Volume VI Part 35 (1/2)

”Well, I may be,” I said, ”but whatBarcelona yesterday, I noticed three ill-looking felloatching us, arht they slept in the stable with my mules They dined here to-day, and they went on three quarters of an hour ago They don't speak to anyone, and I don't like the looks of them”

”What shall we do to avoid assassination, or the dread of it?”

”We ue this side of the ordinary stage where they will be awaiting us If they turn back, and sleep at the saht the idea a sensible one, and we started, I going on foot nearly the whole way; and at five o'clock we halted at a wretched inn, butno signs of the sinister trio

At eight o'clock I was at supper, when my man came in and toldwith our driver in the stable

My hair stood on end There could be no more doubt about theto fear; but it would be getting dark e arrived at the frontier, and then n, but to ask the driver to come and speak with me when the assassins were asleep

He came at ten o'clock, and told me plainly that we should be all murdered as we approached the French frontier

”Then you have been drinking with them?”

”Yes, and after we had dispatched a bottle at one on to the end of the stage, where you would be better lodged I replied that it was late, and you were cold I ht have asked in e the, but I took care to do nothing of the kind

All I asked hether the road to Perpignan was a good one, and they toldnow?”

”They are sleeping by my mules, covered with their cloaks”

”What shall we do?”

”We will start at day-break after thee; but after dinner, trust ht we shall be in France safe and sound”

If I could have procured a good armed escort I would not have taken his advice, but in the situation I was in I had no choice

We found the three scoundrels in the place where the driver had told lance, and thought they looked like true Sicarii, ready to kill anyone for a little money

They started in a quarter of an hour, and half an hour later we set out, with a peasant to guide us, and so struck into a cross road The mules went at a sharp pace, and in seven hours we had done eleven leagues At ten o'clock we stopped at an inn in a French village, and we had no uide a doubloon, hich he ell pleased, and I enjoyed once ht in a French bed, for nowhere will you find such soft beds or such delicious wines as in the good land of France

The next day I arrived at the posting-inn at Perpignan in time for dinner I endeavoured in vain to think who could have paid my assassins, but the reader will see the explanation e get twenty days farther

At Perpignan I dis tohier of the assassin I begged him to direct his answer to Aix, where I intended to spend a fortnight, in the hope of seeing the Marquis d'Argens I left Perpignan the day after my arrival, and slept at Narbonne, and the day after at Beziers

The distance froues, and I had not intended to stop; but the good cheer which the kindest of landladies gave me at dinner made me stop with her to supper

Beziers is a tohich looks pleasant even at the worst time of the year A philosopher ished to renounce all the vanities of the world, and an Epicurean ould enjoy good cheer cheaply, could find no better retreat than Beziers

Everybody at Beziers is intelligent, all the women are pretty, and the cooks are all artists; the wines are exquisite--what more could one desire! May its riches never prove its ruin!

When I reached Montpellier, I got down at the ”White Horse,” with the intention of spending a week there In the evening I supped at the table d'hote, where I found a nuuest there was a separate dish brought to table