{"product_id":"2940012859990","title":"THE VICOMTE DE BRAGELONNE","description":"Chapter I. The Letter.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTowards the middle of the month of May, in the year 1660, at nine\u003cbr\u003eo'clock in the morning, when the sun, already high in the heavens,\u003cbr\u003ewas fast absorbing the dew from the ramparts of the castle of Blois, a\u003cbr\u003elittle cavalcade, composed of three men and two pages, re-entered\u003cbr\u003ethe city by the bridge, without producing any other effect upon the\u003cbr\u003epassengers of the quay beyond a first movement of the hand to the head,\u003cbr\u003eas a salute, and a second movement of the tongue to express, in the\u003cbr\u003epurest French then spoken in France: \"There is Monsieur returning from\u003cbr\u003ehunting.\" And that was all.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhilst, however, the horses were climbing the steep acclivity which\u003cbr\u003eleads from the river to the castle, several shop-boys approached the\u003cbr\u003elast horse, from whose saddle-bow a number of birds were suspended by\u003cbr\u003ethe beak.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOn seeing this, the inquisitive youths manifested with rustic freedom\u003cbr\u003etheir contempt for such paltry sport, and, after a dissertation among\u003cbr\u003ethemselves upon the disadvantages of hawking, they returned to their\u003cbr\u003eoccupations; one only of the curious party, a stout, stubby, cheerful\u003cbr\u003elad, having demanded how it was that Monsieur, who, from his great\u003cbr\u003erevenues, had it in his power to amuse himself so much better, could be\u003cbr\u003esatisfied with such mean diversions.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Do you not know,\" one of the standers-by replied, \"that Monsieur's\u003cbr\u003eprincipal amusement is to weary himself?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe light-hearted boy shrugged his shoulders with a gesture which said\u003cbr\u003eas clear as day: \"In that case I would rather be plain Jack than a\u003cbr\u003eprince.\" And all resumed their labors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the meanwhile, Monsieur continued his route with an air at once so\u003cbr\u003emelancholy and so majestic, that he certainly would have attracted the\u003cbr\u003eattention of spectators, if spectators there had been; but the good\u003cbr\u003ecitizens of Blois could not pardon Monsieur for having chosen their gay\u003cbr\u003ecity for an abode in which to indulge melancholy at his ease, and as\u003cbr\u003eoften as they caught a glimpse of the illustrious _ennuye_, they\u003cbr\u003estole away gaping, or drew back their heads into the interior of their\u003cbr\u003edwellings, to escape the soporific influence of that long pale face, of\u003cbr\u003ethose watery eyes, and that languid address; so that the worthy prince\u003cbr\u003ewas almost certain to find the streets deserted whenever he chanced to\u003cbr\u003epass through them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow, on the part of the citizens of Blois this was a culpable piece of\u003cbr\u003edisrespect, for Monsieur was, after the king--nay, even perhaps, before\u003cbr\u003ethe king--the greatest noble of the kingdom. In fact, God, who had\u003cbr\u003egranted to Louis XIV., then reigning, the honor of being son of Louis\u003cbr\u003eXIII., had granted to Monsieur the honor of being son of Henry IV. It\u003cbr\u003ewas not then, or, at least, it ought not to have been, a trifling source\u003cbr\u003eof pride for the city of Blois, that Gaston of Orleans had chosen it as\u003cbr\u003ehis residence, and held his court in the ancient Castle of the States.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut it was the destiny of this great prince to excite the attention and\u003cbr\u003eadmiration of the public in a very modified degree wherever he might be.\u003cbr\u003eMonsieur had fallen into this situation by habit.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was not, perhaps, this which gave him that air of listlessness.\u003cbr\u003eMonsieur had already been tolerably busy in the course of his life. A\u003cbr\u003eman cannot allow the heads of a dozen of his best friends to be cut\u003cbr\u003eoff without feeling a little excitement; and as, since the accession of\u003cbr\u003eMazarin to power, no heads had been cut off, Monsieur's occupation was\u003cbr\u003egone, and his _morale_ suffered from it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe life of the poor prince was then very dull. After his little morning\u003cbr\u003ehawking-party on the banks of the Beuvron, or in the woods of Cheverny,\u003cbr\u003eMonsieur crossed the Loire, went to breakfast at Chambord, with\u003cbr\u003eor without an appetite, and the city of Blois heard no more of its\u003cbr\u003esovereign lord and master till the next hawking-day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo much for the ennui _extra muros_; of the ennui of the interior we\u003cbr\u003ewill give the reader an idea if he will with us follow the cavalcade to\u003cbr\u003ethe majestic porch of the Castle of the States.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMonsieur rode a little steady-paced horse, equipped with a large saddle\u003cbr\u003eof red Flemish velvet, with stirrups in the shape of buskins; the horse\u003cbr\u003ewas of a bay color; Monsieur's pourpoint of crimson velvet corresponded\u003cbr\u003ewith the cloak of the same shade and the horse's equipment, and it was\u003cbr\u003eonly by this red appearance of the whole that the prince could be known\u003cbr\u003efrom his two companions, the one dressed in violet, the other in green.\u003cbr\u003eHe on the left, in violet, was his equerry; he on the right, in green,\u003cbr\u003ewas the grand veneur.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of the pages carried two gerfalcons upon a perch, the other a\u003cbr\u003ehunting-horn, which he blew with a careless note at twenty paces from\u003cbr\u003ethe castle.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47078964265200,"sku":"2940012859990","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012859990_p0.jpg?v=1763573516","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012859990","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}