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Gondy had not walked a hundred steps ere he perceived the strange change which had been made in the streets of Paris. The whole city seemed peopled with fantastic beings; silent shadows were seen unpaving the streets and others dragging and upsetting great wagons, whilst others again dug ditches large enough to ingulf whole regiments of horsemen.
Conde, having no further reason to remain in exile, received as a gift from the trembling Mary de' Medici the magnificent Hotel Gondy, where the Dutch ambassadors had so recently been lodged, for which she paid 65,000 crowns, together with 25,000 crowns to furnish it, 50,000 crowns to pay his debts, 50,000 more as yearly pension.
"Some of those men sometimes die worth twenty thousand and twenty-five and thirty thousand francs and sometimes more." "Hum!" said Gondy, laughing; "I was not aware my alms were so well invested." In the meantime they were advancing toward the square, and the moment the coadjutor and the curate put their feet on the first church step the mendicant arose and proffered his brush.
"Yes, but I make hereby a vow in your presence, to employ all that remains to me in pious works." His face was pale and drawn, like that of a man who had just undergone some inward struggle. "Singular man!" muttered Gondy, taking his hat to go away; but on turning around he saw the beggar between him and the door.
Athos then said to Aramis. "Presently there are not a sufficient number of people here yet; we shall be remarked." At this moment the door opened and in walked the coadjutor. At this name every one looked around, for his was already a very celebrated name. Athos did the same. He knew the Abbe de Gondy only by report.
"Now," said Gondy, "there is a communion between us. I have blessed you and you are sacred to me. Come, have you committed some crime, pursued by human justice, from which I can protect you?" The beggar shook his head. "The crime which I have committed, my lord, has no call upon human justice, and you can only deliver me from it by blessing me frequently, as you have just done."
On the 22nd the royal carriages came by appointment to the Hotel Gondy, and took them for their first audience to the Louvre. They were received at the gate by a guard of honour, drums beating and arms presented, and conducted with the greatest ceremony to an apartment in the palace.
"Seriously," said Gondy, astonished at not having further advanced; "I fear that when the torrent has broken its embankment it will cause fearful destruction." "And I," said the queen, "think that in such a case other embankments should be raised to oppose it. Go; I will reflect."
At a quarter to six o'clock, Monsieur de Gondy, having finished his business, returned to the archiepiscopal palace. At six o'clock the curate of St. Merri was announced. The coadjutor glanced rapidly behind and saw that he was followed by another man. The curate then entered, followed by Planchet. "Your holiness," said the curate, "here is the person of whom I had the honor to speak to you."
"Will you send me my brother as soon as he comes in." "Even if he be drunk?" "Whatever state he is in." Bernouillet went, and Chicot remained in a state of indecision as to what to do, for he thought, "If David is really so ill, he may have sent on the despatches by Gondy." Presently he heard Gorenflot's voice, singing a drinking song as he came up the stairs. "Silence, drunkard!" said Chicot.
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