there are viler things in the
world--and have to bear them--than a poor gentleman!'

The words were scarcely out of my mouth before I repented of them, for
Mathurine, the fool, who was at my elbow, was quick to turn them into
ridicule. Raising her hands above our heads, as in act to bless us,
she cried out that Monsieur, having gained so rich an office, desired
a bride to grace it; and this, bringing down upon us a coarse shout
of laughter and some coarser gibes, I saw the young girl's face flush
hotly.

The next moment a voice in the crowd cried roughly 'Out upon his wedding
suit!' and with that a sweetmeat struck me in the face. Another and
another followed, covering me with flour and comfits. This was the last
straw. For a moment, forgetting where I was, I turned upon them, red
and furious, every hair in my moustachios bristling. The next, the full
sense of my impotence and of the folly of resentment prevailed with me,
and, dropping my head upon my breast, I rushed from the room.

I believe that the younger among them followed me, and that the cry of
'Old Clothes!' pursued me even to the door of my lodgings in the Rue de
la Coutellerie. But in the misery of the moment, and my strong desire
to be within doors and alone, I barely noticed this, and am not certain
whether it was so or not.

CHAPTER II. THE KING OF NAVARRE.

I have already referred to the danger with which the alliance between
Henry the Third and the League menaced us, an alliance whereof the news,
it was said, had blanched the King of Navarre's moustache in a single
night. Notwithstanding this, the Court had never shown itself more
frolicsome or more free from care than at the time of which I am
speaking; even the lack of money seemed for the moment forgotten. One
amusement followed another, and though, without doubt, something was
doing under the surface for the wiser of his foes held our prince in
particular dread when he seemed most deeply sunk in pleasure--to the
outward eye St. Jean d'Angely appeared to be given over to enjoyment
from one end to the other.

The stir and bustle of the Court reached me even in my garret, and
contributed to make that Christmas, which fell on a Sunday, a trial
almost beyond sufferance. All day long the rattle of hoofs on the
pavement, and the laughter of riders bent on diversion, came up to
me, making the hard stool seem harder, the bare walls more bare, and
increasing a hundredfold the solitary gloom in whic