ger of trying to go through Saint-Just again, I resolved to
risk it, and to get to Marseilles at all costs. So, turning to M____, I
said:

"'You can remain here without danger until the evening, but I am going to
Marseilles at once; for I cannot endure this uncertainty any longer. If
I find Saint-Just clear, I shall come back and rejoin you, but if not I
shall get away as best I can alone.'

"Knowing the danger that we were running, and how little chance there was
that we should ever see each other again, he held out his hand to me, but
I threw myself into his arms and gave him a last embrace.

"I started at once: when I reached Saint-Just I found the freebooters
still there; so I walked up to them, trolling a melody, but one of them
seized me by the collar and two others took aim at me with their muskets.

"If ever in my life I shouted 'Long live the king!' with less enthusiasm
than the cry deserves, it was then: to assume a rollicking air, to laugh
with cool carelessness when there is nothing between you and death but
the more or less strong pressure of a highwayman's finger on the trigger
of a musket, is no easy task; but all this I accomplished, and once more
got through the village with a whole skin indeed, but with the
unalterable resolution to blow my brains out rather than again try such
an experiment.

"Having now a village behind me which I had vowed never to re-enter, and
there being no road available by which I could hope to get round
Marseilles, the only course open to me was to make my way into the city.
At that moment this was a thing of difficulty, for many small bodies of
troops, wearing the white cockade, infested the approaches. I soon
perceived that the danger of getting in was as great as ever, so I
determined to walk up and down till night, hoping the darkness would come
to my aid; but one of the patrols soon gave me to understand that my
prowling about had aroused suspicion, and ordered me either to go on to
the city, in which by all accounts there was small chance of safety for
me, or back to the village; where certain death awaited me. A happy
inspiration flashed across my mind, I would get some refreshment, and
seeing an inn near by, I went in and ordered a mug of beer, sitting down
near the window, faintly hoping that before the necessity for a final
decision arrived, someone who knew me would pass by. After waiting half
an hour, I did indeed see an acquaintance--no other than M______,