That unfinished apartment was strewn with innumerable chests and cupboards; and Mario, as soon as the padlocks were removed, and the lids raised and doors thrown open, fancied that he was in fairyland. There was a bewildering mass of magnificent stuffs, dazzling gold lace, ribbons, laces, feathers and jewels, rich hangings, cordovan leather, furniture in parts, all new and ready to be put together, reliquaries heavy with precious stones, beautiful paintings on glass which needed only to be assembled, lovely enamelled mosaics, arranged in piles and numbered, whole pieces of fine linen, enormous guipure curtains, with gold and silver stripes; in a word, a hoard of plunder, which smelt of the partisan warrior a league away, and which the marquis considered to have been legally acquired at the sword's point.
This receptacle of rich spoil was known in the household as the store-room, the garret. It was supposed to contain spare articles of furniture, together with what was broken or discarded.
Adamas alone was aware of the contents of those wonderful chests, and under his breath he called that room the treasure or the abbey. There were no fashionable gewgaws, as in the marquis's apartments, but artistic objects and fabrics of great value and great beauty, some of great antiquity, and the more valuable on that account: stuffs manufactured by processes no longer known, weapons of all sizes and of all nations, many excellent pictures, valuable manuscripts, etc.
All this rarely saw the light, the marquis fearing lest he might arouse the cupidity of some of his neighbors, and producing his treasures only one at a time and in the guise of a recent purchase.
However, it was very rarely the case that the pillaging heroes of those days were compelled to make restitution; but it might well happen that some powerful individual, acting on his own account, but claiming to act in the name of the Church or the State, would calmly appropriate an article in dispute.
It was thus that Catherine de Médicis, to reward Jean de Hangest—called Capitaine d'Yvoi—for treacherously surrendering Bourges to her, seized the superb chalice, decorated with precious stones, which he had taken from the treasure-chest of Sainte-Chapelle in that city, and had put aside as his share of the plunder.
From all these marvels the marquis selected what was required for Mario's outfit, calling upon him to make known his taste with regard to the colors.
One would but imperfectly understand the manners of that period, who should assume that it was necessary, as it is to-day, to go to Paris to learn the fashions and to find skilled workmen in the art of dress and decoration. It was not until the reign of Louis XIV. that the civilization of luxury and fashion made of Paris the school of good taste and the arbiter of refinement. Richelieu began this work of centralization by destroying the power of the nobles. Before his time, the princes held court in the great provincial centres, and the artisans of the smallest places supplied the needs of the nobility with traditional skill. A rich châtelain had artisans among his vassals; and, even in bourgeois houses, furniture, clothes, boots and shoes were made at home.
Bois-Doré therefore had only to select the materials and order the articles that Adamas was to have made under his own eyes.
In the matter of dress Adamas was beyond praise. He could safely be trusted, and, at need, he could put his own hand to the work with success.