"Before long they came back, and there was then a long talk of which we did not hear all, but not for want of eager ears. This council of war being over, François went back into the caves, and soon after returned laughing, and dressed in the clothes of the unlucky municipal guard.
"'One must not criticize what one inherits,' he said. 'The pantaloons are brief, and the waistcoat is of such vastness as I would choose to wear to-day to a good dinner.'
"As the light was now quite good, I saw this comical figure as I had not seen him before. He was tall and gaunt, with a nose of unusual length, and was very ruddy for so thin a man. He seemed to be all the time on a broad grin. He looked queer enough, too, in the short pantaloons and baggy waistcoat.
"'Now,' he said, 'I am to tie the Duke's hands behind his back. He is, you see, an aristocrat I am taking to Sainte Pélagie. Madame his wife and these children follow as I shall order. Poor things! they do not want to escape.'
"At this the Duke, whom most things amused, submitted to be tied, but laughed heartily at the comedy, as he called it.
"'Dieu!' said the thief. 'This is an affair of all our lives. See, Monsieur; you have but to turn the wrist, and you are free, in case of need.'
"The Duke, still smiling, promised to be a perfect and indignant aristocrat, and our thief entreated us all to look as sorrowful as we could. Of this lesson, my mother, poor lady, had small need; but we boys had recovered our spirits with sight of day, and when the thief besought us and showed us how we were to look, we were seized with such mirth that the Duke at last bade us understand that it was no laughing matter, and we promised to act our parts. Finally we were made to fill our pockets with the most of the gold found in the bag, and the rest the Duke and my mother stowed away, while the thief took the Duke's pistols, and, leaving the others, girded on the dead man's sword.
"'Now, guard yourselves,' said the thief, as we went out of the catacombs and across the debris of stone, stumbling, still unaccustomed to the light, and so down a slope and around a pond in the middle of the unused quarry. On the far side a road led out between the broken walls of stone. Here the thief halted. 'Have you a handkerchief, Madame?' he said. 'Use it. Weep if ever you did. Never may tears be of so much use again. And you, lads, if you laugh we are as good as dead.'
"'What day is it?' said my mother, and the tears were quite ready enough.
"'It is July the twenty-eighth,' answered the Duke.