the stranger to feel at home, and impressed him with a
sense of herself that he could not forget. Learning that
he was practised in reading the romances, she listened to
him with her friends. Then he was invited to sing, and
all were charmed with his agreeable person, his elegant
manners, and his artistic skill. The countess bade him
stay on at her court, and said politely that she wished to
hear him again and often. "Chance and the stars" had
led him, as the biographer says, to his destined place; and
the troubadour, pleased with his reception and more than
pleased with his hostess, cut short his journeyings at
Béziers. ⁹

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