How it was managed I do not know, but I fear the Count-Bishop never got his letters, which I fancy would have given him some joint authority.

Certainly we left the messenger--a prudent fellow with a care for his skin--in comfortable quarters at Limoges, whence I do not doubt he presently returned to Paris at his leisure.
The strangeness of the journey however arose from none of these things, but from the relations of our party to one another.

After the first day we four rode together, unmolested, so long as we kept near the centre of the straggling cavalcade.

The Vidame always rode alone, and in front, brooding with bent head and sombre face over his revenge, as I supposed.

He would ride in this fashion, speaking to no one and giving no orders, for a day together.