If your master be a friend of his, as may very probably be the case, you will run the risk of getting into trouble." I thought I heard, as I stopped speaking, a subdued muttering, and fancied I caught the words, "PAPEGOT! Down with the Guises!" But the spokesman's only answer aloud was "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" he repeated, flapping his arms in defiance.

"Here is a cock of a fine hackle!" And so on, and so forth, while he turned grinning to his companions, looking for their applause.
I was itching to chastise him, and yet hesitating, lest the thing should have its serious side, when a new actor appeared.

"Shame, you brutes!" cried a shrill voice above us in the clouds it seemed.

I looked up, and saw two girls, coarse and handsome, standing at a window over the stable, a light between them.

"For shame! Don't you see that they are mere children?
Let them be," cried one.
The men laughed louder than ever; and for me, I could not stand by and be called a child.