ost substantial display of
gastronomic luxury. Large joints, exquisite dishes, preserves, the
greatest variety of wines, appeared successively upon the table, which
was served at the king's expense, and of which expense M. Colbert would
have found no difficulty in saving two-thirds, without any one in the
Bastille being the worse for it. Baisemeaux was the only one who ate and
drank resolutely. Aramis allowed nothing to pass by him, but merely
touched everything he took; Athos, after the soup and three hors
d'oeuvres, ate nothing more. The style of conversation was such as
could hardly be otherwise between three men so opposite in temper and
ideas. Aramis was incessantly asking himself by what extraordinary
chance Athos was at Baisemeaux's when D'Artagnan was no longer there,
and why D'Artagnan did not remain when Athos was there. Athos sounded
all the depths of the mind of Aramis, who lived in the midst of
subterfuge, evasion, and intrigue; he studied his man well and
thoroughly, and felt convinced that he was engaged upon some important
project. And then he too began to think of his own personal affair, and
to lose himself in conjectures as to D'Artagnan's reason for having left
the Bastille so abruptly, and for leaving behind him a prisoner so badly
introduced and so badly looked after by the prison authorities. But we
shall not pause to examine into the thoughts and feelings of these
personages, but will leave them to themselves, surrounded by the remains
of poultry, game, and fish, which Baisemeaux's generous knife and fork
had so mutilated. We are going to follow D'Artagnan instead, who,
getting into the carriage which had brought him, said to the coachman,
"Return to the palace, and as fast as you can possibly make the horses
go."

CHAPTER LXXI.

WHAT TOOK PLACE AT THE LOUVRE DURING THE SUPPER AT THE BASTILLE.

M. de Saint-Aignan had executed the commission with which the king had
intrusted him for La Valliere, as we have already seen in one of the
preceding chapters; but, whatever his eloquence might have been, he did
not succeed in persuading the young girl that she had in the king a
protector powerful enough for her under any combination of
circumstances, and that she had no need of any one else in the world
when the king was on her side. In point of fact, at the very first word
which the favorite mentioned of the discovery of the famous secret,
Louise, in a passion of tears, abandoned herself in ut