"Well, well, you are right," replied the Marquis, evidently confounded and undecided; and turning his horse's rein he rode back by the same way he came, showing evidently that he had been bound upon some attempt which had been frustrated.
About the same time the party in the Rue St. Denis had been drawn towards the further end by the noise of horses and the light of torches; and on advancing they found a number of men on horseback, and a vacant carriage, with two lights before it, just halting at the Convent of the Black Penitents. The good citizens, however, were in an active and interfering mood, and they determined to inquire into an occurrence which otherwise would have passed over without the slightest notice. The horsemen, however, did not wait for many questions; but, evidently as much surprised and embarrassed as the Marquis d'O----, turned their horses' heads, and made the best of their way out of the street.
FOOTNOTES
[Footnote 1]: All these charges were but too true.
[Footnote 2]: One or two of these houses with barriers were still existing in Paris not many years ago.
[Footnote 3]: The word Monseigneur, my Lord, which in the days of Louis XIV. had become restricted to a very few high dignitaries, or only given to other noblemen by their own servants and tenantry, was in the reign of Henry III. commonly used to all high noblemen, and we find constantly titles addressed A mon tres illustre et tres honoré Seigneur le Marquis; or, A l'illustre Seigneur, Monseigneur le Comte de ----.
[Footnote 4]: Such was undoubtedly the expressed opinion of the Duke of Guise.
[Footnote 5]: The progress of the Duke of Guise and the Queen-mother, from the convent of the Penitents to the Louvre, was in triumph. "Il y en avoit," says Auvigny, "qui se mettoient à genoux devant lui, d'autres lui baisoient les mains; quelques uns se trouvèrent trop heureux de pouvoir en passant toucher son habit," A farther account of this famous event is given a few pages farther on.
[Footnote 6]: This fact is recorded in every account of the proceedings of that day.
[Footnote 7]: That party was so called which affected to hold the balance between the Court and the League, without giving countenance to the Huguenots.