And while he trembled, he had to reflect, to think, to form some plan.
In the town was no place for him, and short of the open country no safety.

And how could he gain the open country?
If he succeeded in reaching one of the gates--St.Antoine, or St.Denis, in itself a task of difficulty--it would only be to find the gate closed, and the guard on the alert.

At last it flashed on him that he might cross the river; and at the notion hope awoke.

It was possible that the massacre had not extended to the southern suburb; possible, that if it had, the Huguenots who lay there--Frontenay, and Montgomery, and Chartres, with the men of the North--might be strong enough to check it, and even to turn the tables on the Parisians.
His colour returned.

He was no coward, as soldiers go; if it came to fighting he had courage enough.