"I know it, father, and so do you, as it was you who beat him."
"I! do you think so?—Oh! what a calamity!—my dear friend Lambourdin! Just imagine—he was beaten so—it's an outrage! Poor Lambourdin! my heart is heavy!—How could anyone beat such an honorable man?"
"Why, it was you who beat him."
"I! impossible!—When I heard of it, I wept with grief.—Poor Lambourdin! I will avenge him!"
And Master Hugonnet would not consent to go to bed until he had wept freely over the fate of his friend Lambourdin, and had sworn again to avenge him.
X
THE PLACE AUX CHATS
The Chevalier Passedix lived on Place aux Chats.
You will not be sorry, reader, to know where that square was situated, for you would seek in vain for the slightest trace of it to-day. We will proceed to enlighten you upon that subject.
In the year 1634, Place aux Chats was near Rue de la Ferronnerie, close by the Impasse des Bourdonnais, where Rue de la Limace had recently been cut through.
The Cemetery of the Innocents was on one side, and had one entrance on the square, another on Rue de la Ferronnerie, and a third on Rue aux Fers. Before it was christened Place aux Chats, it was called Place aux Pourceaux; and in 1575 Rue de la Limace bore the name of Vieille Place aux Pourceaux.