"Death of my life! Had I fought there in the burrow, I should have changed the history of France!"
XXI
A chance encounter.
he street before us was as orderly as the aisle of Notre Dame. Few way-farers passed us; those there were talked together as placidly as if love-trysts and mêlées existed not, and tunnels and countersigns were but the smoke of a dream. It was a street of shops, all shuttered, while, above, the burghers' families went respectably to bed.
"This is the Rue de la Ferronnerie," my master said, pausing a moment to take his bearings. "See, under the lantern, the sign of the Pierced Heart. The little shop is in the Rue de la Soierie. We are close by the Halles—we must have come half a mile underground. Well, we'll swing about in a circle to get home. For this night I've had enough of the Hôtel de Lorraine."
And I. But I held my tongue about it, as became me.
"They were wider awake than I thought—those Lorrainers. Pardieu! Féix, you and I came closer quarters with death than is entirely amusing."
"If that door had not opened-" I shuddered.