who lived at no great distance.  The marquis had not risen from table when the messenger arrived, and disclosed to those who were seated with him the news which he had just received.  A reference to an official calendar or directory showed that Est was a princely name, and the company at once jumped to the conclusion that the mysterious stranger was no other than Hercules Renaud d’Est, hereditary Prince of Modena, and brother of the Duchess de Penthievre.  The truth of this supposition was apparently capable of easy proof, for one of the company, named Bois-Ferme, the brother-in-law of the commandant, asserted that he was personally well acquainted with the prince, and could recognise him anywhere.  Accordingly, after a few bottles of wine had been drunk, the whole company proceeded uproariously to Radau’s, where Bois-Ferme (who was a notorious liar and braggart) effusively proclaimed the stranger to be the hereditary Prince of Modena.  The disclosure thus boisterously made seemed to offend, rather than give pleasure to, the self-styled Count de Tarnaud, who, while not repudiating the title applied to him, expressed his dissatisfaction at the indiscretion which had revealed him to the public.

At this time the inhabitants of Martinique were in a very discontented and unhappy position.  Their coast was closely blockaded by the English fleet, provisions were extremely scarce, and the necessities of the populace were utilised by unscrupulous officials who amassed riches by victimising those who had been placed under their authority.  The Marquis de Caylus, governor of the Windward Islands, was one of the most rapacious of these harpies; and although, perhaps, he was more a tool in the hands of others than an independent actor, the feeling of the people was strong against him, and it was hoped that the newly-arrived prince would supersede him, and redress the grievances which his maladministration had created.  Accordingly Nadau, who entertained a private spite against De Caylus, lost no time in representing the infamy of the marquis, and was comforted by the assurance of his youthful guest, that he would visit those who had abused the confidence of the king with the severest punishment, and not only so, but would place himself at the head of the islands to resist any attempt at invasion by the English.

These loyal and generous intentions, which Nadau did not fail to make public, increased the general enthusiasm, and rumours of the plot which was hatching reached Fort St. Pierre, where the Marquis de Caylus had his head-quarters.  He at once sent a mandate to Nadau, ordering the stranger before him.  A message of similar purport was also sent to the youth himself, addressed to the Count de Tarnaud.  Upon receiving it he turned to the officers who had brought it, saying—­“Tell your master that to the rest of the world I am the Count de Tarnaud, but that to him I am Hercules Renaud d’Est.  If he wishes to see me let him come half-way.  Let him repair to Fort Royal in four or five days.  I will be there.”