Shortly after Monsieur de Villardin's return, on the day of which I have just been speaking, I received notice that I should be required to accompany him in the evening to a great supper at the house of the Duke de Bouillon. As I was beginning, at that time, from one circumstance or another, to imagine that I was in no degree uglier than my fellow mortals, to find out that good looks were prized even in a page, and that a handsome person was not shown to less advantage by appearing in becoming apparel, I took care that the finest of my wardrobe should be displayed on the present occasion, where I was sure of seeing, and in some sort mingling with, all that was bright, and noble, and beautiful, in the French capital.

Although self-conceit has made many a man very comfortable through life, I do believe that the peculiar modification of the same feeling which is generally called vanity, seldom, if ever, produces anything but disappointment. We did not arrive at the Hotel de Bouillon till more than one half of the company had assembled; and though the scene was certainly as splendid as youth, beauty, wealth, gaiety, good taste and grace, could render it, my pleasure was of course confined to seeing others, without attracting the slightest attention myself. Confounded with the other pages, of whom there was an immense profusion, nobody, in all probability, ever saw me, except worthy Monsieur de Vitray, who recognised me instantly, and spoke a few words to me as he passed.

As is usually the case, I believe, all the visiters who appeared there, came with their own thoughts and purposes, and gave not one idea to anybody else, except as they were connected with their designs and pleasures. From the extraordinary twist, too, that everything had got in France at that time, the general order of all things seemed inverted. The bright, and the beautiful, and the young of the other sex gave up the whole of their conversation to politics and factious intrigue; while cunning statesmen, deep lawyers, and reverend divines, old warriors, and grey-headed politicians, universally devoted themselves to making love to everybody they should not have made love to.

I came away, thinking a Parisian party very dull; and sitting in the portiÈre of the Duke's coach, who earned along with him one or two of his particular friends in the body of the vehicle, I ruminated over my disappointment, too young, indeed, to investigate metaphysically the sensations which I experienced, but quite old enough to resolve that I would never again expect any one to take notice of me, either for my fine clothes or my good looks.

When we reached home, Monsieur de Villardin's friends descended and went in with him, to pay their respects to the Duchess, who, having been slightly indisposed, had remained at home. He, of course, accompanied them into the hall, but, as he passed me, he paused a moment to say in an under voice, "Do not go to bed." There was a good deal of anxiety in his eye, and emphasis in his tone, which made me attach to his words a greater degree of importance than they seemed at first to bear. Nor was I wrong in my interpretation, for in less than half an hour, the old major-domo called me out of the page's room,--in which I had been sitting with Gaspard de Belleville, whose spirits I had remarked to be extravagantly high,--and led me by the hand to his own apartment.

When he had got me there, and shut the door, good Jerome Laborde folded me in his arms, and the tears actually rose in his eyes. "I have bad news for you, my son," he said; "and unfortunately it happens that your kindness to my nephew is likely to prove your ruin. My lord the Duke has just been telling me that it was you who saved my poor nephew, and that the criminal lieutenant and his myrmidons have found you out."

Of course the first announcement of such a fact was not particularly agreeable to me; but, as I came hastily to reflect upon my fate, and to think that I should again be obliged to scamper off, and do the best I could for myself in the world, there seemed something so absurd in the sort of perversity with which fate destined me to be a wanderer, that I could not help laughing, notwithstanding the difficulties of my situation.

"You laugh, my son," cried the old man, in great astonishment; "but I can tell you the business is a very serious one, and that you might chance to be shut up for life in the Bastille."

"If that is the case," replied I, "the matter is serious indeed. I thought they would only have hanged me; and I have been so accustomed to risk hanging every day of my life, that it was nothing new; but, as to spending my whole existence in a prison, that is a very different affair; and therefore, good Monsieur Jerome, I shall get out of the way directly, leaving you to make my excuses to my lord, for going without asking his permission.

"You are too quick, my son--you are too quick," cried the old man; "it was the Duke himself who told me but now to speak to you. Do not suppose that he intends to leave you without protection. No, no; he is a kind-hearted man, though quick and jealous in his disposition from a boy; and he bade me tell you that he would have defended you to the last for the act you have committed, even had it not been in favour of my nephew; but that, as it was so, he will defend you more eagerly still. He thinks, however, that for your present safety, you had better quit Paris as soon as possible; and, as he intended to send some one to his estates in Brittany to-morrow, he will give you the commission, and order a groom to accompany you and show you the road."

"I am quite ready," replied I; "there is nothing to be done but to saddle the horses."

"Never did I see so hasty a boy," cried the old man; "how will you get out of the gates, I should like to know, when they are closed as firmly as locks and chains can make them?"

"I would get over the walls," replied I, smiling.

"And the horses?" said the old man, with a smile: "no, no, my son, you must follow the plans laid down for you by my lord, who knows this country, at least, better than you do. When you have everything ready, he says, go to bed, and sleep for two or three hours; rise twenty minutes before the dawn, and you will find horses, and the packet he intends you to take, all ready prepared for you. By the time you get to the gates, they will be opened, and you will have nothing else to do but to ride on as fast as possible, till you reach my lord's castle of the PrÉs VallÉe. Remain there quietly till you hear from him, and, in a few weeks, he will have negotiated your pardon with the court."

This plan was, of course, one that both suited my wishes and provided for my safety, better than any I could have laid out for myself. It offered me the prospect, too, of new scenes and adventures of a nature somewhat less appalling than those which might lead me into a dungeon for life; and I consequently proceeded to put it into execution with every feeling of joy and gratitude. Good Jerome Laborde undertook to have me called at the appointed hour, and, accustomed from infancy to take repose at any scattered moments that offered the possibility of doing so, I laid down, and was soon asleep.

When I was called in the morning, I found, much to my surprise, that Monsieur de Villardin was himself up; and, as I afterwards discovered, had risen at that early hour solely on my account--a mark of kindness and interest that touched my heart the more, because it was totally unexpected. After receiving from his own hands a packet of letters for his different farmers and receivers in Brittany, accompanied by the assurance that he would leave no means untried to procure my pardon, I took my leave, and descending to the courtyard, found the groom who was to accompany me, holding two strong horses, on one of which already appeared the saddle-bags containing my wealth and apparel. Old Jerome Laborde was also there, ready to embrace me before I took my departure; and ere we set out, he did not forget to burden the groom with a bissac loaded with various Parisian delicacies, to console me on my journey.

The Duke had strictly enjoined me to avoid all towns in the neighbourhood of Paris, and to make my first day's ride the longest and the most rapid of the whole expedition; and, consequently, when once we had passed the gates, which we were permitted to do without question, we set spurs to our beasts, and never drew a rein for twenty miles. By this time, however, I began to feel in security from the pursuit of anything but hunger, which was now pressing me hard; and after riding on a few miles further, we saw a small open wood in the neighbourhood of Epernon, into which we retired for the purpose of lightening good Jerome Laborde's bissac of some of its savoury contents. The groom, who, like most of Monsieur de Villardin's domestics, seemed to be a connoisseur in the good things of this life, spread forth the viands on the table-cloth afforded by the green grass at the bottom of the gentle slope in the wood, with infinite taste; and the fine pÂte of turkey and truffles which formed the staple of the bissac, looked none the worse for its crust having cracked in more than one place under the jumbling of our ride, suffering the topaz-like jelly to shine forth through the apertures.

Scarcely, however, had I time to help myself to a ponderous slice, and to add thereto a portion of wild boar's face, which exceeded any Hampshire chaw I ever tasted, when I fancied that I heard a low groan quite near. The sound made me start up and look around; but as I could perceive nothing, as hunger was unruly, and as the groom, who by this time was deep in the appropriate worship of the pasty, declared he had heard nothing, I sat down again, and in one attack very nearly demolished the slice I had first assigned to myself. I then added a draught of excellent Burgundy from a flask which the bissac also afforded; but I now certainly began to think that our regale had made the hamadryads envious, for another distinct groan followed, evidently proceeding from a large oak tree hard by, and the moment after, the body of a man appeared, cautiously descending from the higher boughs. As he swarmed down the trunk, tightly embracing its rugged circumference with his arms, which operation was rendered somewhat difficult by a certain degree of obesity in his own person, he every now and then turned his head partly over his shoulder, as if to obtain a sight of the good things before us, exclaiming, as he did so, "It is irresistible!--philosophy is in vain--I resign myself to my fate!"

The next minute his feet touched the ground, and turning round with a sort of joyous pirouette, he gave me a full view of my acquaintance, Jacques Marlot. I confess that a suspicion of the identity of this genius of the oak and the ci-devant printer had crossed my mind, as he descended the tree, from various peculiar points of his rotund conformation; but it appeared that on his part, although he had obtained a thorough perception of what we had been eating and drinking, his bird's-eye view in the tree had not enabled him to see enough of our faces to recognise my person, for his first exclamation was, as he turned round, "Gentlemen, I am an hungered; and if ye do not give me food, ye have committed a heinous sin in displaying that delicious pÂtÉ before me.--Ye gods! what do I see?" he continued, as his eye lighted full upon me: "My ph[oe]nix of pages--my master Jean l'Anglais! My deliverer from a more elevated station than ever I coveted! Let me embrace thee in token of thanks for my abasement."

As the best welcome I could give the unfortunate printer, I made him partake liberally of our fare, and suffered him to cheer his heart with our flask, till half his woes were forgotten. While he went on, which was nearly till pasty disappeared and bottle sounded empty, I told him that I was now suffering on his account, and explained to him my situation. At first, his whole soul being engrossed in one occupation, he seemed to feel but little for my misadventures; but as soon as he had a moment's leisure, he looked shocked; and when he had finished, and could absolutely eat no more, he expressed, gracefully enough, both his gratitude for my services, and his grief for the inconveniences to which they had exposed me. He then told me that as soon as he was out of the hands of the archers the day before, he had taken leave of his friendly mob of deliverers, and trusting to nothing but his own legs, had made the best of his way out of Paris.

"As soon as I was fairly beyond the gates," he added, "I set off running again, as hard as I could; and when I could run no more, I walked; and when I could walk no longer, I stood still, which was exactly on the spot where I now am. I had nothing to eat; and you there behold my beverage," he continued, pointing to a small stream that danced before us. "I christened it, however, vin blanc d'Epernon; and though it was not quite so good as the vin blanc d'Epernay, it quenched my thirst; and having dug up as many pignuts as I could find, I mounted yonder oak with all the agility of a light diet, and soothed myself to sleep by comparing myself to Diogenes. How I should have passed over this day, I do not know; for I dared not visit my house, which, doubtless, was also pillaged long ago by the ministers of justice; and you may easily conceive that the archers of the criminal lieutenant do not suffer those who are placed under their protection to do so foolish a thing as go to the gallows with money in their pockets. However, I never despair, doubting not now, as heretofore, to make something out of whatever lot dame Fortune chooses to throw. Nor has she ever been unfavourable to those who trust to her bounty; for what can prove her kindness more strongly than sending you here for my relief and consolation?"

I complimented MaÎtre Jacques upon his philosophy, which was much of the same quality as my own, and begged him to keep the wild boar's cheek, which had suffered less in the encounter than the pasty, as another token of fortune's favour. I found, however, that he was very desirous of accompanying us on our journey, and talked of my horse being strong enough to carry two. The groom also seconded his proposal in a way that I thought somewhat extraordinary; but, nevertheless, at the risk of appearing selfish, I put a decided negative upon it, not so much upon my own account as because I thought that it might place my lord in very unpleasant circumstances, if the criminal who had just been rescued from the gallows, and the page who had helped to rescue him, were found riding to his estates in Brittany, guided by one of his own grooms.

I represented, however, to Jacques Marlot, that in all probability the officers of justice were after us both by this time; and that, although in some cases union was security, in this instance our best hope of escape lay in separating, especially as it was more than probable that the knowledge of my being attached to Monsieur de Villardin might make the archers follow upon the very road I was pursuing.

This last argument was conclusive with the printer, and as, thanks to the bounty of Lord Masterton, I was still furnished with more money than I knew how to employ, I added thirty crowns to the breakfast I had given my acquaintance, and left him to continue his journey full of renewed hope and gratitude.

The groom who accompanied me seemed to take a greater interest in Jacques Marlot than the length of their intercourse warranted, and inquired very particularly into the route he was likely to pursue; but the printer, according to the good English proverb, was too old a bird to be taken by the chaff which my guide spread before him; and with a cunning smile evaded his questions, whispering to me as he embraced me at parting, "Beware of your guide."

Early--too early--had I learned to distrust my fellow-creatures, a lesson which we have unfortunately too frequent opportunities of repeating in our course through the world ever to forget, when once the sweet confidence of innocence and inexperience, like the bloom upon ripe fruit, has been brushed away by the first touch of the polluting world. I had seen fully enough, however, to doubt the faith of my present conductor, and I resolved to watch him closely as we proceeded, not well knowing what particular line his roguery might take, but suspecting strongly that he was not the most honest of servants, nor likely to prove the most infallible of guides.

It luckily so happened that the saddle-bags containing my stores of all kinds were upon my own horse, and therefore I possessed the power of directing all our movements, as well as the right of doing so, which my station and my lord's commands conferred. Nor was it at all unpleasant, I confess, to reflect, that in the event of any dispute arising between myself and my companion, who had been directed in all respects to consider himself as my servant, I had nothing to do but ride away, and leave him to do the best for himself,--which reflection was the more especially gratifying, as I believed he might obtain a considerable reward by betraying me, and did not much doubt that he had some thoughts of the kind in his own mind.

I showed him, at least, that expedition was part of my plan; for as soon as we were once more in our saddles, I pushed forward with all speed, and accomplished nearly forty miles more before night. A considerable town lay at the distance of a few miles to our right, and thither my guide strongly recommended me to proceed, lauding to the skies the accommodation we should there meet with; but I took my own plan, and riding on till I espied a neat cabaret in a village, halted there, preferring the risk of a bad supper to the risk of an unpleasant lodging.

The next day we proceeded in the same manner, though not at the same rate; taking whatever refreshment we needed at the smallest and most retired places I could find; and though the worthy groom more than once attempted to prove restive, and to treat me as a mere boy, he found that he had to do with one who had managed shrewder men than himself. It soon became apparent that, though our horses were strong and well seasoned to hard work, it would take us rather more than four days to reach the place of our destination; but for the last hundred miles I found my companion much more easily managed, yielding at once to my will with the best grace in the world, which conduct pleased, though it did not deceive me.

Sudden changes, without an apparent cause, always afford very good reasons for suspicion; and it was clear enough that the alteration in the good groom's behaviour had not taken place from any increased reverence for myself.

"Whatever it is he intends to do," I thought, as I remarked this change in his demeanour, "the fellow has laid out his plan, and thinks it quite secure. He must have fixed, too, upon some spot for executing it towards the end of our journey, since he is so indifferent as to the way we take here. I will watch him well, however, at every mile." This resolution I kept to the letter, never suffering him to be out of my sight for a minute; but nothing suspicious occurred till the close of our fourth day's journey, when he declared, that since I was so fond of hard riding, he thought we might get on to Rennes that night.

I did not exactly know how far it was to Rennes, for had I been aware that it was at the distance of twenty miles, when our horses were already nearly knocked up, I should have concluded that--calculating on my distaste to anything he proposed--he wanted me to stay where we were, and, therefore, suggested that we should proceed further. I certainly fell into the trap; and simply because he desired to go on, determined to halt at the next village.

When we reached it, the first house I espied was a neat cabaret, and drawing in my rein I sprang to the ground, announcing my determination of sleeping there. A grin of satisfaction on the groom's face was the first thing that excited suspicion in my mind that I had overreached myself; but the countenance of mine host, who now appeared, confirmed my doubts; and as he spoke to the servant as an old friend, I soon found that I had made a terrible mistake. On inquiring the distance to Rennes, too, and finding that our horses could by no means have accomplished it, I saw that the attempt had been proposed solely to make me do the contrary; and thence deducing that, at this very spot, the consummation of the groom's man[oe]uvres was destined to take place, of course I determined to be all eyes, ears, and understanding.

The landlord's daughter, a very pretty frank-faced brunette, of about twenty, attracted by my gay dress, and feeling that kindness which all women experience towards extreme youth, soon came up to me, and in a very short time we were great friends; but I could not attend to half her civil offers of the various sorts of refreshment that the house afforded, on account of my anxiety to keep watch over the groom. In this endeavour I was tolerably successful for some time, and I do not think he obtained an opportunity of exchanging one word with the landlord, till we had concluded our supper, except, indeed, such as related to the general affairs of Monsieur de Villardin, whose name was well known in that part of the country, and to the state of Paris. All this time, however, I had another subject of anxiety in my saddle-bags, which were left up stairs in the chamber assigned to me; and after I had sufficiently refreshed myself, I was tempted thither to see that all was safe, thinking that I should be down again in time to prevent much private conversation.

I was wrong; and on again entering the kitchen I found the places of both the landlord and the groom vacant, while the host's mother sat by the fire dozing, and the pretty brunette was spinning beside her with great eagerness.

As soon as ever I appeared, the latter beckoned me to her, and said in a low voice, "You are betrayed, mon pauvre garÇon; but if you would hear how, go out at the back-door, run along at the top of the bank as quietly as you can, and make the best use of your ears."

I instantly followed her advice, and opening the door to which she pointed, soon found myself in the little court of the auberge, which again opened into what seemed the garden of a guingette, surrounded on three sides by walls, and on the fourth, which lay to my right hand, flanked by a high cliffy bank that sloped down towards the door at which I stood. It was night, and the moon had not yet risen, but there was still light enough remaining to let me see or rather divine all this, and running up the bank, and along the edge, with as noiseless a foot as possible, I soon heard voices speaking in the garden below me. I crept on as fast as I could, and the next moment clearly distinguished the words made use of. The groom was acting the orator as I came up, and proceeded as follows:--

"No, no, that won't do at all, Monsieur Parnac, for if he were to be taken in your house, under my guidance, most likely my good lord would turn me to the door, if he did not throw me out of the window, and would certainly ruin you here for your pains. You do not know what a man he is--so sharp, if you give him the least cause for suspicion! I do believe he finds out when one is going to do any little trick, even before one knows it oneself. I remember his turning off his chief ecuyer for merely whispering in the street with a maquignon, who was bringing him a horse for sale. No, no, let it be managed my way. Send off some one to-night, and have the officers stationed about the watering-place, by Meri, you know. Let them take me too, seemingly, for being in his company; and so my lord's suspicions will be set at rest, and I shall be carried back to Paris, too, where I shall get the reward."

"Ay, but, MaÎtre Pierre, are you quite sure of the reward?" demanded mine host.

"All I can tell thee, Parnac, is this," replied the groom. "I heard it offered by proclamation, as we were riding home, the evening before I came away. A thousand crowns were to be given to any one who would deliver up the leader of those that had rescued the criminal, and two thousand crowns to those who would deliver up the criminal himself. I would have done it myself, if I had known at the time that this boy was the person; and I could have managed it easily as we came through the city. But I never found it out, as I tell you, till we met with this Jacques Marlot, and then I heard them talk about it quite as if they were in security."

"Well, well, Pierre, I think thou wilt get thy thousand crowns," answered the landlord; "and they know how to do these things so secretly at the Court, that thou mayest get them and not lose thy master's service either; but tell me, what am I to get?"

"Why, of course, I will pay thee for the man and horse sent to the city," replied the groom.

"Ay, but that will not be quite enough," answered mine host, "to pay me for risking your good lord's custom and patronage. Something more! something more! good Pierre, or thou mayest ride to Rennes to-night thyself."

"Well," answered Pierre, "I will tell you what, Parnac; the officers shall bring him on here, and while we halt to refresh, you and I will have the picking of those saddle-bags of his, in which there are a good thousand crowns besides. If he finds them gone and complains, it will pass for a piece of the archers' handiwork, and no inquiry will be made."

"Ay, now thou speakest reason," answered his respectable friend, "and I will send off directly. At the half-way watering place, thou sayest; but at what hour? We must name some hour for the officers to be there."

"Say nine o' the clock," answered the groom; "we shall not be there till eleven; but they must wait, you know, they must wait."

"Well, it shall be done without delay," replied the host, "but now, hie you in, Pierre, for you say the boy is as sharp as your master, and may suspect us. Yet stay; remember, if you fail me about the bags, I will do for you with your lord. So keep faith."

The groom replied at some length, but as their farther conversation seemed likely to refer alone to their private affairs, I made the best of my way back to the house, and ere either groom or landlord returned, had gained sufficient information from my pretty brunette, in regard to the roads, to serve my purpose for the next day. I found that, at the distance of about four miles from the village, the highway was intersected by another, which led away in the very direction I wished to take. It was neglected, however, and heavy, she said, passing through some wide forest ground, which always affords a bad foundation; and since the new road had been made, she added, few people ever travelled the old one except the couriers for St. Malo, who went that way for the purpose of dropping packets, and sometimes sums of money, at various small towns through which it alone passed. It used, she said, to have a bad reputation for robbers, and about three months before, one of the royal messengers had been plundered, but since that time she had heard of no farther outrage.

As she was speaking, the groom came in, and to break off a conversation I did not want him to hear, I asked him sharply where he had been so long. He replied that he had been tending his horses; and to put him completely off his guard, I ordered them to be at the door exactly at the hour on which I found he had already calculated. He promised to be punctual, and not doubting that he would be so, I soon after retired to bed. Danger of any kind never made me sleep less soundly, but I confess that, on this occasion, it was long before I could close my eyes; but it was self-reproach, not apprehension, kept me awake. I had been twice betrayed into an act of egregious folly during that one journey, and I began to think I was losing the acuteness which had been my most serviceable quality. I could have pardoned myself, perhaps, for suffering the groom to cheat me into staying where we then were; but for babbling myself, or suffering Jacques Marlot to babble in the hearing of a third person, I rated myself for a good hour after I was in bed.