This bold reply seems to have completely disconcerted De Caylus.  He had already heard of the stranger’s striking resemblance to the Duchess de Penthievre, and the assumption of this haughty tone to an officer of his own rank staggered him.  He set out for Fort Royal, but changed his mind on the way, and returned to St. Pierre.  The prince, on the other hand, kept his appointment, and not finding the marquis, proceeded to Fort St. Pierre, which he entered in triumph, attended by seventeen or eighteen gentlemen.  The governor caught a glimpse of him as he passed through the streets, and exclaimed “that he was the very image of his mother and sister,” and in a panic quitted the town.  Nothing could have been more fortunate than his flight.  The prince assumed all the airs of royalty, and proceeded to establish a petty court, appointing state officers to wait upon him.  The Marquis d’Eragny he created his grand equerry; Duval Ferrol and Laurent ’Dufont were his gentlemen-in-waiting; and the faithful Rhodez was constituted his page.  Regular audiences were granted to those who came to pay their respects to him, or to present memorials or petitions, and for a time Martinique rejoiced in the new glory which this illustrious presence shed upon it.

It so happened that the Duc de Penthievre was the owner of considerable estates in the colony, which were under the care of a steward named Lievain.  This man, who seems to have been a simple soul, no sooner heard of the arrival of his master’s brother-in-law in the island than he hastened to offer him not only his respects, but, what was far better, the use of the cash which he held in trust for the duke.  He was, of course, received with peculiar graciousness, and immediate advantage was taken of his timely offer.  The prince was now supplied with means adequately to support the royal state which he had assumed, and the last lingering relics of suspicion were dissipated, for Lievain was known to be a thoroughly honest and conscientious man, and one well acquainted with his master’s family and affairs, and it was surmised that he would not thus have committed himself unless he had had very good grounds for so doing.

On his arrival at St. Pierre the prince had taken up his quarters in the convent of the Jesuits; and now the Dominican friars, jealous of the honour conferred upon their rivals, besought a share of his royal favour, and asked him to become their guest.  Nothing loth to gratify their amiable ambition, the prince changed his residence to their convent, in which he was entertained most sumptuously.  Every day a table of thirty covers was laid for those whom he chose to invite; he dined in public—­a fanfaronade of trumpets proclaiming his down-sitting and his up-rising—­and the people thronged the banqueting-hall in such numbers that barriers had to be erected in the middle of it to keep the obtrusive multitude at a respectful distance.