But it seemed unlikely since he had had his
orders too, and under the Cardinal's rule there was small place
for individual enterprise. Frankly I could not understand it,
and found only one thing clear; I might now enter the village as
I pleased.
'I am going on to look into this,' I said to Antoine. 'Come, my
man.' He shrugged his shoulders, and stood still.
'Not I!' be answered, with an oath. 'No soldiers for me I have
lain out one night, and I can lie out another.'
I nodded indifferently, for I no longer wanted him; and we
parted. After this, twenty minutes' riding brought me to the
entrance of the village, and here the change was great indeed.
Not one of the ordinary dwellers in the place was to be seen:
either they had shut themselves up in their hovels, or, like
Antoine, they had fled to the woods. Their doors were closed,
their windows shuttered. But lounging about the street were a
score of dragoons, in boots and breastplates, whose short-
barrelled muskets, with pouches and bandoliers attached, were
piled near the inn door. In an open space, where there was a gap
in the street, a long row of horses, linked head to head, stood
bending their muzzles over bundles of rough forage; and on all
sides the cheerful jingle of chains and bridles and the sound of
coarse jokes and laughter filled the air.
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