Michel and Florence, whose heads were well muffled up as a protection from the cold, had, as yet, no suspicion that they were being followed, and walked briskly on towards the little square at the end of the Rue Dauphine. The man in the cloak, who had been too much absorbed hitherto to take much notice of what was going on around him, now observed for the first time that a woman was following a man on the side of the street opposite to that on which he was following Florence, and great was his surprise when, as this woman passed the lighted windows of a liquor shop, he fancied he recognised in her the same lady whom he had escorted to the corner of the Rue de Rivoli the previous afternoon, and whom he had met months before in one of the mountain passes of Chili. The woman's tall stature and lithe tread, as well as her mourning garb, corroborated these suspicions, and the fact of this double pursuit, after their interview of the day before, was too extraordinary for the man not to desire to solve this mystery at once, so, without losing sight of Florence, he hastily crossed the street, and, approaching the mysterious lady, said: "One word, madame, if you please--" "You, monsieur!" the lady exclaimed, "is it you?" Both stood for an instant as if petrified. The man was the first to recover himself. "Madame, after what has occurred, and for our mutual benefit, we must have a full explanation at once," he exclaimed, hastily. "I think so, too, monsieur." "Very well, then, madame. I--" "Take care! Look out for that wagon!" exclaimed the lady, pointing to a big milk wagon that was tearing down the street, almost grazing the gutter in which the man in the cloak had stopped. He sprang aside quickly, but, in the meantime, Florence and Michel had reached the square, and disappeared from sight, thanks to the progress they had made during this short colloquy between their pursuers. The woman, noting Michel's disappearance, exclaimed, in accents of intense dismay: "I don't see him any longer! I have lost him!" These words reminded her companion of the pursuit he, too, had momentarily forgotten, and he, too, turned quickly, but could see nothing of Florence. "Let us hasten on to the square, madame; perhaps we can overtake them. Here, take my arm." "No, no, monsieur, let us run, let us run," cried the young woman. So both ran towards the square at the top of their speed, but when they reached it they did not see a living soul in either of the four or five narrow streets that diverged from it. Realising how utterly useless it would be to extend their search further, the two stood for a moment in silence, resting after their run, and again thinking, perhaps, of the singular _rapprochement_ between their destinies. "Really, madame, it makes me wonder whether I am awake or dreaming," exclaimed the man in the cloak at last. "What you say is perfectly true, monsieur. I really cannot believe what I see with my own eyes," replied the lady.