the
window was slowly drawn down, the clasped hands not parting till the last
moment.

The black horse had all the while been pawing the earth, tossing his head
with impatience, and whinnying. Cinq-Mars, as agitated and restless as
his steed, gave it the rein; and the whole party was soon near the city
of Tours, which the bells of St. Gatien had announced from afar. To the
disappointment of old Grandchamp, Cinq-Mars would not enter the town, but
proceeded on his way, and five days later he entered, with his escort,
the old city of Loudun in Poitou, after an uneventful journey.

CHAPTER II

THE STREET

Je m'avancais d'un pas penible et mal assure vers le but
de ce convoi tragique.--NODIER, 'Smarra'.

The reign of which we are about to paint a few years--a reign of
feebleness, which was like an eclipse of the crown between the splendors
of Henri IV and those of Louis le Grand--afflicts the eyes which
contemplate it with dark stains of blood, and these were not all the work
of one man, but were caused by great and grave bodies. It is melancholy
to observe that in this age, still full of disorder, the clergy, like a
nation, had its populace, as it had its nobility, its ignorant and its
criminal prelates, as well as those who were learned and virtuous. Since
that time, its remnant of barbarism has been refined away by the long
reign of Louis XIV, and its corruptions have been washed out in the blood
of the martyrs whom it offered up to the revolution of 1793.

We felt it necessary to pause for a moment to express this reflection
before entering upon the recital of the facts presented by the history of
this period, and to intimate that, notwithstanding this consolatory
reflection, we have found it incumbent upon us to pass over many details
too odious to occupy a place in our pages, sighing in spirit at those
guilty acts which it was necessary to record, as in relating the life of
a virtuous old man, we should lament over the impetuosities of his
passionate youth, or over the corrupt tendencies of his riper age.

When the cavalcade entered the narrow streets of Loudun, they heard
strange noises all around them. The streets were filled with agitated
masses; the bells of the church and of the convent were ringing
furiously, as if the town was in flames; and the whole population,
without paying any attention to the travellers, was pressing tumultuously
toward a large edifice that adjoined the church. Here