r than I do," he added briskly. "I am a poor man.
I only wish to live at peace with my neighbours, whether they go to
mass or sermon."

This was a sentiment so common in those days and so heartily echoed by
most men of substance both in town and country, that we did not stay to
assent to it; but having received from the worthy fellow a token which
would insure our obtaining fresh cattle at Limoges, we took to the road
again, refreshed in body, and with some food for thought.

Five-and-twenty attendants were more than even such a man as Bezers,
who had many enemies, travelled with in those days; unless accompanied
by ladies. That the Vidame had provided such a reinforcement seemed to
point to a wider scheme than the one with which we had credited him.
But we could not guess what his plans were; since he must have ordered
his people before he heard of Catherine's engagement. Either his
jealousy therefore had put him on the alert earlier, or his threatened
attack on Pavannes was only part of a larger plot. In either case our
errand seemed more urgent, but scarcely more hopeful.

The varied sights and sounds however of the road--many of them new to
us--kept us from dwelling over much on this. Our eyes were young, and
whether it was a pretty girl lingering behind a troop of gipsies, or a
pair of strollers from Valencia--JONGLEURS they still called
themselves--singing in the old dialect of Provence, or a Norman
horse-dealer with his string of cattle tied head and tail, or the Puy
de Dome to the eastward over the Auvergne hills, or a tattered old
soldier wounded in the wars--fighting for either side, according as
their lordships inclined--we were pleased with all.

Yet we never forgot our errand. We never I think rose in the
morning--too often stiff and sore--without thinking "To-day or
to-morrow or the next day--" as the case might be--"we shall make all
right for Kit!" For Kit! Perhaps it was the purest enthusiasm we were
ever to feel, the least selfish aim we were ever to pursue. For Kit!

Meanwhile we met few travellers of rank on the road. Half the nobility
of France were still in Paris enjoying the festivities which were being
held to mark the royal marriage. We obtained horses where we needed
them without difficulty. And though we had heard much of the dangers
of the way, infested as it was said to be by disbanded troopers, we
were not once stopped or annoyed.

But it is not my intention to chronicle a