astrologer, and had of late grown into great fame as prophet of the
future--a fortune-teller.

His fame rested on several remarkable predictions which had been
fulfilled to the letter, and I really think the man had some wonderful
powers. They said he was half Jew, half gypsy, and, if there is
alchemy in the mixing of blood, that combination should surely produce
something peculiar. The city folk were said to have visited him in
great numbers, and, notwithstanding the priests and bishops all
condemned him as an imp of Satan and a follower of witchcraft, many
fine people, including some court ladies, continued to go there by
stealth in order to take a dangerous, inquisitive peep into the
future. I say by stealth; because his ostensible occupation of
soothsaying and fortune-telling was not his only business. His house
was really a place of illicit meeting, and the soothsaying was often
but an excuse for going there. Lacking this ostensible occupation, he
would not have been allowed to keep his house within the wall, but
would have been relegated to his proper place--Bridge Ward Without.

Mary had long wanted to see this Grouche, at first out of mere
curiosity; but Henry, who was very moral--with other people's
consciences--would not think of permitting it. Two ladies, Lady
Chesterfield and Lady Ormond, both good and virtuous women, had been
detected in such a visit, and had been disgraced and expelled from
court in the most cruel manner by order of the king himself.

Now, added to Mary's old-time desire to see Grouche, came a longing to
know the outcome of the present momentous complication of affairs that
touched her so closely.