people would be extravagant enough to use it for fuel.
I assented, and felt the more certain that the Jesuit's remark contained
a hidden meaning. The only other clue I had consisted in the apparent
mistake the father had made as to the king's residence, and this might
have been dropped from him in pure inadvertence. Yet I was inclined
to think it intentional, and construed it as implying that the matter
concerned the king personally. Which the more alarmed me.

I passed the day in great anxiety, but toward evening, acting on a
sudden inspiration, I sent La Trape, my valet, a trusty fellow who
had saved my life at Cahors, to the Three Pigeons, a large inn in the
suburbs, at which such travellers from North to South as did not wish to
enter the city were accustomed to change horses and sometimes to sleep.
Acquitting himself of the commission I had given him with his usual
adroitness, he quickly returned with the news that a traveller of rank
had passed through three days before, having sent in advance to order
relays there and at Essonnes. La Trape reported that the gentleman had
remained in his coach, and that none of the inn servants had seen his
face.

"And he had companions?" I said. My mind had not failed already to
conceive a natural suspicion.

"Only one, your Grace. The rest were servants."

"And that one?"

"A man in the yard fancied that he recognised M. de la Varenne."

"Ah!" I said no more. My agitation was indeed such that, before giving
reins to it, I bade La Trape withdraw. I could scarcely believe that,
perfectly acquainted as the king was with the plots which Spain and the
Catholics were daily weaving for his life, and possessing such unavowed
but powerful enemies among the great lords as Tremouille and Bouillon,
to say nothing of Mademoiselle d'Entragues's half-brother, the Count of
Auvergne--I could hardly believe that with this knowledge his Majesty
had been so foolhardy as to travel without guards or attendance to
Fontainebleau. And yet I now felt an absolute certainty that this
was the case. The presence of La Varenne also, the confidant of his
intrigues, informed me of the cause of this wild journey, convincing me
that his Majesty had given way to the sole weakness of his nature, and
was bent on one of those adventures of gallantry which had been more
becoming in the Prince of Bearn than in the king of France. Neither
was I at a loss to guess the object of his pursuit. It had been lately
whi