I drag him away. The shoe is an elastic one, and stands up with its toe in the air. It has not that lamentable look of worn-out shoes that have been thrown away on the road, but it is more repulsive. What fixes it on the ground is deep in the soil. One can only see the end of a bit of knitting. Can it be a sock? Trot along, my friend! My companion remains docile, thanks to my masterful glances, and we run as hard as we can. Good Heavens! What will have happened in the castle during this expedition? Nothing whatever had happened, as a matter of fact. But, as we got into the hall, I heard Emma and Barbe talking on the floor above. They were beginning to come down the stairs, when the drawing-room door shutting, as we went in, ended my alarms--only to give me new ones. How, now that the poor lunatic was back in his room, how was I to get out without being observed by one or other of the women? Stealthily creeping back on tiptoe to the drawing-room, I listened, with my ear to the panel, to distinguish in which direction the two intruders were moving, but suddenly I recoiled into the middle of the room, demented, looking for shelter of some kind, such as a screen, and gasping like a drowning man.... A key was rattling in the lock. Was it my key, left in the door, and stolen during my absence? Not at all. Here is my key, in my waistcoat pocket! I put it there, when I first came in. Well, then, what could it be? The verdigrised handle slowly turned. They were coming in. Who? The Germans? Lerne? Emma! Well, she could only see an empty room. One of the great damask curtains stirred, perhaps, but she did not remark it. Barbe stood behind her. The girl was saying softly: “Stay in there and watch the garden. Do what you did the other day: that was all right. As soon as the old man comes out of the Laboratory, warn me by coughing.” “It is not _he_ who worries me,” replied Barbe, obviously afraid. “_He_ is quite easy in his mind at this moment, I assure you. We shall not see him before night, but as for that Nicolas, that is another pair of shoes. He is coming on!” So the gray buildings were called the Laboratory, and it was for using that word that the Professor had silenced the servant with a slap. I was beginning to know more. Emma went on in an irritated tone: “I tell you again, there is no danger. It is not the first time, is it?” “Ah! but that Nicolas was not there.” “Come, do what I tell you.” Not quite resigned, Barbe went off to keep watch. Emma remained for a few instants listening.