"I'll crown the victor!" cried Montigny as he ran and "I'll console
the vanquished!" shouted Jehan le Loup, as he brought up the rear of
the road and vanished, clattering, into the night. Only Huguette
remained of all the fellowship, and she turned instinctively to
Villon when he crouched over the dying fire.
"Will you come, Fran?ois?" she whispered softly. Villon lifted his
head for a moment from his hands to signify a refusal.
"Nay, I am reading."
Huguette blazed out at him a fierce "You lie!" which failed to move
the poet from his melancholy resolve.
"A man may read without book," he said. "Go your ways, girl, and
skelp both the hussies!" He drooped into a dejected heap again,
oblivious of the girl, who looked at him half sadly, half angrily
for an instant, and then disappeared in her turn into the causeway,
calling upon her knavish heralds to wait for her.
Robin Turgis, shutting the door after her with a sigh of
satisfaction, retired to his own quarters to seek sleep until custom
should return. Louie and Tristan, deep in their cards, paid little
heed to anything else.
"Your barber tarries," Tristan said, after a panse.
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