THE FIFTY PISTOLES OF MONSIEUR LE VICOMTE The roisterers went their devious ways, sobered and subdued.

So deep was their distraction that the watch passed unmolested.

Usually a rout was rounded out and finished by robbing the watch of their staffs and lanterns; by singing in front of the hotel of the mayor or the episcopal palace; by yielding to any extravagant whim suggested by mischief.

But to-night mischief itself was quiet and uninventive.

Had there been a violent death among them, the roisterers would have accepted the event with drunken philosophy.