ad therein, monseigneur?" asked Aramis,
deeply interested.

"Quite enough, monsieur, to see that my tutor was a man of noble rank,
and that Perronnette, without being a lady of quality, was far better
than a servant; and also to perceived that I must myself be high-born,
since the queen, Anne of Austria, and Mazarin, the prime minister,
commended me so earnestly to their care." Here the young man paused,
quite overcome.

"And what happened?" asked Aramis.

"It happened, monsieur," answered he, "that the workmen they had
summoned found nothing in the well, after the closest search; that my
governor perceived that the brink was all watery; that I was not so
dried by the sun as to prevent Dame Perronnette spying that my garments
were moist; and, lastly, that I was seized with a violent fever, owing
to the chill and the excitement of my discovery, an attack of delirium
supervening, during which I related the whole adventure; so that, guided
by my avowal, my governor found the pieces of the queen's letter inside
the bolster where I had concealed them."

"Ah!" said Aramis, "now I understand."

"Beyond this, all is conjecture. Doubtless the unfortunate lady and
gentleman, not daring to keep the occurrence secret, wrote of all this
to the queen and sent back the torn letter."

"After which," said Aramis, "you were arrested and removed to the
Bastile."

"As you see."

"Your two attendants disappeared?"

"Alas!"

"Let us not take up our time with the dead, but see what can be done
with the living. You told me you were resigned."

"I repeat it."

"Without any desire for freedom?"

"As I told you."

"Without ambition, sorrow, or thought?"

The young man made no answer.

"Well," asked Aramis, "why are you silent?"

"I think I have spoken enough," answered the prisoner, "and that now it
is your turn. I am weary."

Aramis gathered himself up, and a shade of deep solemnity spread itself
over his countenance. It was evident that he had reached the crisis in
the part he had come to the prison to play. "One question," said Aramis.

"What is it? speak."

"In the house you inhabited there were neither looking-glasses nor
mirrors?"

"What are those two words, and what is their meaning?" asked the young
man; "I have no sort of knowledge of them."

"They designate two pieces of furniture which reflect objects; so that,
for instance, you may see in them your own lineaments, as you see mine
now, with the naked eye