a cupboard.

We knew nothing about this; and as the castle contained splendid rooms,
the ladies amused themselves by dancing and music to make them forget the
boredom of their journey.

The King looked in upon us every now and then, saying, in a low voice,
"Ah! if you only knew what I know!"

And then he would go off, laughing in his sleeve. We did not get to know
about this corpse until five or six days afterwards, when we were a long
way off, and the discovery greatly shocked us.

The day we left Sainte Marie aux Mines, a little German sovereign came to
present his homage to the King. It was the Prince de Mont-Beliard, of
Wurtemberg, whom I had previously met in Paris, on the occasion of his
marriage with Marechal de Chatillon's charming daughter. The luxurious
splendour of Saint Germain and Versailles had certainly not yet succeeded
in turning the heads of these German sovereigns. This particular one
wore a large buff doublet with big copper-gilt buttons. His cravat was
without either ribbons or lace. His rather short hair was roughly combed
over his forehead; he carried no sword, and instead of gold buckles or
clasps, he had little bows of red leather on his black velvet shoes. His
coach, entirely black, was still of old-fashioned make; that is to say,
studded with quantities of gilt nails. Wearing mourning for the Empress,
his six horses were richly, caparisoned, his four lackeys wearing yellow
liveries faced with red. An escort of twenty guardsmen, dressed
similarly, was in attendance; they seemed to be well mounted, and were
handsome fellows.

A second carriage of prodigious size followed the ducal conveyance; in
this were twelve ladies and gentlemen, who got out and made their
obeisance to the King and Queen.

The Prince de Mont-Beliard did not get into his coach again until ours
were in motion. He spoke French fairly well, and the little he said was
said with much grace. He looked very hard at me, which shocked the Queen
greatly, but not the King.

A little further on, their Majesties were greeted by the delegates of the
noble chapter of Strasburg. These comprised the Count of Manderhall and
two canons. What canons, too! And how astonished we were!

The old Count was dressed in a black cassock, and his hair looked
somewhat like a cleric's, but his cravat was tied with a large
flame-coloured bow, and he wore ill-fitting hose of the same hue. As for
the two canons, they were pleasant young men, good-loo