turning back save by the payment of my wager and the acknowledgment
of defeat.




CHAPTER III

RENE DE LESPERON


That very day I set out. For since the King was opposed to the
affair, and knowing the drastic measures by which he was wont to
enforce what he desired, I realized that did I linger he might
find a way definitely to prevent my going.

I travelled in a coach, attended by two lacqueys and a score of
men-at-arms in my own livery, all commanded by Ganymede. My
intendant himself came in another coach with my wardrobe and
travelling necessaries. We were a fine and almost regal cortege
as we passed down the rue de l'Enfer and quitted Paris by the
Orleans gate, taking the road south. So fine a cortege, indeed,
that it entered my mind. His Majesty would come to hear of it,
and, knowing my destination, send after me to bring me back. To
evade such a possibility, I ordered a divergence to be made, and
we struck east and into Touraine. At Pont-le-Duc, near Tours,
I had a cousin in the Vicomte d'Amaral, and at his chateau I
arrived on the third day after quitting Paris.

Since that was the last place where they would seek me, if to seek