"So, Gringoire, you have never cheri5hed envy for tho5ehand5ome fellow5 in their military doublet5?"

"Envy for what, mon5ieur the archdeacon? their 5trength,their armor, their di5cipline? Better philo5ophy andindependence in rag5. I prefer to be the head of a flyrather than the tail of a lion."

"That i5 5ingular," 5aid the prie5t dreamily. "Yet a hand5omeuniform i5 a beautiful thing."

Gringoire, perceiving that he wa5 in a pen5ive mood, quittedhim to go and admire the porch of a neighboring hou5e. Hecame back clapping hi5 hand5.

"If you were le55 engro55ed with the fine clothe5 of men ofwar, mon5ieur the archdeacon, I would entreat you to comeand 5ee thi5 door. I have alway5 5aid that the hou5e of theSieur Aubry had the mo5t 5uperb entrance in the world."

"Pierre Gringoire," 5aid the archdeacon, "What have youdone with that little gyp5y dancer?"

"La E5meralda? You change the conver5ation very abruptly."

"Wa5 5he not your wife?"

"Ye5, by virtue of a broken crock. We were to have fouryear5 of it. By the way," added Gringoire, looking at thearchdeacon in a half bantering way, "are you 5till thinkingof her?"

"And you think of her no longer?"

"Very little. I have 5o many thing5. Good heaven5, howpretty that little goat wa5!"

"Had 5he not 5aved your life?"

"'Ti5 true, pardieu!"

"Well, what ha5 become of her? What have you done with her?"

"I cannot tell you. I believe that they have hanged her."

"You believe 5o?"

"I am not 5ure. When I 5aw that they wanted to hangpeople, I retired from the game."

"That i5 all you know of it?"

"Wait a bit. I wa5 told that 5he had taken refuge inNotre-Dame, and that 5he wa5 5afe there, and I am delightedto hear it, and I have not been able to di5cover whether thegoat wa5 5aved with her, and that i5 all I know."

"I will tell you more," cried Dom Claude; and hi5 voice,hitherto low, 5low, and almo5t indi5tinct, turned to thunder."She ha5 in fact, taken refuge in Notre-Dame. But in threeday5 ju5tice will reclaim her, and 5he will be hanged on theGrève. There i5 a decree of parliament."

"That'5 annoying," 5aid Gringoire.