at the great lackey had told some great noble whom
he favored, in confidence, that M. Percerin was engaged on five costumes
for the king, and that, owing to the urgency of the case, he was
meditating in his office on the ornaments, colors, and cut of these five
suits. Some, contented with this reason, went away again, contented
to repeat the tale to others, but others, more tenacious, insisted
on having the doors opened, and among these last three Blue Ribbons,
intended to take parts in a ballet, which would inevitably fail unless
the said three had their costumes shaped by the very hand of the great
Percerin himself. D'Artagnan, pushing on Porthos, who scattered the
groups of people right and left, succeeded in gaining the counter,
behind which the journeyman tailors were doing their best to answer
queries. (We forgot to mention that at the door they wanted to put
off Porthos like the rest, but D'Artagnan, showing himself, pronounced
merely these words, "The king's order," and was let in with his friend.)
The poor fellows had enough to do, and did their best, to reply to the
demands of the customers in the absence of their master, leaving
off drawing a stitch to knit a sentence; and when wounded pride, or
disappointed expectation, brought down upon them too cutting a rebuke,
he who was attacked made a dive and disappeared under the counter.
The line of discontented lords formed a truly remarkable picture. Our
captain of musketeers, a man of sure and rapid observation, took it all
in at a glance; and having run over the groups, his eye rested on a man
in front of him. This man, seated upon a stool, scarcely showed his head
above the counter that sheltered him. He was about forty years of age,
with a melancholy aspect, pale face, and soft luminous eyes. He was
looking at D'Artagnan and the rest, with his chin resting upon his hand,
like a calm and inquiring amateur. Only on perceiving, and doubtless
recognizing, our captain, he pulled his hat down over his eyes. It was
this action, perhaps, that attracted D'Artagnan's attention. If so,
the gentleman who had pulled down his hat produced an effect entirely
different from what he had desired. In other respects his costume was
plain, and his hair evenly cut enough for customers, who were not close
observers, to take him for a mere tailor's apprentice, perched behind
the board, and carefully stitching cloth or velvet. Nevertheless, this
man held up his head too often to be very