From this point half a league
across a rushy bottom and through a ford brought us to the gate,
which opened before we summoned it. I had taken care to call to
the van one of my men who knew the town; and he guided us
quickly, no one challenging us, through a number of foul, narrow
streets and under dark archways, among which a stranger must have
gone astray. We reached at last a good-sized square, on one side
of which--though the rest of the town lay buried in darkness--a
large building, which I judged to be Bareilles' residence,
exposed a dozen lighted windows to the street. Two or three
figures lounged half-seen on the wide stone steps which led up to
the entrance, and the rattle of dice, with a murmur of voices,
came from the windows. Without a moment's hesitation I
dismounted at the foot of the steps, and, bidding La Font and
Boisrueil attend me, with three of the servants, I directed Colet
to withdraw with the rest and the horses to the farther end of
the square.
Dreading nothing so much as that I might lose the advantage of
surprise, I put aside two of the men on the steps who would have
questioned me, and strode boldly across the stone landing at the
head of the flight.
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