A fair proportion of
the cavaliers, released from the restraint etiquette had imposed upon
them, gave the rein to their horses, and darted after the carriages
which bore the maids of honor, as blooming as so many virgin huntresses
around Diana, and the human whirlwind, laughing, chattering, and noisy,
passed onward.

The king and Madame, however, kept their horses in hand at a foot-pace.
Behind his majesty and his sister-in-law, certain of the courtiers
--those, at least, who were seriously disposed or were anxious to be
within reach, or under the eyes, of the king--followed at a respectful
distance, restraining their impatient horses, regulating their pace by
that of the king and Madame, and abandoned themselves to all the delight
and gratification which is to be found in the conversation of clever
people, who can, with perfect courtesy, make a thousand atrocious, but
laughable remarks about their neighbors. In their stifled laughter, and
in the little reticences of their sardonic humor, Monsieur, the poor
absentee, was not spared. But they pitied, and bewailed greatly, the
fate of De Guiche, and it must be confessed that their compassion, as
far as he was concerned, was not misplaced. The king and Madame having
breathed the horses, and repeated a hundred times over such remarks as
the courtiers, who supplied them with talk, suggested to them, set off
at a hand gallop, and the leafy coverts of the forest resounded to the
footfalls of the mounted party. To the conversations beneath the
shade of the trees,--to remarks made in the shape of confidential
communications, and observations, mysteriously exchanged, succeeded the
noisiest bursts of laughter;--from the very outriders to royalty itself,
merriment seemed to spread. Every one began to laugh and to cry out.
The magpies and the jays fluttered away uttering their guttural cries,
beneath the waving avenues of oaks; the cuckoo staid his monotonous cry
in the recesses of the forest; the chaffinch and tomtit flew away in
clouds; while the terrified deer bounded riverwards from the midst of
the thickets. This crowd, spreading joy, confusion, and light wherever
it passed, was heralded, it may be said, to the chateau by its own
clamor. As the king and Madame entered the village, they were received
by the acclamations of the crowd. Madame hastened to look for Monsieur,
for she instinctively understood that he had been far too long kept from
sharing in this joy. The king went t