To draw the rapier which he always carried under his cloak, to rush to the assistance of the man who was beset, to attack the two robbers with cut and thrust, to put them to flight, and to restore to Master Hugonnet his cloak, which had fallen to the ground--all this was the affair of a moment for the old trooper of Henri IV. Hugonnet, completely sobered by the combat, offered Landry his hand and exclaimed: "Vertudieu! I am inclined to think, comrade, that but for you those scoundrels would have made me pass a bad quarter of an hour!" "I thank heaven that I arrived in time to offer you my assistance!" "Sapristi! you went about it in the right way. You seemed to be at home! How you handle your sword! I think that my knaves went off with the marks you made on them." "It would be a great pity if I did not know how to fight. When one has had the honor of serving under the great Henri IV; when one has fought under him at Arques and Ivry----" "Do you say that you served with the good king who wanted all his subjects to have a fowl to put in the pot? Shake hands! I am doubly happy to have met you; and, with your permission, I consider myself from this moment one of your friends." "With all my heart, for you too are a brave man; I saw that by the way you defended yourself against those cutthroats. And yet, you had no weapons." "Well! I did my best. Besides--I can afford to confess it, now that it's all over--those thieves surprised me rather easily, because I was a little--er--tipsy. I was on my way home from a new wine shop just opened in the Cité. The wine was good--it always is good in a new place--and we did not spare it. When I set out to go home, I missed my way--for the devil take me if I know where I am now!" "At the Carrefour de Bussy; see, this is the street leading from the Porte de Bussy to the Pré-aux-Clercs." "In God's name, what road did I take?--I, who live on Rue Saint-Jacques, corner of Rue des Mathurins, where I have baths, hot and cold--Master Hugonnet, at your service; for it is right that you should know whose life you have saved." "You are a bath keeper?--Pardieu! this is a strange meeting! I, too, am one--Master Landry, Rue Dauphine, near Quai Conti." "Is it possible!--you are the bath keeper on Rue Dauphine? I have heard of you.--You have a wife, I am a widower. You have a daughter, and so have I. How old is yours?" "Twelve years." "So is mine. Parbleu! confrère, our daughters must be friends, as their fathers will be; are you willing?" "Shake hands, ventre-saint-gris! as our good king used to say." The two bath keepers shook hands once more. Landry started Hugonnet on the right road, and they returned to their respective homes.