Mathurin. Tabary, who seems to have been very much
Villon's creature, had ordered the supper in the course of
the afternoon. He was a man who had had troubles in his time
and languished in the Bishop of Paris's prisons on a
suspicion of picking locks; confiding, convivial, not very
astute - who had copied out a whole improper romance with his
own right hand. This supper-party was to be his first
introduction to De Cayeux and Petit-Jehan, which was probably
a matter of some concern to the poor man's muddy wits; in the
sequel, at least, he speaks of both with an undisguised
respect, based on professional inferiority in the matter of
picklocks. Dom Nicolas, a Picardy monk, was the fifth and
last at table. When supper had been despatched and fairly
washed down, we may suppose, with white Baigneux or red
Beaune, which were favourite wines among the fellowship,
Tabary was solemnly sworn over to secrecy on the night's
performances; and the party left the Mule and proceeded to an
unoccupied house belonging to Robert de Saint-Simon. This,
over a low wall, they entered without difficulty. All but
Tabary took off their upper garments; a ladder was found and
applied to the high wall which separated Saint-Simon's house
from the court of the College of Navarre; the four fellows in
their shirt-sleeves (as we might say) clambered over in a
twinkling; and Master Guy Tabary remained alone beside the
overcoats.
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