"You say, then, that the Chevalier de Maison-Rouge—"
"I say they are on his track at this moment, and if he escapes this time the bloodhounds of the Republic, he will be a cunning fox."
"And what does the Commune in all this affair?"
"The Commune is about to issue a decree, by which every house (like an open register) must display on the front the name of every inhabitant, both male and female. This is realizing the dream of the ancients,—why should there not be a window in every breast, that all the world may see what passes there?"
"An excellent idea that," said Maurice.
"To place windows in men's breasts?"
"No; but to place a list of names on every door."
Maurice felt, in fact, that this might be the means of assisting him to discover the unknown, or at least afford him some clew whereby he might be able to trace her.
"Is it not so?" said Lorin. "I have already betted this measure will secure us a batch of five hundred aristocrats. By the bye, we have received this morning, at our club, a deputation of enrolled Volunteers; they arrived conducted by our adversaries of last night, whom I had not abandoned till dead drunk,—they came, I tell you, with garlands of flowers and immortal crowns."
"Indeed," replied Maurice, laughing; "and how many were there?"