"Count Devereux," said the merry Regent, "you will enter; my duty
requires that, at this seductive hour, I should see a young gentleman of
your dangerous age safely lodged at his hotel!"

We entered, Chatran gave the orders, and we drove off rapidly.

The Regent hummed a tune, and his two companions listened to it in
respectful silence.

"Well, well, Messieurs," said he, bursting out at last into open voice,
"I will ever believe, in future, that the gods _do_ look benignantly on
us worshippers of the Alma Venus! Do you know much of Tibullus, Monsieur
Devereux? And can you assist my memory with the continuation of the
line--

"'Quisquis amore tenetur, eat--'"

"'tutusque sacerque
Qualibet, insidias non timuisse decet,'"*

answered I.

* "Whosoever is possessed by Love may go safe and holy withersoever he
likes. It becomes not him to fear snares."

"_Bon_!" cried the Duke. "I love a gentleman, from my very soul, when
he can both fight well and read Latin! I hate a man who is merely a
winebibber and blade-drawer. By Saint Louis, though it is an excellent
thing to fill the stomach, especially with Tokay, yet there is no reason
in the world why we should not fill the head too. But here we are.
Adieu, Monsieur Devereux: we shall see you at the Palace."

I expressed my thanks briefly at the Regent's condescension, descended
from the carriage (which instantly drove off with renewed celerity), and
once more entered my hotel.

Two or three days after my adventure with the Regent, I thought it
expedient to favour that eccentric prince with a visit. During the early
part of his regency, it is well known how successfully he combated with
his natural indolence, and how devotedly his mornings were surrendered
to the toils of his new office; but when pleasure has grown habit, it
requires a stronger mind than that of Philippe le Debonnaire to give it
a permanent successor in business. Pleasure is, indeed, like the genius
of the fable, the most useful of slaves, while you subdue it; the most
intolerable of tyrants the moment your negligence suffers it to subdue
you.

The hours in which the Prince gave audience to the comrades of his
lighter rather than graver occupations were those immediately before and
after his _levee_. I thought that this would be the best season for
me to present myself. Accordingly, one morning after the _levee_, I
repaired to his palace.

The ante-chamber was already crow