'Within this hour I have had to fly from Paris, pursued by the watch.'
'Ah—indeed!' she said, suspiciously.
'Having become involved in a brawl while protecting a fugitive female from two drunken gallants who were pursuing her, I was roughly set upon, and had the misfortune to—to—'
'To—what, monsieur?'
'Run one through the body.'
'And this was in the Place de la Grève, where the great pillory stands?' said the lady.
'It was close to the bridge of the Seine.'
'Ah! the Pont de Notre Dame?'
'Yes, madame.'
'Mon Dieu! how strange! Nicola, behold your preserver. Poor boy—for you are but a boy—how pale you look! Step in—quick my friend—tell me all this affair over again; and Nicola, hand him some wine; when I took you into my coach at the Pont de Notre Dame, how little we thought that one of your pursuers was being run through the body; but it served him right, the insolent—quite right!'