"What a handsome man he was!" said the hostess.
"A consummate rascal! Do you know who he is? He is the Marquis de Saint-Maixent!"
"The Marquis de Saint-Maixent!" all cried with horror.
"Yes, the very man," replied the provost; "the Marquis de Saint-Maixent, accused, and indeed convicted, of coining and magic."
"Ah!"
"Convicted of incest."
"O my God!"
"Convicted of having strangled his wife to marry another, whose husband he had first stabbed."
"Heaven help us!" All crossed themselves.
"Yes, good people," continued the furious provost, "this is the nice boy who has just escaped the king's justice!"