He realized that his first step must be to get her out of this place; next to get her under the care of a regular practitioner. French law is severe in such a contingency. Without hesitation he again shouldered his burden,—this time with infinite gentleness.
At first he had thought of depositing it in the court below until he had secured a cab in the Rue et Place de l'École de Médecine; but he saw an open voiture passing along the elevated horizon of the Rue de Monsieur le Prince and gave a shrill whistle.
The cab stopped.
Jean bounded up the steps as one endowed with superhuman strength. Placing his charge within, he mounted by her side.
"Faubourg St. Honoré!" he commanded. "And good speed and safe arrival is worth ten francs to you, my man!"
If Jean had followed his first idea and turned to the left instead of to the right he would have met some of his late revolutionary comrades returning, in boisterous spirits, to Le Petit Rouge.
"Parbleu!" exclaimed Villeroy, throwing himself into a chair, "but I believe every police agent in Paris has trodden on my corns this day!"
"For my part," said young Massard, a thin, pale, indolent young man scarcely turned twenty-one, "I don't see much fun in being hustled, shoved, kicked, pounded——"
"But, Armand," interrupted the third man, "think of the fun you have afforded the other fellow!"