Before the door was open Julien was on his feet and vigorously repelled the most zealous of the intruders. The young man thus roughly treated drew his sword, calling him a clown, and his companions followed his example. Julien did not take the time to draw his. He 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. Julien, who had not left the step, took advantage of this respite to enter the cab and take Julie out by the opposite door. He took her in his arms and carried her some distance. Then he turned to await his adversaries; but, whether because some one of them had received a serious wound, or because the approach of the watch sobered them, they made off as rapidly as possible in the opposite direction.
"Let us walk, madame," said Julien. "Let us avoid the curiosity of the police."
Julie walked rapidly and well. If fear had paralyzed her for an instant, the sight of the danger to which her protector was exposed had restored her energy. After taking a somewhat roundabout course to throw the watch off the scent, they arrived safely on the Nouveau Cours, now Boulevard des Invalides. It was completely deserted and dimly lighted by lanterns. Julie did not notice a stain on her glove, but she felt the moisture of blood on her wrist, and stopped abruptly, exclaiming:
"Oh! Mon Dieu! you are wounded!"
Julien felt nothing, he was very sure that nothing serious had happened to him; he wrapped his bruised hand in his handkerchief and offered Julie his other arm.
"I swear to you that I am not wounded," he said; "and suppose I were! Unfortunately those fellows were not very formidable, and I deserve little credit for ridding you of them. Coxcombs, dandies! And they bear titles of nobility in all likelihood!"
"Do you detest the nobility so very bitterly?"
"I, detest them? No! but I abhor impertinence, and as such fellows are not always willing to fight a duel with plebeians, I am very glad to have beaten them as a bargeman might have done."
"Alas!" said Julie, thinking aloud, "nevertheless they are at liberty to insult and trample on the weak!"
"The weak! Who are the weak, pray?" rejoined Julien, mistaking the meaning of her words. "People without a name? Undeceive yourself, madame; they are the ones to whom the future belongs, because they have the right, true justice on their side, and, withal, the determination to put an end to the abuses of the past."