So it was with a beating heart but no apprehension that he alighted from the caleche with his friends, and went into the palace to meet the Intendant.
The interior of the great building was a singular mixture of barbaric and civilized splendor, the American forests and the factories of France alike being drawn upon for its furnishings.

The finest of silken tapestries and the rarest of furs often hung close together.

Beyond the anterooms was a large hall in which the chosen guests danced while the people might look on from galleries that surrounded it.

These people, who were not so good as the guests, could dance as much as they pleased in a second hall set aside exclusively for their use.

In another and more secluded but large room all kinds of games of chance to which Bigot and his followers were devoted were in progress.