with a yellow feather to match the court dress, a court sword,
high riding boots, and loose turned-over boots used for walking,
but left all other matters to the tailor.

"When your man brings the things to me at the auberge Pome d'Or I
will pay him at once," he said. He was indeed well supplied with
funds, for as he passed through Nancy he had drawn the sums standing
to his credit from an agent there, to whom he had, as occasion
offered, transmitted the greater portion of his pay, and also
the balance of the sum that had been paid him when he first took
possession of his estate, after paying for the various expenses
he had incurred in St. Denis and in Paris. Monsieur Poitrou was
faithful to his promise, and although free from vanity, Hector
could not but perceive, after he had donned his court suit, that
he made a good figure. Such, indeed, was the opinion of not a few
of the ladies of the court as he entered the great reception room.

He had now adopted the general fashion, and wore his hair in ringlets
hanging down on to the collar. His fair complexion contrasted
strongly with the much darker one of the majority of the courtiers,
and this, as well as his height and erect soldierly bearing, rendered
him a conspicuous object among them. The queen and cardinal both
honoured him with marked attention; but what pleased him most
during the evening was the hearty greeting that he received from
Colonel Maclvor, of whom he had seen but little during the campaign,
as the Scottish regiment formed part of Enghien's command, and was
not present at the battle of Nordlingen, being left in garrison
at Metz when the duke marched to join Turenne. Mazarin himself
presented him to many of the ladies of the court, thereby showing
that he wished him to be regarded as a particular friend of his;