Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images available at The Internet Archive) [Illustration: _Copyright 1903 by G. Barrie & Sons_] _LÉODGARD RETURNS TO HIS FRIENDS_ _All the young men ran to meet Léodgard, for it was really he who was approaching. As they drew near him they were struck by his pallor and by the sinister gleam of his eyes, which avoided theirs._ NOVELS BY Paul de Kock VOLUME VII THE BATH KEEPERS; OR, PARIS IN THOSE DAYS VOL. I PRINTED BY ARRANGEMENT WITH [Illustration] GEORGE BARRIE'S SONS THE JEFFERSON PRESS BOSTON NEW YORK _Copyrighted, 1903-1904, by G. B. & Sons._ THE BATH KEEPERS; OR, PARIS IN THOSE DAYS I RUE COUTURE-SAINTE-CATHERINE It was two o'clock on a cold, damp morning; the fine snow, which melted as soon as it touched the ground, made the streets slippery and dirty, and Rue Culture-Sainte-Catherine,--then called Couture-Sainte-Catherine,--although it was one of the broadest streets in Paris, was as black and gloomy as any blind alley in the Cité to-day. But these things took place in the year one thousand six hundred and thirty-four; and I need not tell you that in those days no such devices for street lighting as lanterns, gas, or electric lights were known. The man who should have discovered the last-named invention, which, in truth, savors strongly of the magical, would surely have been subjected to the ordinary and extraordinary torture for a recompense. Those were the good old times! Everything new aroused suspicion; people believed much more readily in sorcerers, the devil, and magic, than in the results of study and learning and the reasoning of the human intellect. Was it that men were too modest in those days? If so, they have reformed most effectually since then. In those days, very few persons ventured to be out late in the streets of Paris, where the police was most inefficient and often worse. The young noblemen sometimes indulged in the pastime of beating the watch; that diversion was permitted to the nobility. To-day, the prowlers about the barriers are the only class who undertake to beat the gendarmes from time to time; but the gendarmes are not so accommodating as the watch of the old days. There were not then some thirty or more theatres open every evening for the entertainment of the people of the capital and of the strangers drawn thither by its renown. A single one had been founded and was patronized by Cardinal de Richelieu, who, unfortunately for his glory, had undertaken to add to his other titles thereto the title of author. But all great men have had their weaknesses. Alexander drank too much, which was infinitely more reprehensible than to write wretched verses; Frederick the Great insisted that he was a talented performer on the flute; and Louis XIV danced in the comédies-ballets which Molière composed for him.