I looked to make the journey to Rosny in two days.But the heaviness of the roads and the sorry condition of my hackney hindered me so greatly that I lay the second night at Dreux,and,hearing the way was still worse between that place and my destination,began to think that I should be fortunate if Ireached Rosny by the following noon.The country in this part seemed devoted to the League,the feeling increasing in violence as I approached the Seine.I heard nothing save abuse of the King of France and praise of the Guise princes,and had much ado,keeping a still tongue and riding modestly,to pass without molestation or inquiry.
Drawing near to Rosny,on the third morning,through a low marshy country covered with woods and alive with game of all kinds,Ibegan to occupy myself with thoughts of the reception I was likely to encounter;which,I conjectured,would be none of the most pleasant.The daring and vigour of the Baron de Rosny,who had at this time the reputation of being in all parts of France at once,and the familiar terms on which he was known to live with the King of Navarre,gave me small reason to hope that he would listen with indulgence to such a tale as I had to tell.
The nearer I came to the hour of telling it,indeed,the more improbable seemed some of its parts,and the more glaring my own carelessness in losing the token,and in letting mademoiselle out of my sight in such a place as Blois.I saw this so clearly now,and more clearly as the morning advanced,that I do not know that I ever anticipated anything with more fear than this explanation;which it yet seemed my duty to offer with all reasonable speed.
The morning was warm,I remember;cloudy,yet not dark;the air near at hand full of moisture and very clear,with a circle of mist rising some way off,and filling the woods with blue distances.The road was deep and foundrous,and as I was obliged to leave it from time to time in order to pass the worst places,I presently began to fear that I had strayed into a by-road.
After advancing some distance,in doubt whether I should persevere or turn back,I was glad to see before me a small house placed at the junction of several woodland paths.From the bush which hung over the door,and a water-trough which stood beside it,I judged the place to be an inn;and determining to get my horse fed before I went farther,I rode up to the door and rapped on it with my riding-switch.
The position of the house was so remote that I was surprised to see three or four heads thrust immediately out of a window.For a moment I thought I should have done better to have passed by;but the landlord coming out very civilly,and leading the way to a shed beside the house,I reflected that I had little to lose,and followed him.I found,as I expected,four horses tied up in the shed,the bits hanging round their necks and their girths loosed;while my surprise was not lessened by the arrival,before I had fastened up my own horse,of a sixth rider,who,seeing us by the shed,rode up to us,and saluted me as he dismounted.
He was a tall,strong man in the prime of youth,wearing a plain,almost mean suit of dust-coloured leather,and carrying no weapons except a hunting-knife,which hung in a sheath at his girdle.He rode a powerful silver-roan horse,and was splashed to the top of his high untanned boots,as if he had come by the worst of paths,if by any.
He cast a shrewd glance at the landlord as he led his horse into the shed;and I judged from his brown complexion and quick eyes that he had seen much weather and lived an out-of-door life.
He watched me somewhat curiously while I mixed the fodder for my horse;and when I went into the house and sat down in the first room I came to,to eat a little bread-and-cheese which I had in my pouch,he joined me almost immediately.Apparently he could not stomach my poor fare,however,for after watching me for a time in silence,switching his boot with his whip the while,he called the landlord,and asked him,in a masterful way,what fresh meat he had,and particularly if he had any lean collops,or a fowl.
The fellow answered that there was nothing.His honour could have some Lisieux cheese,he added,or some stewed lentils.
'His honour does not want cheese,'the stranger answered peevishly,'nor lentil porridge.And what is this I smell,my friend?'he continued,beginning suddenly to sniff with vigour.
'I swear I smell cooking.'
'It is the hind-quarter of a buck,which is cooking for the four gentlemen of the Robe;with a collop or two to follow,'the landlord explained;and humbly excused himself on the ground that the gentlemen had strictly engaged it for their own eating.
'What?A whole quarter!AND a collop or two to follow!'the stranger retorted,smacking his lips.'Who are they?'
'Two advocates and their clerks from the Parliament of Paris.
They have been viewing a boundary near here,and are returning this afternoon,'the landlord answered.
'No reason why they should cause a famine!'ejaculated the stranger with energy.'Go to them and say a gentleman,who has ridden far,and fasted since seven this morning,requests permission to sit at their table.A quarter of venison and a collop or two among four!'he continued,in a tone of extreme disgust,'It is intolerable!And advocates!Why,at that rate,the King of France should eat a whole buck,and rise hungry!
Don't you agree with me,sir?'he continued,turning on me and putting the question abruptly.
He was so comically and yet so seriously angry,and looked so closely at me as he spoke,that I hastened to say I agreed with him perfectly.
'Yet you eat cheese,sir!'he retorted irritably.
I saw that,not withstanding the simplicity of his dress,he was a gentleman,and so,forbearing to take offence,I told him plainly that my purse being light I travelled rather as I could than as I would.
