The aspect of St. Germain's, however, had very much changed since De Blenau left it. Louis had now fixed his residence there; his confidence in the Queen seemed perfectly restored; every countenance glowed with that air of satisfaction, which such a renewal of good intelligence naturally produced; and the Royal residence had once more assumed the appearance of a Court. The first welcome received by De Blenau was from his gallant friend Cinq Mars, at whose request his recall had been granted by the King, and who now, calculating the time of the exile's return, stood at the door of De Blenau's hotel, ready to meet him on his arrival. "Welcome, welcome back! my long-lost friend, Claude de Blenau," exclaimed Cinq Mars, as the Count sprang from his horse; "welcome from the midst of prisons and trials, perils and dangers!" "And well met, gallant Cinq Mars, the noble and the true," replied De Blenau. "But tell me, in heaven's name, Cinq Mars, what makes all this change at St. Germain's? Why, it looks as if the forest were a fair, and that the old town had put on its holiday suit to come and see it." "Nay, nay! rather, like a true dame that dresses herself out for her lover's return, it has made itself fine to receive you back again," replied the Master of the Horse. "But if you would really know the secret of all the change that you see now, and will see still more wonderfully as you look farther, it is this. Richelieu is ill at Tarascon, and his name is scarcely remembered at the Court, though Chavigni, that bold rascal, and Mazarin, that subtle one, come prowling about to maintain, if possible, their master's sway. But the spell is broken, and Louis is beginning to be a King again: so we shall see bright days yet." "I hope so; in truth I hope so, Cinq Mars," replied De Blenau. "But, at all events, we will enjoy the change so far as it has gone. And now, what news at the Palace? How fare all the lovely ladies of the Court?" "Why well," answered Cinq Mars; "all well; though I know, De Blenau, that your question, in comprising a hundred, meant but one only. Well, what say you?--I have seen thy Pauline, and cannot but allow that thy taste is marvellous good. There is a wild grace about her, well worth all the formal dignity of a court. One gets tired of the stiff courtesy and the precise bow; the kissing of hands and the lisping of names; the _Monseigneurings_ and the _Madamings_. Fie! one little touch of nature is worth it all." "But answer me one question, Monsieur le Grand," said De Blenau. "How came there a report about, that Pauline had been carried off by some of the Cardinal's people, and that no one knew where she was? for such a tale reached me even in Bourbon." "Is it possible that you are the last to hear that story?" exclaimed Cinq Mars. "Why, though the old Marquise, and the rest at the Palace, affect to keep it a secret, every one knows the adventures of your _demoiselle errante_."