It is not necessary to recount the various stages of my journey. Sometimes with company not of the choicest, but more often alone, I trudged along, sleeping at night in shed or outhouse, so as to hoard my scanty stock of money. My shabby clothes, and perhaps the sight of my sword, saved me from being robbed, and, indeed, thieves would have gained no rich booty. A sharp sword and a lean purse are not ill friends to travel with on occasion. It was afternoon when I reached Paris, and inquired my way to the Palais Royal. The man, a well-to-do shopkeeper, looked curiously at my shabby cloak, but directed me civilly enough. "Monsieur is perhaps a friend of the Cardinal?" said he, as I thanked him. "It may be," I answered; "though it is hard to tell as yet." "Ah!" he exclaimed. "Monsieur, though young, is prudent, and knows how to keep his own counsel. Monsieur is from the country?" "Well," said I, laughing, "that question hardly needs answering." The fellow evidently intended to speak again, but thought better of it, and contented himself with staring at me very hard. In the next street a man stopped me, and started a long rigmarole, but I pushed him aside and went on. At the gate of the Palais Royal my courage oozed out at my finger ends, and I walked about for half an hour before mustering sufficient resolution to address one of the sentries posted at the gate. "M. Belloc?" he said. "What do you want of him?" "I will tell him when I see him." "_Merci!_" he exclaimed, "if you don't keep a civil tongue in your head I will clap you in the guard-room." Just then an officer coming up asked my business, and I repeated my wish to see M. Belloc. "Do you know him?" he inquired. "I am here by his own invitation." "Well, in that case," looking me up and down as if I had been a strange animal, "you are very unfortunate. M. Belloc left town only an hour ago." "But he will return?" "That is quite likely." "Can you tell me when?" "If you can wait long enough for an answer I will ask the Cardinal," he replied with a laugh. "It is a pity the Cardinal doesn't keep a school for manners," I exclaimed, and, turning on my heel, walked away. Here was a pretty beginning to my venture! What should I do now? I had not once given a thought to Belloc's being away, and without him I was completely lost. After wandering about aimlessly for some time I remembered Raoul Beauchamp, and decided to seek news of him at La Boule d'Or. Without knowing it, I had strayed into the very street where the curious shopkeeper lived, and there he stood at his door. "Monsieur has soon returned," said he. "To beg a fresh favour. Will you direct me to the Rue de Roi?" "The Rue de Roi?" he exclaimed in a tone of surprise. "Yes, I want to find La Boule d'Or." At that he raised his eyebrows and, lifting his hands, exclaimed, "Monsieur, then, has not received any encouragement from the Cardinal?"