from the forest; and, being taken up and repeated, and confirmed, as
many thought, by the unhappy sequence of his death, the fable found a
little later almost universal credence, so that it may now be found
even in books.

As it happened, however, I was that day at Fontainebleau, and hunted
with the King; and, favoured both by chance and the confidence with
which my master never failed to honour me, am able not only to refute
this story, but to narrate the actual facts from which it took its
rise. And though there are some, I know, who boast that they had the
tale from the King's own mouth, I undertake to prove either that they
are romancers who seek to add an inch to their stature, or dull fellows
who placed their own interpretation on the hasty words he vouchsafed
such chatterers.

As a fact, the King, on that day wishing to discuss with me the
preparations for the Queen's entry, bade me keep close to him, since he
had more inclination for my company than the chase. But the crowd that
attended him was so large, the day being fine and warm--and comprised,
besides, so many ladies, whose badinage and gaiety he could never
forego--that I found him insensibly drawn from me. Far from being
displeased, I was glad to see him forget the moodiness which had of
late oppressed him; and beyond keeping within sight of him, gave up,
for the time, all thought of affairs, and found in the beauty of the
spectacle sufficient compensation. The bright dresses and waving
feathers of the party showed to the greatest advantage, as the long
cavalcade wound through the heather and rocks of the valley below the
Apremonts; and whether I looked to front or rear--on the huntsmen, with
their great horns, or the hounds straining in the leashes--I was
equally charmed with a sight at once joyous and gallant, and one to
which the calls of duty had of late made me a stranger.

On a sudden a quarry was started, and the company, galloping off
pell-mell, with a merry burst of music, were in a moment dispersed,
some taking this track, and others that, through the rocks and DEBRIS
that make that part of the forest difficult. Singling out the King, I
kept as near him as possible until the chase led us into the Apremont
coverts, where, the trees growing thickly, and the rides cut through
them being intricate, I lost him for a while. Again, however, I caught
sight of him flying down a ride bordered by dark-green box-trees,
against which his white huntin