After having run for some time at the top of his speed, without knowing whither, knocking his head against many a street corner, leaping many a gutter, traversing many an alley, many a court, many a square, seeking flight and passage through all the meanderings of the ancient passages of the Halles, exploring in his panic terror what the fine Latin of the maps calls ~tota via, cheminum et viaria~, our poet suddenly halted for lack of breath in the first place, and in the second, because he had been collared, after a fashion, by a dilemma which had just occurred to his mind.
Après avoir couru à toutes jambes pendant quelque temps, sans savoir où, donnant de la tête à maint coin de rue, enjambant maint ruisseau, traversant mainte ruelle, maint cul-de-sac, maint carrefour, cherchant fuite et passage à travers tous les méandres du vieux pavé des Halles, explorant dans sa peur panique ce que le beau latin des chartes appelle tota via, cheminum et viaria, notre poète s’arrêta tout à coup, d’essoufflement d’abord, puis saisi en quelque sorte au collet par un dilemme qui venait de surgir dans son esprit.