But as we neared the place I ceased my chatter, and so we went on in silence, each busy with his own thoughts, We did not come in front of Aldobrand's house, but turned out of the main street down a side lane which we guessed would skirt the garden wall.
There were few people moving even in the streets, and in this little lane there was not a soul to meet as we crept along in the shadow of the high walls.

We were not mistaken, for soon we came to what we judged was the outside of Aldobrand's garden.
Here we paused for a minute, and I believe Elzevir was for making a last remonstrance, but I gave him no chance, for I had found a place where some bricks were loosened in the wall-face, and set myself to climb.

It was easy enough to scale for us, and in a minute we both dropped down in a bed of soft mould on the other side.

We pushed through some gooseberry-bushes that caught the clothes, and distinguishing the outline of the house, made that way, till in a few steps we stood on the _Pelouse_ or turf, which I had seen from the balcony three hours before.
I knew the twirl of the walks, and the pattern of the beds; the rank of hollyhocks that stood up all along the wall, and the poppies breathing out a faint sickly odour in the night.

An utter silence held all the garden, and, the night being very clear, there was still enough light to show the colours of the flowers when one looked close at them, though the green of the leaves was turned to grey.