"’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. "’Oh, no,’ said I. ’Mama, it is the 10th Thermidor.’ "’That is better,’ said our thief. ’Let us move on.’ "The quarry road opened into a lane, and here were market-gardens and rare houses, and a deserted convent or two, and a network of crossways through which François directed the Duke, who walked ahead, as if under arrest. We followed them anxiously beneath the ruddy evening sky, wondering, as we went, to see scarce a soul. The Rue d’Enfer was the first street we came upon as we left the suburban lanes; but still it, too, was deserted. The Duke remarked on this singular absence of people; but as we were now near a small cabaret François called out, ’Get along, aristocrat.’ The Duke said some wicked words, and we went on. A man came out of the café and cried after us: ’Family of the guillotine! _À bas les aristocrats!_’ and would François have a _petit verre_? But our thief said no, he was on duty, and our comedy went on. "It was necessary to pass the Barriere d’Enfer, where usually was a guard and close scrutiny. To our surprise, there were but two men. One of them said. ’Ah, Citizen, what have you here?’ "’Aristocrats under arrest—a _ci-devant_ duke.’ "’Have an eye to these,’ said the officer to his fellow; ’and you, Citizen, come into the guardroom and register their names.’ ’Certainly,’ said the thief, and we were set aside while he passed into the room with the guard. After some ten minutes he came out alone very quietly, and said to the other guard, ’It is all correct and in order, Citizen,’ waited to tease a black cat on the door-step, asked the hour, and at last, giving the Duke a rude push, cried out, ’Get on there, aristocrat! I have no time to waste.’