"Because you know I am always hungry," said Pitou, laughing.
"I need not tell you where the larder is."
"No, no, master; do not worry about me. But you are going to come back here?"
"I shall return."
"Or else tell me where we are to meet?"
"It is useless, for I shall be home in an hour."
Pitou went in search of the eatables with an appetite which in him, as in the case of the king, no events could alter, however serious they might be, while Billet proceeded to the water-side to do what we know.
He had hardly arrived on the spot before a pebble fell, followed by another, and some more, teaching him that what Petion apprehended had come to pass, and that he was a prisoner to the Royalists. So he had flown, according to his instructions, to the Assembly, which had claimed the mayor, as we have described.
Petion, liberated, had only to walk through the House to get back to the mayor's office, leaving his carriage in the Tuileries yard to represent him.
For his part, Billet went home, and found Ange finishing his supper.