And with this simple programme, the six sallied forth from the Hotel de Louvre.
Chapter Thirty Two.
On the Boulevards.
On the afternoon of that same Second of December, a man, sauntering along the Boulevards, said to himself:
“There’s trouble hanging over this gay city of Paris. I can smell mischief in its atmosphere.”
The man who made this remark was Captain Maynard. He was walking out alone, having arrived in Paris only the day before.
His presence in the French metropolis may be explained by stating, that he had read in an English newspaper a paragraph announcing the arrival of Sir George Vernon at Paris. The paragraph further said, that Sir George had returned thither after visiting the various courts of Europe on some secret and confidential mission to the different British ambassadors.
Something of this Maynard knew already. He had not slighted the invitation given him by the English baronet on the landing-wharf at Liverpool. Returning from his Hungarian expedition, he had gone down to Sevenoaks, Kent. Too late, and again to suffer disappointment. Sir George had just started for a tour of travel on the Continent, taking his daughter along with him. He might be gone for a year, or maybe more. This was all his steward could or would tell.