own precarious situation, the worthy
executioners of the Provost's mandates adapted their rope and pulley for
putting in force the sentence which had been uttered against Galeotti by
the captive Monarch--seeming to rejoice that that last action was to be
one so consistent with their past lives. Tristan l'Hermite sat eyeing
their proceedings with a species of satisfaction; while Oliver paid no
attention to them whatever; and Ludovic Lesly, if, awaked by the bustle,
he looked upon them at all, considered them as engaged in matters
entirely unconnected with his own duty, and for which he was not to be
regarded as responsible in one way or other.

CHAPTER XXIX: RECRIMINATION

Thy time is not yet out--the devil thou servest
Has not as yet deserted thee. He aids
The friends who drudge for him, as the blind man
Was aided by the guide, who lent his shoulder
O'er rough and smooth, until he reached the brink
Of the fell precipice--then hurl'd him downward.

OLD PLAY

When obeying the command, or rather the request of Louis--for he was
in circumstances in which, though a monarch, he could only request Le
Glorieux to go in search of Martius Galeotti--the jester had no trouble
in executing his commission, betaking himself at once to the best tavern
in Peronne, of which he himself was rather more than an occasional
frequenter, being a great admirer of that species of liquor which
reduced all other men's brains to a level with his own.

He found, or rather observed, the Astrologer in the corner of the public
drinking room--stove, as it is called in German and Flemish, from
its principal furniture--sitting in close colloquy with a female in
a singular and something like a Moorish or Asiatic garb, who, as Le
Glorieux approached Martius, rose as in the act to depart.

"These," said the stranger, "are news upon which you may rely with
absolute certainty," and with that disappeared among the crowd of guests
who sat grouped at different tables in the apartment.

"Cousin Philosopher," said the jester, presenting himself, "Heaven no
sooner relieves one sentinel than it sends another to supply the place.
One fool being gone, here I come another, to guide you to the apartments
of Louis of France."

"And art thou the messenger?" said Martius, gazing on him with prompt
apprehension, and discovering at once the jester's quality, though less
intimated, as we have before noticed, than was usual, by