de Saintonge, and be muttered,
with a sneer, that it was not difficult to see the end, or that
within the year the young braggart would sink to be a gaming-
house bully. I said nothing, but I confess that I thought
otherwise; the lad's disposition of his money and his provision
for the future seeming to me so remarkable as to set him above
ordinary rules.
From this time I began to watch his career with interest, and I
was not surprised when, in less than a month, something fell out
that led the whole court to regard him with a mixture of
amusement and expectancy.
One evening, after leaving the King's closet, I happened to pass
through the east gallery at the Louvre, which served at that time
as the outer antechamber, and was the common resort as well of
all those idlers who, with some pretensions to fashion, lacked
the ENTREE, as of many who with greater claims preferred to be at
their ease. My passage for a moment stilled the babel which
prevailed. But I had no sooner reached the farther door than the
noise broke out again; and this with so sudden a fury, the tumult
being augmented by the crashing fall of a table, as caused me at
the last moment to stand and turn.
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