ng the time
she was passing through the center of 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 the 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, 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 Le
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, crossing the square at
full gallop, a young man on