A Promenade at the Tournelles.
In course of time the Angevin gentlemen had returned to Paris, although not with much confidence. They knew too well the king, his brother, and mother, to hope that all would terminate in a family embrace. They returned, therefore, timidly, and glided into the town armed to the teeth, ready to fire on the least suspicion, and drew their swords fifty times before the H?tel d’Anjou on harmless bourgeois, who were guilty of no crime but of looking at them. They presented themselves at the Louvre, magnificently dressed in silk, velvet, and embroidery. Henri III. would not receive them; they waited vainly in the gallery. It was MM. Quelus, Maugiron, Schomberg, and D’Epernon who came to announce this news to them, with great politeness, and expressing all the regrets in the world.
“Ah, gentlemen,” said Antragues, “the news is sad, but, coming from your mouths, it loses half its bitterness.”
“Gentlemen,” said Schomberg, “you are the flower of grace and courtesy. Would it please you to change the reception which you have missed into a little promenade?”
“Ah! gentlemen, we were about to propose it.”
“Where shall we go?” said Quelus.
“I know a charming place near the Bastile,” said Schomberg.
“We follow you, go on.”
Then the eight gentlemen went out, arm in arm, talking gaily on different subjects, until Quelus said, “Here is a solitary place, with a good footing.”
“Ma foi, yes.”
“Well! we thought that you would one day accompany us here to meet M. de Bussy, who has invited us all here.”
“It is true,” said Bussy.
“Do you accept?” said Maugiron.
“Certainly; we rejoice at such an honor.”
