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.