And come early in the morning to my closet and tell me how it has fared with him.' We all stood bowing while he withdrew, and only turned to retire when the door closed behind him.

Burning with indignation and chagrin as I was at finding myself disposed of in the way I have described, and pitchforked, whether I would or no, into a service I neither fancied nor desired, I still managed for the present to restrain myself; and, permitting my companions to precede me, followed in silence, listening sullenly to their jubilations.

The marquis seemed scarcely less pleased than M.de Rosny; and as the latter evinced a strong desire to lessen any jealousy the former might feel, and a generous inclination to attribute to him a full share of the credit gained, I remained the only person dissatisfied with the evening's events.

We retired from the chateau with the same precautions which had marked our entrance, and parting with M.de Rambouillet at the door of our lodging--not without many protestations of esteem on his part and of gratitude on that of M.de Rosny--mounted to the first-floor in single file and in silence, which I was determined not to be the first to break.
Doubtless M.de Rosny knew my thoughts, for, speedily dismissing Maignan and Simon, who were in waiting, he turned to me without preface.

'Come, my friend,' he said, laying his hand on my shoulder and looking me in the face in a way which all but disarmed me at once, 'do not let us misunderstand one another.