Crossing the PARVIS of the cathedral, which I remembered, we plunged in silence into an obscure street near the river, and so narrow that the decrepit houses shut out almost all view of the sky.

The gloom of our surroundings, no less than my ignorance of the errand on which we were bound, filled me with anxiety and foreboding.

My companions keeping strict silence, however, and taking every precaution to avoid being recognised, I had no choice but to do likewise.
I could think, and no more.

I felt myself borne along by an irresistible current, whither and for what purpose I could not tell; an experience to an extent strange at my age the influence of the night and the weather.
Twice we stood aside to let a party of roisterers go by, and the excessive care M.de Rambouillet evinced on these occasions to avoid recognition did not tend to reassure me or make me think more lightly of the unknown business on which I was bound.
Reaching at last an open space, our leader bade us in a low voice be careful and follow him closely.

We did so and crossed in this way and in single file a narrow plank or wooden bridge; but whether water ran below or a dry ditch only, I could not determine.