so! Why, you must have become quite mad."

"Monsieur," said the king, "be careful what you say; it will be a very
serious affair for you."

The jailer placed the basket on the table, and looked at his prisoner
steadily.

"What do you say?" he said.

"Desire the governor to come to me," added the king, in accents full of
calm dignity.

"Come, my boy," said the turnkey, "you have always been very quiet and
reasonable, but you are getting vicious, it seems, and I wish you to
know it in time. You have broken your chair, and made a great
disturbance; that is an offense punishable by imprisonment in one of the
lower dungeons. Promise me not to begin over again, and I will not say a
word about it to the governor."

"I wish to see the governor," replied the king, still controlling his
passion.

"He will send you off to one of the dungeons, I tell you: so take care."

"I insist upon it, do you hear?"

"Ah! ah! your eyes are becoming wild again. Very good! I shall take away
your knife."

And the jailer did what he said, quitted the prisoner, and closed the
door, leaving the king more astounded, more wretched, and more isolated
than ever. It was useless, though he tried it, to make the same noise
again on his door, and equally useless that he threw the plates and
dishes out of the window; not a single sound was heard in answer. Two
hours afterward he could not be recognized as a king, a gentleman, a
man, a human being; he might rather be called a madman, tearing the door
with his nails, trying to tear up the flooring of his cell, and uttering
such wild and fearful cries that the old Bastille seemed to tremble to
its very foundations for having revolted against its master.

As for the governor, the jailer did not even think of disturbing him;
the turnkeys and the sentinels had reported the occurrence to him, but
what was the good of it? were not these madmen common enough in the
fortress? and were not the walls still stronger than they? M. de
Baisemeaux, thoroughly impressed with what Aramis had told him, and in
perfect conformity with the king's order, hoped only that one thing
might happen; namely, that the madman Marchiali might be mad enough to
hang himself to the canopy of his bed, or to one of the bars of the
window. In fact, the prisoner was anything but a profitable investment
for M. Baisemeaux, and became more annoying than agreeable to him. These
complications of Seldon and Marchiali--the complications, firs