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Situate in the crowded quarter of the butchers, and almost in the shadow

of their famous church, this street--which farther north was continued in

the Rue Qui of

poverty and wealth On one side of the street a row of lofty gabled

houses, built under Francis the First, sheltered persons of good

condition; on the other, divided fro kennel, a row of peat-houses, the hovels of cobblers and

sausage-ainst shapeless timber houses which tottered

upwards in a nonville

was strange to the place, and nine nights out of ten he would have been

at a disadvantage But, thanks to the tapers that to-night shone in h to see that he need search only the one side;

and with a beating heart he passed along the row of newer houses, looking

eagerly for the sign of the Golden Maid

He found it at last; and then for a moment he stood puzzled The note

said, next door to the Golden Maid, but it did not say on which side He

scrutinised the nearer house, but he saw nothing to deterht sight of two men, who,

ambushed behind a horse-block on the opposite side of the roadway, see his movements Their presence flurried hilance at the houses showed him that the door of the

farther one was unlatched It stood slightly ajar, perht to escape into the street

He stepped quickly to it--the sooner he ithin the house the

better--pushed the door open and entered As soon as he was inside he