“I agree with you, de Penthiere.  It would be a sore pity to injure good horses by galloping them at the top of their speed, to say nothing of knocking ourselves up.  Had we been sent off from the field of battle I should have said, spare neither the horses nor ourselves.  But indeed it seems to me that tomorrow morning will be quite early enough for us to present ourselves and our despatches.  To tell you the truth, I have never ridden a hundred and thirty miles or so at the pace of a courier.  I should say let us go at a reasonable pace, and get into Paris soon after midnight, which will give us time for some little sleep, and afterwards to make ourselves presentable.  What say you, Colonel Campbell?”

“I have no opinion, messieurs.  I know nothing of the manners of the court, and if you think that tomorrow morning will be quite soon enough for us to deliver the despatches I am quite willing to fall in with your view.  It is certainly a long ride, and as we marched hither we found that the roads were very bad, and certainly where the army has passed they are so cut up by the artillery and wagons that they are sure to be quite unfit for going at racing speed.  Therefore I think that if we present ourselves at the palace early in the morning, we shall have done all that can be expected of us.”

It was indeed two o’clock in the morning when they arrived at the gates of Paris.  Accustomed though they all were to horse exercise, the journey had been a very fatiguing one.  Until night fell they had ridden briskly, talking as they went on the probable state of affairs in France and of the military operations that were likely to be undertaken as the result of the victory, but progress became slow after darkness set in.  The roads were in many places detestably bad.  In passing through forests it was not possible to travel much beyond a walk, as it was necessary not only to avoid overhanging arms of trees, but to keep the track, for the road in many places was nothing more.

Once or twice they lost it altogether, and it was only when they hit upon the house of a peasant or a little village, and obtained a guide, that they were able to recover their road.  Consequently all were thoroughly exhausted when they reached Paris.  The gates were opened to them when it was understood that they bore despatches from the army.  They made their way to the Hotel Conde.  It was illuminated, for the prince had given a great banquet in honour of the victory won by his son; and although most of the guests had left long before, a party of the closest friends and connections of the prince were holding an informal council, when the word came to them that three officers had arrived with despatches from the Duc d’Enghien.  The prince came down.  Hector had dismounted without assistance, but the other two officers had to be lifted from their saddles.

“Are you bearers of any special news, de Penthiere?” the prince asked; for the two young nobles were well known to him.