"Now follow what I say."
"Where?" asked Santerre.
"Zounds! upon this chart which I have drawn. Here we are! thirteen feet from the wall is a movable stone I have marked A; do you see it?"
"Certainly, I see A," said Santerre. "Do you think I do not know how to read?"
"Under this stone," continued the architect, "is a staircase; do you see? It is marked B."
"B!" said Santerre; "I see B, but I do not see the staircase," and the general laughed heartily at his own facetiousness.
"When once the stone is raised, and the foot upon the last step, count fifty paces, look up, and you will find yourself exactly at the register-office where the subterraneous passage terminates, passing under the cell of the queen."
"Capet's widow, you mean, Citizen Giraud," said Santerre, knitting his brows.
"Yes, Capet's widow."