per cent That's not much thing, is it, Monsieur Gourville?" said Palavicini, in his broken French. Well, Messieurs! he opened the book at another folio, and there pointed out one million crowns lying at the bank of Genoa, in which city, old Plutus said he was born; and this did not pay so much as three per cent. He turned to other investments, at very poor interest, always saying, That

is not much thing, is it, Monsieur Gourville?" and when he shut the clasps of the old book, he said I might now understand why he could not afford an equipage."

"And so he silenced you, Gourville," said Noirmoutier.

"Far from it," said the master of the horse, with a smile of triumph; "1 offered to take the silver bars at a rate of interest which alone should pay the cost and expenses of the finest equipage in Europe."

"And how prospered the proposal?" asked de Retz

Well, he looked at the jewel which fastens my cloak,” replied the master of the horse," and then down to my feet; my spurs, indeed, are of silver, but it was as though I carried security for the loan on my person. But it is bad policy to joke much with bankers, so I entered on business seriously: and when he saw the little dark Spanish agent, Don Josef de Illescas, produce the guarantee of Spain, I was at liberty to carry off the bars if I pleased.”

Gourville then proceeded to deposit with the Coadjutor copies of the documents which were executed on the occasion. The bullion was already safely stowed; and he remarked, in his dry, caustic manner, that he had submitted to a higher rate of interest than he would have done, if the Prince of Condé wanted the money; " but" -and he paused.

"But what?" cried de Retz. did with the banker."

"Use the same freedom as you

"It will be a long time, in my opinion," said Gourville, “before the Fronde repays the money, or its bondsman the King of Spain either; and I make it a practice when I negotiate for money which I expect the owner will never see again, not to drive too hard a bargain for the interest."

CHAPTER XXIII.

Finissons la guerre civile ;

Et que le pain quotidien

Revienne à Paris le grande ville.

CHANSON SUR LE BLOCUS DE PARIS.

GOURVILLE's return with the silver, of which Spain had guaranteed the repayment, that she might foment to the utmost the civil disorders of her ancient enemy, was not the only news which awaited St. Maur. The Coadjutor had received letters from the Duke of Beaufort, announcing the equipment of his levies, and that he was about marching to Paris; de Chevreuse also had received intelligence from the Duke of Lorraine that his army was on the frontiers, waiting the signal to approach.

There was every indication of a hot and sanguinary contest; the character of the war would, on the arrival of the auxiliaries, be entirely changed, and the Fronde find itself embarked in an adventure which would lead its chiefs to fortune or the scaffold. The spirit of du Tremblay's remark, that he was certain of the Bastille in one shape or the other, was applicable to many a gentleman besides himself.

"There is only one thing which concerns me now," said de Retz; "I fear Turenne will remove the Prince on the approach of our allies. If he do, it will be a long contest; if he do not, and hitherto pride has made the Marshal refrain, we will certainly release his Royal Highness-"

The argument of the Coadjutor was here cut short by the entrance of a courier or messenger, who brought word that a heavy train of laden wagons, droves of oxen and flocks of sheep, attended by the drovers and peasants, were now lying concealed at the village of Brie-Comte-Robert, waiting escort. It was now an hour beyond nightfall, and if due dilligence were used, the whole train might be safely convoyed before morning.

Noirmoutier ordered out all the cavalry, including the Coadjutor's Corinthians, and Gourville's Porte Cochères. Constant skirmishing with the royal army had improved the forces of the Fronde into respectable soldiery; they had wiped off with their blood, in repeated engagements, the point of sarcastic raillery and ridicule, once attached to their awkwardness and inexperience. Noirmoutier com

manded the division in person, which included a body of light infantry.

The force was successful in reaching the village unperceived of the enemy; and the General, having arranged the order of march so as best to cover and protect, in case of surprise, the heavy laden wagons, ordered his forces homeward. Whilst returning, command was given to halt; Noirmoutier's scouts had brought intelligence that the village which lay in their march had just been invested and occupied by a body of Turenne's cavalry. After a short pause, a circuitous route was chosen, avoiding the village and the probable range of the enemy's patroles, orders being issued at the same time for the troops to hold themselves in readiness to act.

When the flank of the enemy's position was turned, the regiment of Corinthians, and a division of the Porte Cochères, with Gourville in person, were ordered to the rear, as a corps of observation, to stand the brunt of the battle should the royal troops discover the march of the Frondeurs. This would afford a fair chance of the convoy reaching its destination safely.

Gourville took a position sheltered on one side by a wood, and on the other by a high bank, awaiting the report of his aid-decamps, who were employed in watching both the location of the enemy, and the slow-moving train of his friends. Men and horses were almost benumbed by the chill air of an autumnal night, when intelligence was brought that the convoy had reached the nearest faubourg of the capital.

"Then we have earned to-morrow's dinner, gentlemen," cried Gourville; "and now for a little diversion!"

His object was to surprise the cavalry in the village, of which there was every chance of success; the spoil in horses, prisoners, and the equipments of the officers, as for instance drinking-cups and dinner services of the precious metals-for the village inns afforded no accommodation or comfort, and luxury reigned in the camp as well as court-being doubtless, as St. Maur surmised, Gourville's object, rather than the reputation of the fray.

They marched towards the village with all secresy, halting beyond view of the enemy's sentinels, whilst Gourville despatched a scout to report the position of affairs, and where the attack could be best made. After waiting impatiently a long time in the cold, silence was at last broken by the noise of footsteps, and presently the scout came hurriedly in view, into the little hollow, where the Frondeurs were concealed. To Gourville's hasty questions of the

posture and strength of the royalists, he replied, that knowing well the localities, he had penetrated into the village as far as the inn, having thrown away his military equipments to prevent detection. Creeping into the stable-yard, he entered the stables, and began helping several peasants employed in cleaning the horses of the military. From these men, who believed he had been pressed into the service like themselves, he learned that the division more than doubly outnumbered that of Monsieur Gourville, and was composed partly of household troops, the very élite of Turenne's army, and the brigade commanded by the Count de Nogent, then reposing at the inn. From the laxity of the patrolling, the scout inferred that no danger of surprise was dreaded; and no very strict discipline was kept apparently, by the way in which the men were scattered, some sleeping outside the cottages, others within, some horses safely stabled, others at liberty.

On receiving this information, Gourville decided on an immediate attack, inspiriting his troops with the hope of rich spoil; and that the suddenness of the assault, and the want of preparation on the part of the enemy, would compensate for the inequality of numbers; and it would doubtless have been an easy conquest, had not the pistol of one of the Corinthians been discharged by accident. It happened when they were close to the village, and the noise was sufficient to alarm the patrole, who immediately raised an alarm, by discharging their pieces at the Frondeurs, and retiring under shelter of the cottages.

The master of the horse, fearing the enemy would muster too quickly for the safety of his little force, immediately gave orders to fire the barns, granaries, and cottages, and under cover of the confusion drive down on the mustering royalists, dispersing them wherever they showed force. His orders were promptly obeyed, while the drum beat to arms in the village. The conflagration spread rapidly, breaking out in twenty places at once, in the rear of the dwellings of the poor peasants, whose distressing cries added to the confusion. Giving the order to charge, Gourville led his men quickly into the long, winding irregular street formed by the clustering homesteads, striking down the royalist troopers as they escaped from the cottages, awakened by the conflagration and call to muster. It could scarcely be called an engagement, for the fire frightened the stabled horses of de Nogent's troops, and they could not be led out either by force or caresses; while the despairing dismounted troopers were cut down, and trodden under the hoofs of the Fronde

cavalry. The rout and disorder of the royalists were complete; and the booty, so much as could be saved from the flames, was very great, exceeding even Gourville's expectations.

The Count de Nogent saved himself by flight, escaping with his horses; but his baggage became the prey of the Frondeurs. St. Maur entering with Gourville into the inn, the Count's quarters, the master of the horse handed to the Secretary two richly-chased gold goblets, embossed with the fleur-de-lis, the gift, as the youth recollected, of Anne of Austria to her favourite. These, with a handsome black mare, by its trappings belonging to an officer, were all that fell to the share of St. Maur, whose disposition was averse to the predatory habits of his companions, and who stood aloof, sympathising with the poor houseless peasantry, rather than joining in the slaughter of the retreating enemy, or in the more enticing pursuit of booty.

Collecting all he conveniently could, and bidding the villagers seize the remainder, as compensation for their losses, Gourville called off his men, and commenced a rapid march, ere daybreak, for Paris, laden with booty and prisoners. Many of the latter were gentlemen, some of whom, on arrival at the faubourg, compounded with their captors for a consideration, payable within a certain number of days; others, whose finances would not permit a similar promise or engagement of parole, were marched into Paris.

It was on the whole an affair, which though adding not to the laurels of Gourville as a general, for it was a surpise not a victory, yet was of extreme service to the Fronde, and attended with disgrace and severe loss to Turenne. The Parisians were elated, and fancied they saw a retributive justice in the defeat of one who had been mainly instrumental in arresting their beloved Prince, at the hands of Gourville and St. Maur, both attached personally to the imprisoned Condé.

The Secretary was far from regretting the chance which fortune had so opportunely offered, of repaying the civilities of the Count to himself; and as he examined the rich goblets, which Gourville had almost forced upon him, and which he now contemplated as a fitting present to the ladies of the de Broussel family, rivalling that of du Tremblay's, he had less regret in the possession of treasure so acquired, being the loss of a mischief-making enemy, than if it had been exacted from the hand of an open-hearted gentleman and officer.

Hearing the knock of Jules at his chamber door, St. Maur put