I had naturally followed, with my eyes, the little cavalcade, until it finally disappeared.
On withdrawing my looks from it, I perceived that Sophie was half fainting. I offered her my arm, which she took, trembling at the same time all over.
“Oh, M. Réné,” said she, “I was so frightened! How glad I am that it ended as it did!”
For whom was she frightened? and for whose sake was she so glad that all was over?
Was it for our sakes, or for that of the young lords?
I did not like to ask her.
M. Drouet walked along the Place with us. We passed under the arch, and entered the Rue de la Basse Cour. Billaud lived some distance away, and Guillaume almost in the country; so those three young men went to the “Hotel du Bras d’Or,” and although the brothers Leblanc wished to give them a dinner for nothing, they insisted on paying for everything that they had.
The table at which they dined was on the other side of the street, just opposite to ours.
The clock of St. Gengoulf gave the signal for dinner.
The two first toasts proposed were “The King!” and “The nation!” They then drank another “To the health of those who, believing them to be in danger, had flown to their succor.”