She looked up at him. "I feel perfectly safe now," she said, and together they hurried onward.
Suddenly she stopped. "But how about Agatha!" she exclaimed, as the thought of her faithful companion came to her mind for the time.
"Agatha! Where is she?" asked Tournay almost impatiently, chafing at a moment's delay.
"At the Citizeness Privat's in the Rue Vaugirard. They will surely find and arrest her. Robert, we must not let them."
"The delay may mean the difference between life and death," replied Tournay, turning in the direction of the Rue Vaugirard; "but we must not let Agatha fall into Robespierre's clutches."
In a few minutes they passed up the Rue Vaugirard. "Which is the house?" asked Tournay anxiously.
"There; the small one with the blinds drawn down. Agatha will be anxiously waiting for me, I know. There she is now in the doorway. She sees us! Agatha, quick! Never mind your hat or cloak. Ask no questions. Now Robert, take us where you will."
Passing Edmé's arm through his own, and with Agatha on the other side, Tournay conducted the two women rapidly down the street.
At the same moment gendarmes were running in all directions carrying Robespierre's orders.
Two of them hastened to the house of Citizeness Privat. They found her in bed. Awakened from her sleep, she could only give meagre information about her lodgers. There were two of them; one, she thought, was still in the room across the hall. A tall gendarme opened the door and walked in without ceremony. He found the room empty, although a few articles of feminine apparel indicated that it had been occupied recently.