enjoin on all who do not desire to find themselves one day
saddled with an ugly name) to have no part in the affair; and
this though the advantage of altering the King's intentions
towards Madame de Beaufort was never more vividly present to my
mind. As we rode, indeed, he put several questions concerning
the Baron, and his family, and connections; and, falling into a
reverie, and smiling a good deal at his thoughts, left me in no
doubt as to the impression made upon him. But being engaged at
the time with the Spanish treaty, and resolved, as I have said,
to steer a course uninfluenced by such intrigues, I did not let
my mind dwell upon the matter; nor gave it, indeed, a second
thought until the next afternoon, when, sitting at an open window
of my lodging, I heard a voice in the street ask where the
Duchess de Beaufort had her apartment.

The voice struck a chord in my memory, and I looked out. The man
who had put the question, and who was now being directed on his
way--by Maignan, my equerry, as it chanced had his back to me,
and I could see only that he was young, shabbily dressed, and
with the air of a workman carried a small frail of tools on his
shoulder. But presently, in the act of thanking Maignan, he
turned so that I saw his face, and with that it flashed upon me
in a moment who he was.

Accustomed to follow a train of thought quickly, and to act; on
its conclusion with energy, I had Maignan called and furnished
with his instructions before the man had gone twenty paces; and
within the minute I had the satisfaction of seeing the two return
together. As they passed under the window I heard my servant
explaining with the utmost naturalness that he had misunderstood