CHAPTER III.

The road to Paris.

The sun had not yet risen above the hills when we three with a single servant behind us drew rein at the end of the valley; and easing our horses on the ascent, turned in the saddle to take a last look at Caylus—­at the huddled grey town, and the towers above it.  A little thoughtful we all were, I think.  The times were rough and our errand was serious.  But youth and early morning are fine dispellers of care; and once on the uplands we trotted gaily forward, now passing through wide glades in the sparse oak forest, where the trees all leaned one way, now over bare, wind-swept downs; or once and again descending into a chalky bottom, where the stream bubbled through deep beds of fern, and a lonely farmhouse nestled amid orchards.

Four hours’ riding, and we saw below us Cahors, filling the bend of the river.  We cantered over the Vallandre Bridge, which there crosses the Lot, and so to my uncle’s house of call in the square.  Here we ordered breakfast, and announced with pride that we were going to Paris.

Our host raised his hands.  “Now there!” he exclaimed, regret in his voice.  “And if you had arrived yesterday you could have travelled up with the Vidame de Bezers!  And you a small party—­ saving your lordships’ presence—­and the roads but so-so!”

“But the Vidame was riding with only half-a-dozen attendants also!” I answered, flicking my boot in a careless way.

The landlord shook his head.  “Ah, M. le Vidame knows the world!” he answered shrewdly.  “He is not to be taken off his guard, not he!  One of his men whispered me that twenty staunch fellows would join him at Chateauroux.  They say the wars are over, but” —­and the good man, shrugging his shoulders, cast an expressive glance at some fine flitches of bacon which were hanging in his chimney.  “However, your lordships know better than I do,” he added briskly.  “I am a poor man.  I only wish to live at peace with my neighbours, whether they go to mass or sermon.”

This was a sentiment so common in those days and so heartily echoed by most men of substance both in town and country, that we did not stay to assent to it; but having received from the worthy fellow a token which would insure our obtaining fresh cattle at Limoges, we took to the road again, refreshed in body, and with some food for thought.

Five-and-twenty attendants were more than even such a man as Bezers, who had many enemies, travelled with in those days; unless accompanied by ladies.  That the Vidame had provided such a reinforcement seemed to point to a wider scheme than the one with which we had credited him.  But we could not guess what his plans were; since he must have ordered his people before he heard of Catherine’s engagement.  Either his jealousy therefore had put him on the alert earlier, or his threatened attack on Pavannes was only part of a larger plot.  In either case our errand seemed more urgent, but scarcely more hopeful.