The life of little Rene Legrand was simple and pleasant. He adored his father, loved to sit in a corner and watch how he cut gloves from thin dyed leather according to patterns, and then sewed them together on some mysterious device. Rene liked to look at the richly dressed ladies who sometimes appeared in their modest house. The ladies, rustling their skirts, approached the table, on which a lot of multi-colored gloves were laid out, chose the best pair for a long time, argued, laughed. They took away the gloves, giving their father in return copper and even silver coins with a minted profile of the king, and left, each time leaving behind a unique, mysterious aroma. Mysterious music sounded for Rene the words "livre", "denier", "su". “Someday,” he thought, “Genevieve will grow up and become such a beautiful lady, I will marry her and give her all my father's gloves.”He loved little Genevieve as much as his father. And although she was born only four weeks after him, René was accust

But Rene did not remain in debt, he told Philip about his father, about friends, about the house. But most often - about Genevieve.“I really want to meet her,” Philip said once. She must be extraordinary.- Well, let's choose the time and go home together, - Rene was delighted.Philip nodded eagerly.The friendship between Rene and Philip grew stronger day by day. In the classroom they sat on the same bench, during the exercises they always became a couple, and they even moved their beds in the barracks so that it was more convenient to whisper at night, which gave rise to Jacques Tillon's greasy grins. Graceful Philip aroused contempt in him, but he did not dare to say it out loud: being a nobleman, Leroy fenced beautifully.On the Sunday after Mass, René took Philippe to visit his father. Claude joyfully greeted his son's new friend, it was noticeable that Philip fell in love with him. “It was not in vain that I dreamed of sending Rene to a military school,” thought the pleased fat

Philip was actively stomping upstairs, looking for a place to tie a rope. He pulled back the bolt and lifted the hatch. The basement is a little brighter.- Grab a candle, - Rene shouted.- Yes.Finally, the preparations were completed, grabbing the rope, Philip squeezed through the hatch and began to slowly descend. In a few moments his feet touched the hard floor. Pulling two candles out of his bag, he lit them and handed one to Rene.- Be careful, watch your feet.The flickering flame of candles lit up a huge basement, obviously larger than the house itself. The damp, stale air made it hard to breathe.“Wow, look, it looks like the knights were training here.Indeed, the floor was littered with broken pieces of swords and halberds, a rotten straw man for training stood in the corner, next to it was a weapon rack. Cautiously stepping, friends moved in different directions. Rene walked along the wall, looking with curiosity at everything that caught his eye, afraid to miss any little

They did not imagine how terrible it would be for them in the dark night forest. The thought of having a Grim House nearby with a skeleton in the basement made me shudder. But the thirst for adventure, the eternal companion of the boys at all times, stubbornly drove them forward.It was decided to bypass the abbey from behind. They walked slowly, constantly stumbling and clinging to the thorns with their cloaks. It was quiet, the cry of a night bird or the crackling of a fallen branch made them flinch. Philip involuntarily switched to a whisper.- The tomb is in the basilica, we saw it last time. You need to climb over the wall and crawl to it.- Fine.They made their way through the thickets and came to a wall. It was not possible to throw a rope ladder on the wall - it was even and had practically no protrusions. Then Rene climbed a tree and from it climbed a thick branch to the wall. Catching his breath, he tossed the end of the ladder to Philip. A minute later, both jumped off the

Returning to the barracks, René attacked Tillon with his fists. Philip pulled his friend away and, turning to Jacques, said coldly:- Would you like to fight me with swords?Tillon looked at him with hatred, spat at his feet and wandered away, muttering through his teeth:- Yes, you went!Rene, catching his breath with difficulty, shook his fist after him:- Get me some more...In the spring, Rene and Philip made several trips to the Gloomy House, trying to bypass the forest from the west and find any indication of the location of the treasure. But nothing came of them, the forest around the abbey was huge, and no matter how hard the boys tried to get around it, they did not succeed. Sighing, friends decided to postpone the search until better times.At the beginning of the summer, Philip received a note and, after reading it, rushed off somewhere without saying anything to anyone. Toward evening he flew into the room where René was sitting, his eyes round with excitement.- Michel an