"Father," said Sacrovir in great glee, "several friends are downstairs. They come from the City Hall. They want to see you."
"My boy," said Monsieur Lebrenn, "you are known as well as myself in the street. I wish you to escort our guest home. Take the back stairs in order to avoid going out by the shop door. Do not leave Monsieur Plouernel until he is safe at home."
"Rest assured, father. I have already crossed the barricade twice. I answer for monsieur's safety."
"Excuse me, monsieur, if I now leave you," said the merchant to the Count of Plouernel. "My friends are waiting for me."
"Adieu, monsieur," answered the Count in a voice that came from the heart. "I do not know what the future has in store for us; mayhap we may meet again in opposite camps; but I swear to you, I shall not, henceforth, be able to look upon you as an enemy."
With these words the Count of Plouernel followed the merchant's son.
Monsieur Lebrenn, left alone in the chamber, contemplated the colonel's casque for a moment, and muttered to himself:
"Truly, there are strange fatalities in this world."
He lifted up the casque and took it into that mysterious chamber which so much excited the curiosity of Gildas.
Lebrenn then joined his friends, from whom he learned that there was no longer any doubt but that the Republic would be proclaimed by the provisional government.