"Thank heaven, we are safe!" said I. "That was very cleverly managed."
"Do you suppose it the first time?" said La Croissette. "Far from it, I can tell you. Many things are done in Nismes that the authorities know nothing of, for all their vigilance. Now we are fairly outside the city, and, with ordinary good luck, shall perform our night-journey in safety."
"With God's blessing we may," said I.
"Make that proviso with all my heart," said La Croissette. "some trust in Providence and some in luck. I have nothing to say against either. Now get into the cart."
He led the horse a little out of the shadow as he spoke, and helped me inside the little house on wheels, where I found a mattress that proved a most acceptable rest; and then we drove slowly and quietly off, and gradually got among fields and hedges.
"How are you getting on?" said La Croissette, at length. "Do you mind the shaking?"
"Oh," said I, "I have so many things on my mind that I take no thought for the body."
"All the better; though some say that pain of the mind is the worst to bear of the two."
"I have little doubt of it," said I, "though each are bad enough. But all I meant was that my mind is preoccupied and anxious, and prevents my noticing any mere discomforts; for I cannot say I am miserable."
"Indeed I think you ought not to be, for you have had an escape from that troubled city that many would rejoice at."