Five-and-twenty attendants were more than even such a man as
Bezers, who had many enemies, travelled with in those days;
unless accompanied by ladies. That the Vidame had provided such
a reinforcement seemed to point to a wider scheme than the one
with which we had credited him. But we could not guess what his
plans were; since he must have ordered his people before he heard
of Catherine's engagement. Either his jealousy therefore had put
him on the alert earlier, or his threatened attack on Pavannes
was only part of a larger plot. In either case our errand seemed
more urgent, but scarcely more hopeful.
The varied sights and sounds however of the road--many of them
new to us--kept us from dwelling over much on this. Our eyes
were young, and whether it was a pretty girl lingering behind a
troop of gipsies, or a pair of strollers from Valencia
--JONGLEURS they still called themselves--singing in the old
dialect of Provence, or a Norman horse-dealer with his string of
cattle tied head and tail, or the Puy de Dome to the eastward
over the Auvergne hills, or a tattered old soldier wounded in the
wars--fighting for either side, according as their lordships
inclined--we were pleased with all.
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