nt expects you to stop here; there is a chamber prepared for
you,' said the cure as we took our seats at table. 'He has evidently
taken a fancy to you. I thought, indeed I was quite certain, he would.
Who can tell what good fortune this chance meeting may lead to, Monsieur
Maurice! _A votre sante, mon cher!_' cried he, as he clinked his
champagne glass against mine; and I at last began to think that destiny
was about to smile on me.

'You should see his chateau in the Ardeche; this is nothing to it! There
is a forest, too, of native oak, and a _chasse_ such as royalty never
owned!'

Mine were delightful dreams that night; but I was sorely disappointed
on waking to find that Laura was not riding at my side through a
forest-alley, while a crowd of _piqueurs_ and huntsmen galloped to and
fro, making the air vibrate with their joyous bugles. Still, I opened my
eyes in a richly furnished chamber, while a lackey handed me my coffee
on a silver stand, and in a cup of costliest Sevres.

CHAPTER XLIII. A FOREST RIDE

While I was dressing, a note was handed to me from the cure, apologising
for his departure without seeing me, and begging, as a great favour,
that I would not leave the chateau till his return. He said that the
count's spirits had benefited greatly by our agreeable converse,
and that he requested me to be his guest for some time to come. The
postscript added a suggestion that I should write down some of
the particulars of my visit to Ettenheim, but particularly of that
conversation alluding to the meditated assassination of Bonaparte.

There were many points in the arrangement which I did not like. To
begin, I had no fancy whatever for the condition of a dependant, and
such my poverty would at once stamp me. Secondly, I was averse to this
frequent intercourse with men of the Royalist party, whose restless
character and unceasing schemes were opposed to all the principles of
those I had served under; and finally, I was growing impatient under the
listless vacuity of a life that gave no occupation, nor opened any view
for the future. I sat down to breakfast in a mood very little in unison
with the material enjoyments around me. The meal was all that could
tempt appetite; and the view from the open window displayed a beautiful
flower-garden, imperceptibly fading away into a maze of ornamental
planting, which was backed again by a deep forest, the well-known wood
of Belleville. Still I ate on sullenly, scarce