Then he stood and cursed the King of France--cursing him openly by the name of Henry of Valois, a thing I had never looked to hear in France--though no one said 'Amen,' and all glanced over their shoulders, and our host pattered from the room as if he had seen a ghost, it seemed to be no man's duty to gainsay him.
For myself, I was full of thoughts which it would have been unsafe to utter in that company or so near the Loire.

I looked back sixteen years.
Who but Henry of Guise had spurned the corpse of Coligny?
And who but Henry of Valois had backed him in the act?
Who but Henry of Guise had drenched Paris with blood, and who but Henry of Valois had ridden by his side?
One 23rd of the month--a day never to be erased from France's annals--had purchased for him a term of greatness.

A second 23rd saw him, pay the price--saw his ashes cast secretly and by night no man knows where! Moved by such thoughts, and observing that the priest was going the round of the company collecting money for masses for the duke's soul, to which object I could neither give with a good conscience nor refuse without exciting suspicion, I slipped out; and finding a man of decent appearance talking with the landlord in a small room beside the kitchen, I called for a flask of the best wine, and by means of that introduction obtained my supper in their company.
The stranger was a Norman horsedealer, returning home, after disposing of his string.

He seemed to be in a large way of business, and being of a bluff, independent spirit, as many of those Norman townsmen are, was inclined at first to treat me with more familiarity than respect; the fact of my nag, for which he would have chaffered, excelling my coat in quality, leading him to set me down as a steward or intendant.

The pursuit of his trade, however, had brought him into connection with all classes of men and he quickly perceived his mistake; and as he knew the provinces between the Seine and Loire to perfection, and made it part of his business to foresee the chances of peace and war, I obtained a great amount of information from him, and indeed conceived no little liking for him.