"I rose so early that I feel sleepy, and will have a nap, too."
He shut his eyes, and very soon the hard breathing of the Schoolmaster and the Chouette, who snored in chorus, so completely deceived Rodolph, that, thinking his companions sound asleep, he half opened his eyes. The Schoolmaster and the Chouette, in spite of their loud snoring, had their eyes open, and were exchanging some mysterious signs by means of their fingers curiously placed or bent in the palms of their hands. In an instant this mute language ceased. The brigand no doubt perceived, by some almost imperceptible sign, that Rodolph was not asleep, and said, in a laughing tone:
"Ah, ah, comrade! what, you were trying your friends, were you?"
"That can't astonish you, who sleep with your eyes open."
"I, who—That's different, young man; I am a somnambulist."
The hackney-coach stopped in the Place de la Madelaine. The rain had ceased for a moment, but the clouds, driven by the violence of the wind, were so dark and so low, that it was almost night in appearance. Rodolph, the Chouette, and the Schoolmaster went towards the Cours la Reine.
"Young man, I have an idea, which is not a bad one," said the robber.
"What is it?"
"To ascertain if all that you have told us respecting the interior of the house in the Allée des Veuves is true."
"You surely will not go there now, under any circumstances? It would awaken suspicion."