“Let us walk, let us walk; we shall certainly meet someone who will tell us which way to go.”
“Oh! how slippery the rain has made the road! We shall fall in a moment; that will be the last straw!”
“Let’s take each other’s arm, and hold on firmly.”
The two friends walked on, laughing when they almost fell, shrieking with terror when the lightning flashes lighted up the surrounding country. The rain had almost ceased, but the night was coming on, and the farther they walked, the less familiar the road seemed to them.
At last they met a peasant woman driving an ass before her; at sight of her they uttered a cry of delight.
“Madame! madame! which way to Chelles, if you please?”
“Why, bless me! you’re turning your backs to it!”
“Which way must we go, then?”
“See, take this path to the left; then turn to the left again and you’ll come to Gournay; then——”
“Oh! we know the way after that, thanks!”