But he had scarcely gone five hundred paces when he saw four mules, and then a carriage, loom up from behind a little hill.

Behind this carriage came another.

It required only one glance to assure him that these were the equipages he was in search of; he therefore turned his bridle, and rode back to the king.
"Sire," said he, "here are the carriages.

The first, as you said, contains two ladies with their _femmes de chambre_; the second contains the footmen, provisions, and necessaries." "That is well," replied the king in an agitated voice.

"Please to go and tell those ladies that a cavalier of the court wishes to pay his respects to them alone." The officer set off at a gallop.