The footman closed the carriage door, gave his instructions to the coachman, who lashed his jaded horses, and the lumbering landau started in the direction of Cours-la-Reine, where the marvelous Saint-Ramon mansion was situated.
CHAPTER XVII.
The heavy vehicle rolled on so slowly, that a pedestrian walking in the same direction, easily kept up with it through the whole length of the Cours-la-Reine, although he seemed anything but nimble footed.
He was poorly dressed and leaned painfully on his stick; his long beard was white, as well as his hair and bushy eyebrows, and the dark color of his wrinkled face gave him the appearance of a mulatto.
As the landau approached the Saint-Ramon mansion, however, the coachman was forced to take his place in the long procession of carriages going in the same direction, thus permitting the pedestrian to gain a certain distance ahead.
The old mulatto continued his way slowly to the entrance of abroad avenue, encumbered with a long line of carriages and almost dazzling with bright colored lights, and paused in amazement at the gate.
"Why are these grounds so brilliantly illuminated?" he asked a curious looker-on.
"In honor of the opening of the wonderful Saint-Ramon mansion," replied the man addressed.
"Saint Ramon!" repeated the old man, softly, as if speaking to himself. "How strange!"
He seemed buried in reflections for a few minutes, then turning once more to the man he had already addressed, he asked with evident curiosity: