It was fitting that the cream of the enterprise should be reserved for me, Anne de Caylus.
And to what might it not lead?
In fancy I saw myself already a duke and peer of France--already I held the baton.
Yet while I exulted boyishly, I did not forget what I was about.

I kept my eyes open, and soon remarked that the number of people passing to and fro in the dark streets had much increased within the last half hour.

The silence in which in groups or singly these figures stole by me was very striking.

I heard no brawling, fighting or singing; yet if it were too late for these things, why were so many people up and about?
I began to count presently, and found that at least half of those I met wore badges in their hats and on their arms, similar to mine, and that they all moved with a businesslike air, as if bound for some rendezvous.
I was not a fool, though I was young, and in some matters less quick than Croisette.

The hints which had been dropped by so many had not been lost on me.