necessity he was under of
mounting on horseback, and begged him to put on the bandages with double
care.

The two wounds, both that on the breast and that on the shoulder, were
closed; the one on the shoulder only pained him. Both were rose-red in
color, which showed that they were in a fair way of healing. Maitre
Ambroise Pare covered them with gummed taffetas, a remedy greatly in
vogue then, and promised La Mole that if he did not exert himself too
much everything would go well.

La Mole was at the height of joy. Save for a certain weakness caused by
loss of blood and a slight giddiness attributable to the same cause, he
felt as well as could be. Besides, doubtless Marguerite would be in the
party; he should see Marguerite again. And when he remembered what
benefit he had received from the sight of Gillonne, he had no doubt that
her mistress would have a still more efficacious influence upon him.

So La Mole spent a part of the money which he had received when he went
away from his family in the purchase of the most beautiful white satin
doublet and the finest embroidered mantle that could be furnished by a
fashionable tailor. The same tailor procured for him a pair of those
perfumed boots such as were worn at that period. The whole outfit was
brought to him in the morning only a half hour later than the time at
which La Mole had ordered it, so that he had not much fault to find.

He dressed himself quickly, looked in the glass, and found that he was
suitably attired, arranged, and perfumed. Then by walking up and down
the room several times, he assured himself that though it caused him
some sharp pangs, still the happiness which he felt in his heart would
render these physical inconveniences of no account. A cherry-colored
mantle of his own design, and cut rather longer than they were worn
then, proved to be very becoming to him.

While he was thus engaged in the Louvre, another scene, of a similar
kind, was going on at the Hotel de Guise. A tall gentleman, with red
hair, was examining, before a glass, a reddish mark which went across
his face very disagreeably; he combed and perfumed his mustache, and
while he was perfuming it, he kept spreading over that unfortunate mark
which, in spite of all the cosmetics then in use, persisted in
reappearing, a three-fold layer of white and red; but as the application
was insufficient an idea came to him: a hot sun, an August sun, was
flashing its rays into the court-yard;