“I am to understand then that you accept, and I may tell my master that you will give a representation at the château, as he desires?” “Yes, I place myself and my company at his disposition,” Hérode said, smilingly. “And now let me know what day you want us to go, and which of our pieces your master prefers.” “Thursday is the day my master designated; as for selecting the play, that he leaves to your own good taste and discretion.” “Very well; and now you have only to give me directions as to the road we must take to reach the château. Be as explicit as you can, I pray you, so that there may be no danger of our going astray.” The agent of the Comte de Pommereuil accordingly gave the most minute and exact directions possible, but ended by saying, “Never mind, you need not burden your memory with all these troublesome details! I will send you a lackey to serve as guide.” Matters being thus satisfactorily arranged, the charming old major-domo took leave of Hérode, who accompanied him down the stairs and across the court to the outer door of the hotel, and departed, looking back to exchange a last polite sign of farewell ere he turned the corner of the street. If the honest tyrant could have seen him as he walked briskly away, the moment he was safely out of sight, he would have been astonished at the way the broad, stooping shoulders straightened themselves up, and at the rapid, vigorous step that succeeded to the slow, rather infirm gait of his venerable visitor—but these things our worthy Hérode neither saw nor suspected. On Wednesday morning, as the comedians were finishing the packing of their chariot, which stood ready for departure in the courtyard of the hotel, with a pair of fine spirited horses before it that the tyrant had hired for the journey, a tall, rather fierce-looking lackey, dressed in a neat livery and mounted on a stout pony, presented himself at the outer door, cracking his whip vigorously, and announcing himself as the guide, sent according to promise by the considerate major-domo, to conduct them to the Château de Pommereuil.