'You will be safer in the Chatelet, I assure you, but as you wish--stay, there is one thing. Not a word of your interview with me, even to the King.' My hopes rose again. 'On my faith as a gentleman, I will not mention it.' As I finished he struck his bell sharply twice, and Ivoy entered. 'Ivoy, do me the favour to conduct Monsieur d'Auriac to the gates yourself, and impress upon him the necessity of keeping to his lodging. The air of Paris out-of-doors is unhealthy at present. Good-day, monsieur.' Ivoy bowed, with a slight upraising of his eyebrows, and we passed out. Going down the stairway, he said to me with a smile: 'I see you dine at home to-day, chevalier.' 'At the Two Ecus,' I answered, pretending not to understand his allusion, and he chuckled low to himself. At the gates I observed that the guards were doubled, and a whispered word passed between Ivoy and the officer in command. But of this also I took no notice, and, wishing them the day, rode back as I came. CHAPTER X AN OLD FRIEND I was not the man to neglect Sully's warning, and, besides, there was an added reason for being careful of dark corners, as both Zamet and Lafin knew me, and were unlikely to lose any opportunity of doing me harm that might come their way. I could do nothing but wait and exercise patience until the month was over, and it was a hard enough task. Beyond my daily visits to my ordinary, I went nowhere and saw no one. I occasionally, of course, met my landlord and his wife, but few words passed between us, and Jacques had become marvellously taciturn, so that I was alone as if I were in a desert in that vast city, where the roar of the day's traffic and the hum of voices seemed to vibrate through, and possess the stillest hours of the night. Doubtless there were men of my acquaintance in Paris, but I did not seek them, for the reasons already stated, and I lived as secluded a life as though I had taken the vows of a hermit.