dresses 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, happy to repeat it 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 journeymen
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 turn a
sentence; and when wounded pride, or disappointed expectation, brought
down upon them too cutting rebukes, he who was attacked made a dive and
disappeared under the counter. The line of discontented lords formed a
very remarkable picture. Our captain of musketeers, a man of sure and
rapid observation, took it all in at a glance; but 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, which 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
productively employed with his fingers. D'Artagnan was not
deceived--not he; and he saw at once that if this man was worki