Page:An adventure (1911).pdf/98

 admit a coach. The present one is narrower and further to the west.

In 1907, we read a note by M. de Nolhac in Les Consignes de Marie Antoinette in which he says that the old porte de la ménagerie which must have led from the avenue to the French garden is now lost, but that it must have been "tout auprès des bâtiments de la Conciergerie et des cuisines." We thought that perhaps it was the one we went by, and on looking at Mique's map of 1783 found a broad road dividing the kitchen court into two parts. At present solid continuous buildings on the two sides of the kitchen court show no sign of an entrance, though in two places the roofs have a difference of level.

In April, 1909, a Frenchman, who sold prints and seemed to be a specialist in maps, said that Mique's map was the only authoritative one.

In September, 1910, we learned from the first authority that Mique's map was "exact": that the road found in it had certainly existed, and its position relatively to the pond in the French garden was explained. A search for some sign of it was at once made, and success-