"'No,' I said, laughing.
"'To undress a gentleman who has departed this life. He does n't give you the least assistance.'
"I stumbled on, and was thinking over this queer statement when the Duke halted us in a broader place whence three stone passages led off at various angles.
"'A carrefour, and which to follow?' said the thief.
"'It cannot matter much,' returned the Duke. I thought he did not like the thief's assuming to take part in our counsels. Just then a tremendous noise like thunder broke over us, and rumbled away in strange echoes down the stone alleys before us.
"'Ye saints!' cried my mother, as a yet louder thunder resounded. 'What is that?'
"'We are under a street,' said our thief. 'It is the noise of wagons.'
"'That might be a guide,' said my mother.
"'Of a truth, yes, Madame,' exclaimed our thief. But the Duke, taking no notice, said, 'Let us take this road to the left.' The thief said nothing, but shouldered his load, and we went on as before. It was no time to argue; nor, indeed, did it seem to matter which way of the many we chose, so we followed after our Duke, little conscious, we boys, of the greatness of our peril. I suppose we must have gone for ten minutes along a narrowing tunnel, when my mother called back to us to stop, and the Duke said, 'We are in a wet place. But,' he added, presently, 'it is not deep; let us go on,' and we started afresh.
"As we moved ankle-deep in water, a strange sound, like the fall of something, broke out behind us, and a great rush of damp wind went by us like a live thing.