The Duke, who
was the most inquisitive man alive, and who had made love in no small
degree in his day, wished both to satisfy his suspicions and to fully
understand so strange a business; and he therefore begged the gentleman
to take him, not as a master but as a companion, the next time he went
thither. To this the gentleman, having gone so far already, consented,
saying that he had an appointment for that very day; at which the Duke
was as glad as if he had gained a kingdom. Making pretence of retiring
to rest in his closet, he caused two horses to be brought for himself
and the gentleman, and they travelled all night long from Argilly, where
the Duke lived, to Le Vergier. (2)
2 At Argilly the Dukes of Burgundy had a castle, which was
destroyed during the religious wars at the close of the
sixteenth century. The place is now a small village in the
arrondissement of Nuits, Cote d'Or. As the crow flies, it is
some ten miles distant from the ruins of the castle of
Vergy, which stands on a steep height, at an altitude of
over 1600 ft., within five miles from Nuits. The castle,
which can only be reached on one side of the hill, by a
narrow, winding and precipitous pathway, is known to have
been in existence already in the tenth century, when the
Lords of Vergy were Counts of Chalons, Beaune, and Nuits.
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