He stood awhile in the open door, the snow whirling now and then against him, and the faint mutter of great guns coming at almost regular intervals to his ears.  He was trying to decide what to do, free from any influence, however noble, which might unconsciously turn him from his duty.  His was in the nature of a roving commission, and yet he must not rove too far.  He decided that if Lannes did not come in the morning he would insist upon Julie going with him to the hospital camp.  It would be hard for him to go against her wishes, but he was bound to do it, and easy in little things, young John Scott had a will in greater affairs that could not be overborne.

But his heart remained singularly light.  This was a good hotel, the Hotel de l’Europe.  He had not found a finer or better in Europe.  Others might be larger and more magnificent, but not one of them had offered him such light and hospitality at a time when they were needed most.  He went back to the bureau, where the register still lay open.  He had a vague impression that it was not lying just as they had left it, that it was turned much more to one side, and he glanced at the names, which a quaint fancy had made them write on the open page.  His own name had been inscribed there last, and he started when he saw another written beneath it in a bold flowing hand.  But the light was so dim that he could not at first make it out, and despite all his courage and power of will an uncanny feeling seized him.  A chill ran along his spine, and his hair lifted a little.

With a cry of anger at himself, he seized the candle and held it over the page.  Then he read the new name: 

     Fernand Weber, Paris and Alsace.

With another exclamation, but this time of relief, he put the candle back upon the desk.  Two beads of perspiration that had formed upon his brow rolled from it, and fell upon the register.  And Weber had come, too!  He was not surprised at it.  Since he was Lannes’ messenger, and he was free to come and go as he pleased, it was altogether likely that he would appear in Chastel to see the reunion of brother and sister, and his work well done.  Moreover, he was a man who knew.  John had often noticed that Weber’s characteristic was knowledge and now he would help them.

He lifted the candle high above his head and looked around the lobby, but there was no sign of the Alsatian.  He must have gone outside again.  Saying nothing to Julie or the Picards, John resolved to seek him.  He needed his heavy overcoat and he was able to secure it unobserved, because Julie had gone up to her room, and Antoine and Suzanne had disappeared in the back regions of the hotel.

He had a faint hope that when he returned to the lobby he might find Weber there, but it was still lone and silent, and drawing the collar well about his ears and throat he thrust himself out into the snow.  Turning his back to the driving flakes he walked eastward, searching everywhere through the advancing twilight.  Weber, of course, knew of their presence in the hotel as he had seen their names on the register, and the lighted candle on the bureau.  It must have been a sudden alarm that called him away so quickly, else he would have gone in at once, and have spoken to his friends.