ir gaping told me that it was not without effect. The men looked
uneasily at the Chevalier; the Chevalier looked uneasily at his men;
mademoiselle, very pale, lowered her eyes and pressed her lips yet more
tightly; the Vicomtesse uttered an oath of astonishment; whilst Lavedan,
too dignified to manifest surprise, greeted me with a sober bow.

Behind them on the steps I caught sight of a group of domestics, old
Anatole standing slightly in advance of his fellows, and wondering, no
doubt, whether this were, indeed, the bedraggled Lesperon of a little
while ago--for if I had thought of pomp in the display of my lacqueys,
no less had I considered it in the decking of my own person. Without
any of the ribbons and fopperies that mark the coxcomb, yet was I clad,
plumed, and armed with a magnificence such as I'll swear had not been
seen within the grey walls of that old castle in the lifetime of any of
those that were now present.

Gilles leapt from his horse as I drew rein, and hastened to hold
my stirrup, with a murmured "Monsieur," which title drew a fresh
astonishment into the eyes of the beholders.

I advanced leisurely towards Saint-Eustache, and addressed him with such
condescension as I might a groom, to impress and quell a man of this
type your best weapon is the arrogance that a nobler spirit would
resent.

"A world of odd meetings this, Saint-Eustache," I smiled disdainfully.
"A world of strange comings and goings, and of strange transformations.
The last time we were here we stood mutually as guests of Monsieur le
Vicomte; at present you appear to be officiating as a--a tipstaff."

"Monsieur!" He coloured, and he uttered the word in accents of awakening
resentment. I looked into his eyes, coldly, impassively, as if waiting
to hear what he might have to add, and so I stayed until his glance fell
and his spirit was frozen in him. He knew me, and he knew how much I was
to be feared. A word from me to the King might send him to the wheel.
It was upon this I played. Presently, as his eye fell, "Is your business
with me, Monsieur de Bardelys?" he asked, and at that utterance of my
name there was a commotion on the steps, whilst the Vicomte started, and
his eyes frowned upon me, and the Vicomtesse looked up suddenly to scan
me with a fresh interest. She beheld at last in the flesh the gentleman
who had played so notorious a part, ten years ago, in that scandal
connected with the Duchesse de Bourgogne, of which she nev