The crystal goblets from which the guests drank were engraved with gold, the tablecloth was embroidered with gold thread and everywhere there was an exhibition of wealth and beauty, luxury and opulence that was amazing to contemplate.
And the Duke saw, as he watched, managing to eat sparingly despite the abundance of the repast, that part of the danger from the Duc de Chartres came from the fact that he had, and there was no doubt about it, a grandiose idea of his own omnipotence.
His father, Philippe le Gros, the fourth Duc, was not yet dead, but lived with his mistress in retirement at Bagnolet, where he hunted in spite of being enormously fat and often falling off his horse. He loved gambling better than conversation and had a horror of anything serious. He had not even been perturbed
