r between her and Diane will soon be open
war. Up to now it has been a kiss and a stab, but soon it will be all
stab."

And so we talked until a late hour, and little did I think, as I
retired to sleep, that Lorgnac's doubt about my Italian journey would
come to be true.

It was well on towards the afternoon that we reached the Porte St.
Michel, for we had started late, and Madame de Montal would on no
account be parted from the sumpter horses, whose rate of progress was
necessarily slow. M. Agrippa de Pavanes was at the gate, and as we
filed in, I last of all, he looked hard at me; but I had other business
on hand, and could not at the moment spare time to devote to this
gentleman. It was clear, however, that he owed me a grudge over the
affair of the King's letter. As it happened, we never met again; and
Pavanes, if he still lives, must look upon his account with me as one
of his unsettled scores.

A few yards from the gate the road narrowed, and at the corner where
the little Rue Poiree strikes off between two rows of tumble-down
houses to join the Rue St. Jacques there was somewhat of a block. I
had fallen back behind the sumpter horses, and halted for a moment,
when I felt a hand rest lightly on my stirrup. I looked down, and, as
I live, it was La Marmotte.

"You!" I exclaimed. "In Paris!"

"Monsieur," she said hurriedly, her face pale and haggard, "this
meeting is not chance. Ask for me tomorrow at vespers at the shop of
Barou the armourer in the Rue Tire Boudin. If you do not do this you
will never cease to regret it. Fail not!" And she made as if to draw
away.

"A word," I said. "Trotto--does he live?"

"Oh! he lives. Thanks, monsieur, a thousand thanks!"

I had placed a piece of money in her hand, to take off any suspicion,
and, rising to her part, she seized it, calling down blessings on me,
and stepped back into the crowd.

Our party had gone a little ahead, and I did not overtake them until
almost opposite the Cordeliers, where I joined De Lorgnac.

"That was a strange-looking beggar," he remarked.

"She was no beggar, De Lorgnac; but of her I will tell you when you, Le
Brusquet, and I are once more together."

"I shall try to wait until then; it will be in less than an hour."

We then joined the ladies, and rode by them, all outwardly in high
spirits. As we rode past the tennis courts the sumpter horses were
diverted to enter the Louvre by the gate near the riding-school, but