I forgot for an instant how we were
placed, and I cried to my neighbour that it was the fairest
pageant I had ever seen.
She--it was Mademoiselle, and she had taken off her mask--cast
one look at me in answer; only one, but it conveyed disgust and
loathing so unspeakable that scorn beside them would have been a
gift. I reined in my horse as if she had struck me, and felt
myself go first hot and then cold under her eyes. Then she
looked another way.
But I did not forget the lesson; and after that I avoided her
more sedulously than before. We lay that night at Auch, and I
gave M. de Cocheforet the utmost liberty, even permitting him to
go out and return at his will. In the morning, believing that on
the farther side of Auch we ran little risk of attack, I
dismissed the two dragoons, and an hour after sunrise we set out
again. The day was dry and cold, the weather more promising. I
proposed to go by way of Lectoure, crossing the Garonne at Agen;
and I thought that, with roads continually improving as we moved
northwards, we should be able to make good progress before night.
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