hot and heavy they did fall!
But he's promised to teach me, and to--"

"And Bras Rouge, what sort of a person is he?" asked Tom. "What goods
does he sell?"

"Bras Rouge? Oh, by the Holy! he sells everything he is forbidden to
sell, and does everything which it is forbidden to do. That's his line,
ain't it, Mother Ponisse?"

"Oh! he's a boy with more than one string to his bow," answered the
ogress. "He is, besides, principal occupier of a certain house in the
Rue du Temple,--a rum sort of a house, to be sure; but mum," added she,
fearing to have revealed too much.

"And what is the address of Bras Rouge in that street?" asked Seyton of
the Chourineur.

"No. 13, sir."

"Perhaps we may learn something there," said Seyton, in a low voice, to
his sister. "I will send Karl thither to-morrow."

"As you know M. Rodolph," said the Chourineur, "you may boast the
acquaintance of a stout friend and a good fellow. If it had not been for
the charcoal-man, he would have 'doubled up' the Schoolmaster, who is
there in the corner with the Chouette. By the Lord! I can hardly contain
myself, when I see that old hag, and know how she behaved to the
Goualeuse,--but patience, 'a blow delayed is not a blow lost,' as the
saying is."

The Hotel de Ville clock struck midnight; the lamp of the tavern only
shed a dim and flickering light. Except the Chourineur and his two
companions, the Schoolmaster, and the Screech-owl, all the guests of the
_tapis-franc_ had retired one after the other.

The Schoolmaster said, in an undertone, to the Chouette, "If we go and
hide in the alley opposite, we shall see the swells come out, and know
which road they take. If they turn to the left, we can double upon them
at the turning of the Rue Saint Eloi; if to the right, we will wait for
them by the ruins close to the tripe-market. There's a large hole close
by, and I have a capital idea."

The Schoolmaster and the Chouette then went towards the door.

"You won't, then, take a 'drain' of nothin' to-night?" said the ogress.

"No, Mother Ponisse, we only came in to take shelter from the rain,"
said the Schoolmaster, as he and the Chouette went out.

CHAPTER VII.

"YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE."

The noise which was made by the shutting of the door aroused Tom and
Sarah from their reverie, and they rose, and, having thanked the
Chourineur for the information he had given them, the fellow went out,
the wind blowing very strongly, and the rain fa