"Pont-aux-Choux, mademoiselle!" he exclaimed. "The deuce! it's a long way from here; it's outside of the city, beyond the Fossés Jaunes, between the Porte du Temple and Porte Saint-Antoine; you don't expect to go there to-night, I presume?" "Pardon me, I do." "And you are all alone! Beware! it's a lonely neighborhood, and very dangerous at night." "I am not afraid; but please tell me which way I must go." He directed her as well as he could, concluding with the usual phrase: "When you get there, inquire again." Miretta walked a long while; she was not sufficiently familiar with Paris to tell where she was, so that she did not know if she was approaching her destination. Most of the shops were already closed; and the girl, remembering that she had money about her, regretted that she had not secured the assistance of a torchbearer or messenger, who would have guided her directly to the place to which she wished to go; but it was too late now to find any of those hard-worked men in the street. More than once, bands of students and pages had attempted to accost the girl, offering her their services in very familiar fashion; but she had run away from them without replying. She had just made her escape from a group of young men who seemed well disposed for mirth, when, as she halted, all out of breath from running, at the corner of a street, a well-known voice fell upon her ear. "Eh! sandis! my eyes do not deceive me! it is in very truth our cruel infanta whom I see before me!--By Roland, my dear, you expose yourself to great risk, rambling about alone at night in such an unsavory quarter; none but knights of my temper should haunt such places by night!" When she recognized the voice of her faithful suitor, the Gascon chevalier, Miretta felt relieved; for although Passedix pestered her with his love, at all events she knew him; and while she found him intolerable as a lover, she believed him to be incapable of attempting any enterprise calculated to offend a woman's modesty. It was with something like pleasure, therefore, that the pretty brunette recognized the chevalier at that moment, the result being that she answered in a much more amiable tone than she usually adopted with him. "Is it you, monsieur le chevalier? I confess that I did not expect to meet you here!" "That is because you were not looking for me, little one; whereas I am always hoping to meet you!" "As you are here, you will help me out of my perplexity." "I will help you in whatever you wish to undertake! Do you wish to ascend to the moon--to revolve about a planet? I will escort you to the celestial empire; I have no very clear idea what road we must take; but, no matter! I would act as your escort, even to hell, if such were your whim!" "I thank you, monsieur le chevalier, but I have no intention of asking you to go so high or so low; I do not deem myself worthy as yet to dwell with the angels, but I have no desire, either, to pay a visit to the demons!"