Although rude, this equipage and retinue inspired profound admiration among the inhabitants of the little town; the sight of a coach, however inelegant, was always to them a novel and interesting thing. As we have said, the crowd stood silently looking on. They knew that Raimond V. never used this carriage except on important occasions, and a lively curiosity suspended for a time their most violent passions. They whispered among each other concerning the direction the carriage would take: was it to the church, or was it to the town hall? This last supposition became probable as Raimond V., having turned the corner of the street, took the road which led to the edifice where the overseers of the port were assembled. Soon doubt changed to certainty, when they heard the stentorian voice of Laramée cry: “Room! make way for monseigneur, who is going to the tribunal of the overseers!” Theae words, passing from mouth to mouth, finally reached the ears of the consul and the recorder, whose disappointment and vexation were extreme. “Why, what have you said, recorder?” cried the men who surrounded him, “here is Raimond V.; he is coming to present himself before the tribunal of overseers.” “Then he has not resolved to make straw of our privileges?” “He intends to appear, yes, he intends to appear without doubt,” said Master Isnard, “but he is coming with a retinue of armed men; who can tell what he is going to say to those poor overseers of the port?” “Doubtless he wishes to intimidate them,” said the consul. “He wishes to make his refusal to recognise their jurisdiction all the more contemptuous by coming to tell them so himself,” said the recorder. “An armed retinue?” said a hearer. “And what do these men with carbines intend to do against us?” “The consul is right. He is coming to insult the overseers,” said one of the most defiant citizens. “Come now, Raimond V., as bold as he is, would never dare do that,” replied a third. “No, no; he recognises our privileges,--he is a good and worthy lord,” cried several voices. “We were wrong to distrust him.” In a word, by one of those sudden changes so common in popular excitements, the mind of the people at once turned over to the favour of Raimond V. and to hostility toward the recorder. Master Isnard put both his responsibility and his person under cover, and, in so doing, did not hesitate to expose his unfortunate clerk to the anger of the people. Instead of manifesting hostility to the baron, several of the citizens now assumed a threatening attitude toward the recorder for having deceived them. “It is this stranger,” said they, “who has excited us against Raimond V.” “This good and worthy noble who has always stood for us!” “Yes, yes, that is so; he told us that Raimond wished to destroy our privileges, and, on the contrary, he respects them.” “Without doubt, monseigneur did well in delivering him to the bulls of Camargne,” cried a sailor, shaking his fist at the recorder.