ce, who returned the salute of the
all-powerful bourgeois feared by Louis XI. Then, while Guillaume Rym, a
"sage and malicious man," as Philippe de Comines puts it, watched them
both with a smile of raillery and superiority, each sought his place,
the cardinal quite abashed and troubled, Coppenole tranquil and haughty,
and thinking, no doubt, that his title of hosier was as good as any
other, after all, and that Marie of Burgundy, mother to that Marguerite
whom Coppenole was to-day bestowing in marriage, would have been less
afraid of the cardinal than of the hosier; for it is not a cardinal
who would have stirred up a revolt among the men of Ghent against the
favorites of the daughter of Charles the Bold; it is not a cardinal
who could have fortified the populace with a word against her tears
and prayers, when the Maid of Flanders came to supplicate her people in
their behalf, even at the very foot of the scaffold; while the hosier
had only to raise his leather elbow, in order to cause to fall your
two heads, most illustrious seigneurs, Guy d'Hymbercourt and Chancellor
Guillaume Hugonet.

Nevertheless, all was over for the poor cardinal, and he was obliged to
quaff to the dregs the bitter cup of being in such bad company.

The reader has, probably, not forgotten the impudent beggar who had been
clinging fast to the fringes of the cardinal's gallery ever since the
beginning of the prologue. The arrival of the illustrious guests had
by no means caused him to relax his hold, and, while the prelates
and ambassadors were packing themselves into the stalls--like genuine
Flemish herrings--he settled himself at his ease, and boldly crossed
his legs on the architrave. The insolence of this proceeding was
extraordinary, yet no one noticed it at first, the attention of all
being directed elsewhere. He, on his side, perceived nothing that
was going on in the hall; he wagged his head with the unconcern of a
Neapolitan, repeating from time to time, amid the clamor, as from a
mechanical habit, "Charity, please!" And, assuredly, he was, out of all
those present, the only one who had not deigned to turn his head at the
altercation between Coppenole and the usher. Now, chance ordained that
the master hosier of Ghent, with whom the people were already in lively
sympathy, and upon whom all eyes were riveted--should come and seat
himself in the front row of the gallery, directly above the mendicant;
and people were not a little amazed to