Then one of the party turned suddenly and said, 'But I forget,

Monsieur is a Huguenot?'

'I am a Protestant of the English Church,' said Berenger, rather

stiffly, in the formula of his day.

'Well, you have come at the right moment, 'Tis all for the sermon

now. If the little Abbe there wished to sail with a fair wind, he

should throw away his breviary and study his Calvin.'

Berenger's attention was thus attracted to the Abbe de Mericour, a

young man of about twenty, whose dress was darker than that of the

rest, and his hat of a clerical cut, though in other respects he

was equipped with the same point-device elegance.

'Calvin would never give him the rich abbey of Selicy,' said

another; 'the breviary is the safer speculation.'

'Ah! M. de Ribaumont can tell you that abbeys are no such

securities in these days. Let yonder Admiral get the upper hand,

and we shall see Mericour, the happy cadet of eight brothers and

sisters, turned adrift from their convents. What a fatherly

spectacle M. le Marquis will present!'

Here the Chevalier beckoned to Berenger, who, riding forward,

learnt that Narcisse had engaged lodgings for him and his suite at

one of the great inns, and Berenger returned his thanks, and a

proposal to the Chevalier to become his guest. They were by this

time entering the city, where the extreme narrowness and dirt of

the streets contrasted with the grandeur of the palatial courts

that could be partly seen through their archways. At the hostel

they rode under such an arch, and found themselves in a paved yard

that would have been grand had it been clean. Privacy had scarcely

been invented, and the party were not at all surprised to find that

the apartment prepared for them was to serve both day and night for

Berenger, the Chevalier, and Mr. Adderley, besides having a

truckle-bed on the floor for Osbert. Meals were taken in public,

and it was now one o'clock--just dinner-time; so after a hasty

toilette the three gentlemen descended, the rest of the party

having ridden off to their quarters, either as attendants of

Monsieur or to their families. It was a sumptuous meal, at which a

great number of gentlemen were present, coming in from rooms hired

over shops, &c--all, as it seemed, assembled at Paris for the

marriage festivities; but Berenger began to gather that they were

for the most part adherents of the Guise party, and far from

friendly to the Huguenot interest. Some of them appeared hardly to

tolerate Mr. Adderley's presence at the table; and Berenger, though

his kinsman's patronage secured civil treatment, felt much out of

his element, confused, unable to take part in the conversation, and

sure that he was where those at home did not wish to see him.




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