ing post whence his libertine glance plunged into all the openings
of Fleur-de-Lys's gorget. This gorget gaped so conveniently, and allowed
him to see so many exquisite things and to divine so many more, that
Phoebus, dazzled by this skin with its gleams of satin, said to himself,
"How can any one love anything but a fair skin?"

Both were silent. The young girl raised sweet, enraptured eyes to him
from time to time, and their hair mingled in a ray of spring sunshine.

"Phoebus," said Fleur-de-Lys suddenly, in a low voice, "we are to be
married three months hence; swear to me that you have never loved any
other woman than myself."

"I swear it, fair angel!" replied Phoebus, and his passionate glances
aided the sincere tone of his voice in convincing Fleur-de-Lys.

Meanwhile, the good mother, charmed to see the betrothed pair on terms
of such perfect understanding, had just quitted the apartment to attend
to some domestic matter; Phoebus observed it, and this so emboldened
the adventurous captain that very strange ideas mounted to his brain.
Fleur-de-Lys loved him, he was her betrothed; she was alone with him;
his former taste for her had re-awakened, not with all its fresh-ness
but with all its ardor; after all, there is no great harm in tasting
one's wheat while it is still in the blade; I do not know whether
these ideas passed through his mind, but one thing is certain, that
Fleur-de-Lys was suddenly alarmed by the expression of his glance. She
looked round and saw that her mother was no longer there.

"Good heavens!" said she, blushing and uneasy, "how very warm I am?"

"I think, in fact," replied Phoebus, "that it cannot be far from midday.
The sun is troublesome. We need only lower the curtains."

"No, no," exclaimed the poor little thing, "on the contrary, I need
air."

And like a fawn who feels the breath of the pack of hounds, she rose,
ran to the window, opened it, and rushed upon the balcony.

Phoebus, much discomfited, followed her.

The Place du Parvis Notre-Dame, upon which the balcony looked, as the
reader knows, presented at that moment a singular and sinister spectacle
which caused the fright of the timid Fleur-de-Lys to change its nature.

An immense crowd, which overflowed into all the neighboring streets,
encumbered the Place, properly speaking. The little wall, breast high,
which surrounded the Place, would not have sufficed to keep it free
had it not been lined with a thick hedge of ser