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The worthy tyrant's advice was sensible and good, and de Sigognac resolved to follow it without delay. Since Isabelle's departure, no attraction existed for him in the troupe, and he was very glad of a valid pretext for quitting it; though he could not leave his humble friends without some regrets. It was necessary that he should disappear for a while-plunge into obscurity, until the excitement consequent upon the violent death of the young Duke of Vallombreuse should be forgotten in some new tragedy in real life.
So, after bidding farewell to the worthy comedians, who had shown him so much kindness, he departed from the gay capital-mounted on a stout pony, and with a tolerably well-filled purse-his share of the receipts of the troupe, which he had fairly earned. By easy stages he travelled slowly towards his own ruined château. After the storm the bird flies home to its nest, no matter how ragged and torn it may be. It was the only refuge open to him, and in the midst of his despondency he felt a sort of sad pleasure at the thought of returning to his ancestral home-desolate and forlorn as it was-where it would have been better, perhaps, for him to have quietly remained-for his fortunes were not improved, and this last crowning disaster had been ruinous to all his hopes and prospects of happiness.