For my part, the whole was joy and satisfaction to me; for it was evident, that all those whose affections I coveted were daily growing more fond of me: the Duke was never tired of praising my method of conducting their sports; Madame de Villardin seemed to take a delight in seeing me play with her little girl; the servants, who were sure to meet all good offices and no evil ones from my hands, found a great difference between myself and such pages as they were accustomed to encounter, with whom the ordinary domestics of a house are generally in a state of open warfare. The two younger pages themselves were my pets and my protégés; and the only one who hated me, with a tolerable degree of malevolence, was my first enemy, Master Gaspard de Belleville, whose fear was the only restraint upon his animosity. Certain it is, that his dislike was not particularly diminished during our stay at the Prés Vallée. The increasing regard and confidence of our mutual lord towards myself, the frequent rebukes and mortifications that his awkwardness and inactivity in all our field sports called upon himself, as well as the total disregard with which I treated him, all served to increase and cultivate his original distaste towards me. It is true he never dared to show his hatred in such a manner as to give me an excuse for resenting it; but it peeped out in a thousand little words and actions, amongst which, one of the pettiest, but one which first showed his feelings, was a habit which he had of never calling me by my name when speaking of me to others, but always designating me--l'Anglais--l'Etranger,--the Englishman--the Foreigner. For all this I was very easily consoled, and indeed scarcely noticed it at all. Monsieur de Villardin, however, himself took notice of the latter circumstance I have mentioned, and one day sharply reproved him for not speaking of me by my name. "Call him, sir," he said, "by his proper appellation,--Monsieur Hall; and remember that he is better born, as well as better educated, than yourself." Of another, and far more serious trait of his ill will towards myself, I received, about this time, proofs quite sufficient to satisfy myself, though perhaps they were not quite irrefragable. Shortly after the arrival of the family at the Prés Vallée, the Duke took me out with him alone; and causing me to walk by his side, made me give him a far more full and detailed account of all my adventures on the road than I had been able to do by letter. When I had done, he asked me if I had been imprudent enough, before quitting Paris, to acknowledge to any one but himself the share I had had in the liberation of Jacques Marlot. "To no one, I assure you, my lord," I replied; "even to his own uncle, Jerome Laborde, I never mentioned the facts; merely telling him--to quiet the old man's mind--that I had heard his nephew had been liberated, without adding one word which could induce him to believe that I had any share in the transaction."