This done I nodded to M.d'Agen to go first, and followed him from the room, Simon attending us of his own motion.

It would be then about eleven o'clock in the forenoon.
My companion ran down the stairs without ceremony, and so quickly it was all I could do to keep up with him.

At the outer door he signed me to stand, and darting himself into the street, he looked anxiously in the direction of the Rue St.Denys.Fortunately the coast was still clear, and he beckoned to me to follow him.

I did so and starting to walk in the opposite direction as fast as we could, in less than a minute we had put a corner between us and the house.
Our hopes of escaping unseen, however, were promptly dashed.

The house, I have said, stood in a quiet by-street, which was bounded on the farther side by a garden-wall buttressed at intervals.