The widow Beaugrand is in despair.
"Then you have decided to go? Will you not wait until to-morrow? I have such a nice supper prepared!"
Olivier grows impatient. Clarisse and Thérèse get ready to start.
"It's all right! Everything is arranged," says the landlady. "The carriage has been ordered, and is just two steps from here."
She hastens downstairs, followed by Olivier and the two women, who wait outside. The street is deserted. The day melts in a soft twilight. Stars already twinkle in the cloudless sky. Light, happy laughter comes from a balcony opposite, the echo of childish merriment, which soon ceases with the closing of a door.
The carriage has arrived, an open char-à-banc with four seats. Olivier helps his mother and his fiancée in, then climbs up on the box beside the driver.
"To Montmorency! And take the shortest cut!"
The carriage rolls away amidst the farewells and good wishes of the widow Beaugrand. However, at the end of the Rue du Rocher it stops suddenly and draws up to the side of the road. Two carts are coming at full gallop, driven by men in red nightcaps. Olivier asks impatiently—
"What is the matter now?"
"It's the dead bodies of the condemned, citoyen; they are taking them to the Cemetery des Errancy. Ah! now, the Incorruptible can kill no more!"