Both were disguised, and had put on a costume similar to that which the young Frenchman wore.
"Where are you going to this way?" asked the count, with a sneer.
We must render this justice to the painter—that if he had not completely forgotten the two men whose prisoner on parole he was, at least, in his inmost heart he hoped to escape their vigilance, reckoning on chance for the opportunity.
"I?" asked he, surprised unawares.
"Certainly, you," said the count.
"Mon Dieu," said he, with the most indifferent air that he could affect, "it is suffocating in these rooms, and I was going out on the square, in quest of a little breathable air."
"Is that all?"
"Certainly."
"Do not distress yourself, then; as we want a little air, like yourself, we will accompany you," pursued the count.
"Be it so; I am quite agreeable," said he.