ty and affected silence, the young colonel
felt some embarrassment, and this increased when Chamillard, who had
accompanied him to his appointed place, left him to rejoin the king.
However, in a few moments he did what embarrassed people so often do, hid
his shyness under an air of disdain, and, leaning on the balustrade,
crossed his legs and played with the feather of his hat.

When half an hour had passed in this manner, a great commotion was heard:
Cavalier turned in the direction from which it came, and perceived the
king just entering the vestibule. It was the first time he had seen him,
but he recognized him at once. Cavalier's knees knocked together and his
face flushed.

The king mounted the stairs step by step with his usual dignity, stopping
from time to time to say a word or make a sign with head or hand. Behind
him, two steps lower, came Chamillard, moving and stopping as the king
moved and stopped, and answering the questions which His Majesty put to
him in a respectful but formal and precise manner.

Reaching the level on which Cavalier stood, the king stopped under
pretext of pointing out to Chamillard a new ceiling which Le Brun had
just finished, but really to have a good look at the singular man who had
maintained a struggle against two marshals of France and treated with a
third on equal terms. When he had examined him quite at his ease, he
turned to Chamillard, pretending he had only just caught sight of the
stranger, and asked:

"Who is this young gentleman?"

"Sire," answered the minister, stepping forward to present him to the
king, "this is Colonel Jean Cavalier."

"Ah yes," said the king contemptuously, "the former baker of Anduze!"

And shrugging his shoulders disdainfully, he passed on.

Cavalier on his side had, like Chamillard, taken a step forward, when the
scornful answer of the great king changed him into a statue. For an
instant he stood motionless and pale as death, then instinctively he laid
his hand on his sword, but becoming conscious that he was lost if he
remained an instant longer among these people, whom not one of his
motions escaped, although they pretended to despise him too much to be
aware of his presence, he dashed down the staircase and through the hall,
upsetting two or three footmen who were in his way, hurried into the
garden, ran across it at full speed, and regaining his room at the hotel,
threw himself on the floor, where he rolled like a maniac, utterin