But being engaged at
the time with the Spanish treaty, and resolved, as I have said,
to steer a course uninfluenced by such intrigues, I did not let
my mind dwell upon the matter; nor gave it, indeed, a second
thought until the next afternoon, when, sitting at an open window
of my lodging, I heard a voice in the street ask where the
Duchess de Beaufort had her apartment.
The voice struck a chord in my memory, and I looked out. The man
who had put the question, and who was now being directed on his
way--by Maignan, my equerry, as it chanced had his back to me,
and I could see only that he was young, shabbily dressed, and
with the air of a workman carried a small frail of tools on his
shoulder. But presently, in the act of thanking Maignan, he
turned so that I saw his face, and with that it flashed upon me
in a moment who he was.
Accustomed to follow a train of thought quickly, and to act; on
its conclusion with energy, I had Maignan called and furnished
with his instructions before the man had gone twenty paces; and
within the minute I had the satisfaction of seeing the two return
together.
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