact learnt with absolute certainty who had been
Cuthbert's assailant. When he went up to Montmartre he told Minette what
had happened, and added: "He suspects that the scoundrel took him in the
dark for me."

"Why should any one bear ill-will to you?" Minette asked.

"That I can't say, but I do think that very likely he is right. He keeps
himself to himself, never attends meetings of any kind, and can hardly
have made an enemy, while it is possible that I may have done so."

Minette was thoughtful for some time, and when her father joined them
and said that it was time to be off to a meeting, she asked him
abruptly--

"Have you seen Jean Diantre to-day?"

"Ay, I have seen him, and a pretty sight he is."

"How is that, father?"

"He took more liquor than was good for him and got a bad fall as he was
going upstairs to his room, and as luck would have it, his mouth caught
the edge of the stone step. His lips were all cut and swollen to four
times their usual size and three of his teeth are out. Mon Dieu, what a
crash he must have got! He has been drinking a great deal lately, and I
have warned him over and over again that he would get himself into
trouble; but as a rule liquor does not affect him that way, he gets
sulky and bad-tempered, but he can generally walk