PHILADELPHIA AND LONDON
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
1901

COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY
J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY
Electrotyped and Printed by
J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia, U.S.A.

TO
E. B. S.
WHO HAS JOURNEYED
WITH ME SO MANY
TIMES TO THE LAND
OF MAKE-BELIEVE

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. An Encounter with Cartouche[ 9]
II. The Salon of Madame du Maine[ 22]
III. A Little Lesson in Politics[ 34]
IV. A Duel at Mid-day[ 50]
V. A Desperate Venture[ 65]
VI. A Surprise for Maison-Rouge[ 83]
VII. At the Dryad Fountain[ 98]
VIII. An Audience with the Regent[ 122]
IX. The Conserve Closet[ 140]
X. The Regent Scores a Point[ 154]
XI. The House in the Rue Villedot[ 167]
XII. A Conference with Cellamare[ 181]
XIII. At the Théâtre-Français[ 199]
XIV. The Game of Prisoner’s Chase[ 220]
XV. Richelieu stands His Ground[ 234]
XVI. A Day of Fruitless Effort[ 249]
XVII. The Regent shows His Hand[ 263]
XVIII. A Ride through the Night[ 279]
XIX. D’Ancenis tells the Story[ 294]
XX. The Secret Staircase[ 312]
XXI. Where Honor wins[ 327]
XXII. At the Palais Royal[ 341]
XXIII. The Regent’s Gratitude[ 355]
A Last Word[ 364]

AT ODDS
WITH THE REGENT

CHAPTER I
AN ENCOUNTER WITH CARTOUCHE

Night had already come as I drew my cloak more closely about me and stepped forth into the street. I had lingered long over my meal, as a man will who has been alone all the day and sees little chance of companionship before him. For in all the city I knew no one, and there seemed small prospect of the night bringing any enjoyment with it. I turned to the left, away from that dingy house in the Rue Bailleul, which was the only home I had thus far found in Paris, determined to forget, for a time at least, its narrow entrance leading to the dirty interior court, where a thousand odors struggled ceaselessly for mastery; the dark staircase mounting steeply upward, and the close little room, which a single week’s occupancy had sufficed to render loathsome to me. Ah! it was different from the wide, sweet valley of the Loire.