he.

"Monsieur Laporte," said D'Artagnan; "go and announce to the people,
that in five minutes they shall see the king in his bed. Say also that
his majesty is sleeping, and that the queen requests them to be
silent, in order not to awaken him."

"But they cannot all come," said Anne. "A deputation of two or four
persons."

"All of them, madam."

"But it will last till to-morrow morning."

"In a quarter of hour it will be over. I know the mob, madam; it is a
great baby that only wants flattery and caresses. Before the king,
these noisy rioters will be mute and timid as lambs."

"Go, Laporte," said the queen. The young king approached his mother.

"Why do you do what these people ask?" said he.

"It must be so, my son," said Anne of Austria.

"But if they can tell me that it _must_ be so, I am no longer king."

The queen remained silent.

"Sire," said D'Artagnan, "will your majesty permit me to ask you a
question?"

"Yes, sir," replied Louis, after a moment's pause, occasioned by
surprise at the guardsman's boldness.

"Does our majesty remember, when playing in the park at
Fontaine-bleau, or the gardens at Versailles, to have seen the heavens
become clouded, and to have heard the thunder roll?"

"Certainly I do," answered Louis.

"Well, the noise of that thunder told your majesty, that, however
disposed you might be to play, you _must_ go in-doors."

"Certainly, sir; but I have been told that the voice of the thunder is
the voice of God."

"Well, sire, let your majesty listen to the voice of the people, and
you will perceive that it greatly resembles that of the thunder."

As he spoke, a low deep roar, proceeding from the multitude without,
was borne upon the night breeze to the windows of the apartment. The
next instant all was still and hushed.

"Hark, sire," said D'Artagnan, "they have just told the people that
you are sleeping. You see that you are still king."

The queen looked with astonishment at the singular man, whose
brilliant courage made him the equal of the bravest; whose keen and
ready wit rendered him the equal of all. Laporte entered the room, and
announced that the message he had taken to the people had acted like
oil upon the waves, and that they were waiting in respectful silence,
till the five minutes, at the expiration of which they were to see the
king, should have elapsed. By the queen's order, Louis was put into
bed, dressed as he was, and covered up to the throat with th