ho had
been awake more than two hours, possessed by the sleeplessness of love,
opened his shutters himself, and cast an inquiring look into the courts
of the sleeping palace. He saw that it was the hour agreed upon: the
great court clock pointed to a quarter past four. He did not disturb
his _valet de chambre_, who was sleeping soundly at some distance; he
dressed himself, and the valet, in a great fright, sprang up, thinking
he had been deficient in his duty; but the king sent him back again,
commanding him to preserve the most absolute silence. He then descended
the little staircase, went out at a lateral door, and perceived at the
end of the wall a mounted horseman, holding another horse by the bridle.
This horseman could not be recognized in his cloak and slouched hat. As
to the horse, saddled like that of a rich citizen, it offered nothing
remarkable to the most experienced eye. Louis took the bridle: the
officer held the stirrup without dismounting, and asked his majesty's
orders in a low voice.

"Follow me," replied the king.

The officer put his horse to the trot, behind that of his master, and
they descended the hill towards the bridge. When they reached the other
side of the Loire,--

"Monsieur," said the king, "you will please to ride on till you see a
carriage coming; then return and inform me. I will wait here."

"Will your majesty deign to give me some description of the carriage I
am charged to discover?"

"A carriage in which you will see two ladies, and probably their
attendants likewise."

"Sire, I should not wish to make a mistake; is there no other sign by
which I may know this carriage?"

"It will bear, in all probability, the arms of monsieur le cardinal."

"That is sufficient, sire," replied the officer, fully instructed in the
object of his search. He put his horse to the trot, and rode sharply on
in the direction pointed out by the king. But he had scarcely gone five
hundred paces when he saw four mules, and then a carriage, loom up from
behind a little hill. Behind this carriage came another. It required
only one glance to assure him that these were the equipages he was in
search of; he therefore turned his bridle, and rode back to the king.

"Sire," said he, "here are the carriages. The first, as you said,
contains two ladies with their _femmes de chambre_; the second contains
the footmen, provisions, and necessaries."

"That is well," replied the king in an agitated voice. "Please