"It is all over," said Julie, "and I am calm again; take me home on foot. You are my Providence!"
"On foot, it is too far," replied Julien, "and you are not properly shod for walking. This cab here will take us, willingly or by force, I give you my word, and I will get up behind and accompany you."
Julien returned with Madame d'Estrelle to the cab. He put her in and ordered the driver to start. The driver refused. Julien jumped up beside him and seized the reins, swearing that he would throw him into the gutter if he resisted. The young man's manly bearing and determined air awed the cab-driver, who submitted; but he had not driven a hundred yards when he stopped, yelling thief and murder. A party of men had just come out of a house, and the poor devil hoped to find some aid against the violence he was undergoing.
As luck would have it these men were young dandies fresh from a sumptuous supper, and a little the worse for wine. The adventure presented itself at that moment of excitement when one gladly constitutes himself a redresser of wrongs, especially when the odds are four to one in his favor. They abruptly stopped the horses, and one of them opened the door, for the cabman was yelling at the top of his voice:
"Help! here's a villain carrying off a nun!"
"Let us see if she's worth the trouble!" replied the party with one voice.
JULIEN ESCORTS MADAME D'ESTRELLE
Julien defended himself with his cane, and used it with such self-possession, skill and strength, that one of the assailants fell and the others retreated.