CHAPTER I

RÉNÉ DE VEAUX

On a dreary winter's day, early in the year 1564, young Réné de Veaux,
who had just passed his sixteenth birthday, left the dear old chateau
where he had spent his happy and careless boyhood, and started for Paris.
Less than a month before both his noble father and his gentle mother had
been taken from him by a terrible fever that had swept over the country,
and Réné their only child, was left without a relative in the world
except his uncle the Chevalier Réné de Laudonniere, after whom he was
named. In those days of tedious travel it seemed a weary time to the
lonely lad before the messenger who had gone to Paris with a letter
telling his uncle of his sad position could return. When at length he
came again, bringing a kind message that bade him come immediately to
Paris and be a son to his equally lonely uncle, Réné lost no time in
obeying.

He travelled like a young prince, riding a spirited steed, and followed
by a party of servants, mounted and armed to protect him against robbers
and other perils of the way. Behind him rode old François, who had been
his father's valet and was now his sole friend and protector. The big
tears rolled down the boy's cheeks as he turned for a last look at his
home; but as it was shut from view by the trees of the park surrounding
it, he brushed them away resolutely, and turning to his companion, said,

"Thou hast seen the last of my tears, François, and with them goes my
boyhood; for hereafter I am to be a man, and men know not how to weep."