which I had been reduced of late. I found that I
still had ninety crowns left of the sum which the King of Navarre had
given me, and twelve of these I laid out on a doublet of black cloth
with russet points and ribands, a dark cloak lined with the same
sober colour, and a new cap and feather. The tradesman would fain have
provided me with a new scabbard also, seeing my old one was worn-out at
the heel; but this I declined, having a fancy to go with my point bare
until I should have punished the scoundrel who had made my mother's
failing days a misery to her; a business which, the King of Navarre's
once done, I promised myself to pursue with energy and at all costs.

The choice of my clothes, and a few alterations which it was necessary
to make in them, detained me some time, so that it was later than I
could have wished when I turned my face towards the house again, bent
on getting my party to horse as speedily as possible. The morning,
I remember, was bright, frosty, and cold; the kennels were dry, the
streets comparatively clean. Here and there a ray of early sunshine,
darting between the overhanging eaves, gave promise of glorious
travelling-weather. But the faces, I remarked in my walk, did not
reflect the surrounding cheerfulness. Moody looks met me everywhere and
on every side; and while courier after courier galloped by me bound for
the castle, the townsfolk stood aloof is doorways listless and inactive,
or, gathering in groups in corners, talked what I took to be treason
under the breath. The queen-mother still lived, but Orleans had
revolted, and Sens and Mans, Chartres and Melun. Rouen was said to be
wavering, Lyons in arms, while Paris had deposed her king, and cursed
him daily from a hundred altars. In fine, the great rebellion which
followed the death of Guise, and lasted so many years, was already in
progress; so that on this first day of the new year the king's writ
scarce ran farther than he could see, peering anxiously out from the
towers above my head.

Reaching the house, I climbed the long staircase hastily, abusing its
darkness and foulness, and planning as I went how my mother might most
easily and quickly be moved to a better lodging. Gaining the top of the
last flight, I saw that mademoiselle's door on the left of the landing
was open, and concluding from this that she was up, and ready to start,
I entered my mother's room with a brisk step and spirits reinforced by
the crisp morning air.

But