Pagina 410 di 896

The Defarges, husband and wife, came lumbering under the

starlight, in their public vehicle, to that gate of Paris

whereunto their journey naturally tended. There was the usual

stoppage at the barrier guardhouse, and the usual lanterns came

glancing forth for the usual examination and inquiry. Monsieur

Defarge alighted; knowing one or two of the soldiery there, and

one of the police. The latter he was intimate with, and

affectionately embraced.

When Saint Antoine had again enfolded the Defarges in his dusky

wings, and they, having finally alighted near the Saint's

boundaries, were picking their way on foot through the black mud

and offal of his streets, Madame Defarge spoke to her husband:

"Say then, my friend; what did Jacques of the police tell thee?"

"Very little to-night, but all he knows. There is another spy

commissioned for our quarter. There may be many more, for all

that he can say, but he knows of one."