 of high resentment, which promised speedy vengeance upon those who expelled
him. I might have laughed at some points of the Marquis's character, at his
prejudices particularly, both of birth and politics, if I had known him under
more prosperous circumstances; but, situated as he was, even if they had not
been fair and honest prejudices, turning on no base or interested motive, one
must have respected him as we respect the confessor or the martyr of a religion
which is not entirely our own.
    By degrees we became good friends, drank our coffee, smoked our cigar, and
took our bavaroise together, for more than six weeks, with little interruption
from avocations on either side. Having, with some difficulty, got the key-note
of his inquiries concerning Scotland, by a fortunate conjecture that the
province d'Hanguisse could only be our shire of Angus, I was enabled to answer
the most of his queries concerning his allies there in a manner more or less
satisfactory, and was much surprised to find the Marquis much better acquainted
with the genealogy of some of the distinguished families in that county, than I
could possibly have expected.
    On his part, his satisfaction at our intercourse was so great, that he at
length wound himself to such a pitch of resolution, as to invite me to dine at
the Chateau de Hautlieu, well deserving the name, as occupying a commanding
eminence on the banks of the Loire. This building lay about three miles from the
town at which I had settled my temporary establishment; and when I first beheld
it I could easily forgive the mortified feelings which the owner testified at
receiving a guest in the asylum which he had formed out of the ruins of the
palace of his fathers. He gradually, with much gaiety, which yet evidently
covered a deeper feeling, prepared me for the sort of place I was about to
visit; and for this he had full opportunity whilst he drove me in his little
cabriolet, drawn by a large heavy Norman horse, towards the ancient building.
    Its remains run along a beautiful terrace overhanging the river Loire, which
had been formerly laid out with a succession of flights of steps, highly
ornamented with statues, rock-work, and other artificial embellishments,
descending from one terrace to another, until the very verge of the river was
attained. All this architectural decoration, with its accompanying parterres of
rich flowers and exotic shrubs, had, many years since, given place to the more
profitable scene of the vine-dresser's labours; yet the remains, too massive to
be destroyed, are still visible,
