As this image rose upon my mind, it soothed and it strengthened me; and I could gaze upon the city, with its manifold towers and steeples reposing calmly in the rich purple light of evening, and upon the distant sloping grounds beyond, leading away towards Blancford, and on the wanderings of the bright Garonne, as, rolling down from Langdon, it swept on by the city towards its meeting with the kindred stream, and on their joint progress to the ocean: I could gaze, in short, upon all the natural objects which my eye had been accustomed to behold from childhood, without that deep feeling of regret on quitting them which I had experienced the moment before; and, as I turned my horse's rein to ride on, I murmured,
"I shall see you all again, perhaps, with a lighter heart and a spirit more at rest."
The country was well known to me; for, during the last two or three years, I had made manifold excursions from the chateau in different directions; and now, leaving the high road somewhat to the right, I took a bridle-path which conducted me towards my place of rest for the night more rapidly, though somewhat more roughly, than the ordinary track.
Advancing somewhat quickly, for my charger was impatient of the bridle, I passed a man upon a small rugged horse, neither very fat nor very comely in its appearance, and apparently little able to carry him and the large package which he bore on the croup behind. When first I saw him he was trailing a spear along, with one end of the shaft describing a long zigzag line upon the road; but the sound of a horse's feet made him turn round rapidly, and his lance was brought into rest in a moment, in a way that bespoke no slight practice in charging a sudden enemy.
Whether on an occasion he might charge any one without much considering if it were an enemy or friend, I did not know at the time; but such things were very common in those days, though I think the worthy gentleman was somewhat too badly mounted to attempt the experiment upon me, even if I had been alone.
We passed, however, in all safety, with a "Good-evening, seigneur," on the part of our fellow-traveller. I had only time, as I passed by, to remark that he was a tall, rawboned man, with a countenance which did not prepossess any one very much in his favour. He was somewhat dirty in his clothing, and rugged in his person and appearance also; though there was a roguish twinkle in his eye, which did not escape my attention, even in the slight glance I obtained.
In a short time after I arrived at Cubzac, and rode straight to the inn, the hospitable doors of which showed themselves very willing to give me admission.
When I stood in the courtyard, however, and saw my armour and my valise unloaded from Andriot's horse, while the aubergiste waited to conduct me, with every appearance of reverence, towards the hall of general entertainment, a strange feeling suddenly came over me, from the recollection that it was not yet four-and-twenty hours since the arrival of the Baron de Blancford at his own chateau, that all I had done--the making of a new acquaintance, my dealings with the Jew, the purchase of horses and of arms, and a hundred little incidents, which appeared to me like the occupations of a life--had in reality occupied but a few hours. So it was, however: my whole fate and course of existence had been changed as by the stroke of a magician's wand, which had set me free in a moment from the state of indolent dependance in which I had been forced to remain like one of the spirits in the old fables, imprisoned motionless in the heart of some knotted oak, and had sent me forth in a moment to active life and energetic exertion.
There was something ennobling, elevating, inspiring in the feelings, very different from the sensations with which I had looked back upon the scenes I was leaving, from the northern bank of the Garonne. That all this had been accomplished in so short a space, gave me a sensation of power and energy; a confidence in myself which I had before wanted; and in the calm and deliberate step, and thoughtful air with which I followed the landlord into the auberge, no one, I think, could have discovered any trace of a mind as inexperienced as that of a mere boy.
The hall of the inn was a very spacious one; and a long table appeared in the middle, at the farther end of which I could just see, through the dim twilight of the evening, some seven or eight persons assembled round what seemed a hasty supper. One of the servants of the inn, however, brought in lights almost immediately after I had entered; and it then became evident that the party had just arrived from some long journey. There were two or three grave, elderly men of respectable appearance, apparently tradesmen of some importance, or merchants. There was a good dame, too, of the same class, with two or three little girls of seven or eight years old, and one or two women servants; besides which, there was a youth of eighteen or nineteen, strong and well made, scarcely tasting his supper, but sitting beside the rest, and resting thoughtfully, with his head leaning on his hand.