"Tell me about it, monsieur; it will divert your thoughts."
"I will gladly do so, Adamas. It was in fifteen hundred—never mind the date!"
"Of course not, of course not, monsieur, the date is of no importance."
"My dear little Florimond was tired of having to stay in the house, but I dared not take him out-of-doors, because parties of troops of all factions were constantly passing, who killed everybody and recognized no friends. I happened to think of a diversion which had tempted me sorely in my own childhood. At the château of Sarzay I had seen many of those stuffed animals and other toys with which the young Barbançois used to play. The lords of Barbançois, who held that fief of Sarzay, from father to son, for many years, were among the fiercest enemies of the poor Calvinists, and at that time they were at Issoudun, hanging and burning as many as they could. In their absence the manor of Sarzay was not very carefully guarded. The country roundabout being absolutely devoted to the Catholics and to Monsieur de la Châtre, they had no suspicion of poor me, for I was too entirely alone and too poor to undertake anything.
"It occurred to me to go thither on some pretext, and to lay violent hands on the toys, unless some servant would sell them to me, for it was useless to try to find any elsewhere. They were luxuries, and were not sold in out of the way places.
"I presented myself, therefore, as coming from my father, and asked to be admitted to the château to speak to the young folks' nurse, for they were then old enough to ride, like myself, and were scouring the country. I went in, explained my errand, and was coldly received by the nurse. She knew that I had already fought with the Calvinists and that my father did not love me: but money softened her. She went to a room at the top of the house and brought down what the children, now full-grown, had injured least.
"So away I went with a horse, a dog, a citadel, six cannons, a chariot and many little iron dishes, the whole in a big basket covered with a cloth, which I had fastened upon my horse behind me. It came up to my shoulders, and, as I rode out of the courtyard, I heard the servants laughing at the window and saying to one another:
"'He's a great booby, and, if we never have to deal with any Reformers of a different stamp, we will soon settle their business.'
"Some were inclined to shoot at me, but I escaped with nothing worse than a fright. I dug my spurs into my horse, my baggage jingling behind like a Limousin tinker's bag of old iron.
"However, all went well, and I rode tranquilly along the crossroad, in order not to pass through La Châtre with that outfit; but I had to cross the Couarde, by the bridge on the Aigurande road, and there I found myself face to face with a party of ten or twelve reiters riding toward the town.