“Yes,” said Chicot, “there is a bitter wind.  Well, monsieur, I am going away.”

“You told me that before!”

“Yes, I know; but I leave a good deal of money behind me.”

“So much the worse; why not take it with you?”

“I cannot; but I leave it well hidden—­so well, that I have nothing to fear but fire.  If that should happen, will you try and look after that great beam you see on the right.”

“Really, monsieur, you embarrass me.  This confidence would have been far better made to a friend than to a stranger of whom you know nothing.”

“It is true, monsieur, that I do not know you; but I believe in faces, and I think yours that of an honest man.”

“But, monsieur, it is possible that this music may annoy my mistress also, and then she might move.”

“Well, that cannot be helped, and I must take my chance.”

“Thanks, monsieur, for your confidence in a poor unknown; I will try to be worthy of it;” and bowing, he went into the house.

Chicot murmured to himself, “Poor young man, what a wreck, and I have seen him so gay and so handsome.”

CHAPTER XVIII.

The priory of the Jacobins.

The priory which the king had bestowed upon Gorenflot was situated near the Porte St. Antoine.  This was at that time a very favorite quarter, for the king frequently visited the Chateau of Vincennes, and different noblemen had built charming residences in its neighborhood.

The priory was built on four sides of an immense court, planted with trees; it had a kitchen-garden behind, and a number of out-houses, which made it look like a small village.  Two hundred monks occupied the dormitories situated at the end of the courtyard, while in the front, four large windows, with a balcony before them, gave to these apartments air and light.

It was maintained on its own resources and dependencies; its pasture land fed a troop of fifty oxen and ninety-nine sheep, for by some traditional law, no religious order was allowed to possess one hundred of anything, while certain outbuildings sheltered ninety-nine pigs of a particular breed, which were most carefully reared and fattened.  The espaliers of the priory, which were exposed to the mid-day sun, furnished peaches, apricots, and grapes, while preserves of these fruits were skillfully made by a certain Brother Eusebius, who was the architect of the famous rock constructed of sweetmeats which had been presented to the two queens by the Hotel de Ville of Paris at the last state banquet which had taken place there.