Summary
Frollo purchases a dark cloak and waits outside the cabaret where Jehan and Phoebus are drinking. At seven o'clock the two companions emerge. Jehan is quite drunk but Phoebus retains his wits and insists that he must depart for his meeting with the gypsy girl. Phoebus asks his friend to give him some money so he can pay the old woman at the house he intends to take the gypsy but Jehan is too drunk to understand and collapses on the ground. Phoebus leans him against a dung heap where he commences snoring. The cloaked priest hesitates over the form of his unconscious brother and then follows the soldier down the street. He catches up to Phoebus and the cloaked visage alarms the soldier. Phoebus is further surprised when the figure knows his name and tells him that he has a meeting with a woman that night, but surprise turns to anger when the cloaked figure accuses him of lying when he says that the woman is Esmeralda. Phoebus draws his sword to defend his honor but the cloaked man reminds him that he has a woman to meet and that they might duel at another time. Phoebus recollects his purpose and then laments that he has no money to pay the old woman for the room. The cloaked figure gives him a large coin and asks in return to hide in the room so he can observe if the woman is truly Esmeralda. Phoebus readily agrees. At the house an old woman opens the door to them and takes the coin from Phoebus and places it in a drawer. While none is looking a small mischievous child of the house replaces the coin with a dried leaf. Upstairs, Phoebus directs the cloaked man to a nook that observes the room and the priest enters and hears the bolt closed behind him.
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