p she took. During the time
she was passing through the center of the town, and treading beneath her
delicate feet the richest carpets and the gayest flowers, which had been
strewn upon the ground, De Guiche and Raoul, escaping from their English
friends, hurried through the town and hastened rapidly towards the place
intended for the residence of Madame.

"Let us hurry forward," said Raoul to De Guiche, "for if I read
Buckingham's character aright, he will create some disturbance, when he
learns the result of our deliberations of yesterday."

"Never fear," said De Guiche, "De Wardes is there, who is determination
itself, while Manicamp is the very personification of artless
gentleness."

De Guiche was not, however, the less diligent on that account, and five
minutes afterwards they were within sight of the Hotel de Ville. The
first thing which struck them was the number of people assembled in
the square. "Excellent," said De Guiche; "our apartments, I see, are
prepared."

In fact, in front of the Hotel de Ville, upon the wide open space before
it, eight tents had been raised, surmounted by the flags of France and
England united. The hotel was surrounded by tents, as by a girdle of
variegated colors; ten pages and a dozen mounted troopers, who had been
given to the ambassadors, for an escort, mounted guard before the tents.
It had a singularly curious effect, almost fairy-like in its appearance.
These tents had been constructed during the night-time. Fitted up,
within and without, with the richest materials that De Guiche had been
able to procure in Havre, they completely encircled the Hotel de Ville.
The only passage which led to the steps of the hotel, and which was not
inclosed by the silken barricade, was guarded by two tents, resembling
two pavilions, the doorways of both of which opened towards the
entrance. These two tents were destined for De Guiche and Raoul; in
whose absence they were intended to be occupied, that of De Guiche by De
Wardes, and that of Raoul by Manicamp. Surrounding these two tents, and
the six others, a hundred officers, gentlemen, and pages, dazzling in
their display of silk and gold, thronged like bees buzzing about a hive.
Every one of them, their swords by their sides, was ready to obey the
slightest sign either of De Guiche or Bragelonne, the leaders of the
embassy.

At the very moment the two young men appeared at the end of one of the
streets leading to the square, they perceived