But the argument, though sound,
availed me little, and in the end I was forced--for all that I am a man
accustomed to please myself--to hurriedly end my repast, and pronounce
myself ready to start.
As Andrea had with him some store of baggage--since his sojourn at Blois
was likely to be of some duration--he travelled in a coach. Into this
coach, then, we climbed--he and I. His valet, Silvio, occupied the seat
beside the coachman, whilst my stalwart Michelot rode behind leading my
horse by the bridle. In this fashion we set out, and ere long the silence
of my thoughtful companion, the monotonous rumbling of the vehicle, and,
most important of all factors, the good dinner that I had consumed, bred in
me a torpor that soon became a sleep.
From a dream that, bound hand and foot, I was being dragged by St. Auban
and Malpertuis before the Cardinal, I awakened with a start to find that we
were clattering already through the streets of Etrechy; so that whilst I
had slept we had covered some six leagues. Twilight had already set in,
and Andrea lay back idly in the carriage, holding a book which it was
growing too dark to read, and between the leaves of which he had slipped
his forefinger to mark the place where he had paused.
Pages:
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98