I cannot even tell you, D'Artagnan!"

"Speak, speak, tell me!"

"I am strong against everything, except against the death of those I
love. For that only there is no remedy. He who dies, gains; he who sees
others die, loses. No; this it is--to know that I should no more meet
upon earth him whom I now behold with joy; to know that there would
nowhere be a D'Artagnan any more, nowhere again be a Raoul, oh! I am
old, see you, I have no longer courage; I pray God to spare me in my
weakness; but if He struck me so plainly and in that fashion, I should
curse Him. A Christian gentleman ought not to curse his God, D'Artagnan;
it is quite enough to have cursed a king."

"Humph!" said D'Artagnan, a little confused by this violent tempest of
grief. "Let me speak to him, Athos. Who knows?"

"Try, if you please, but I am convinced you will not succeed."

"I will not attempt to console him, I will serve him."

"You will?"

"Doubtless, I will. Do you think this would be the first time a woman
had repented of an infidelity? I will go to him, I tell you."

Athos shook his head, and continued his walk alone. D'Artagnan, cutting
across the brambles, rejoined Raoul, and held out his hand to him.
"Well, Raoul! you have something to say to me?"

"I have a kindness to ask of you," replied Bragelonne.

"Ask it, then."

"You will some day return to France?"

"I hope so."

"Ought I to write to Mademoiselle de la Valliere?"

"No; you must not."

"But I have so many things to say to her."

"Come and say them to her, then."

"Never!"

"Pray, what virtue do you attribute to a letter which your speech might
not possess?"

"Perhaps you are right."

"She loves the king," said D'Artagnan, bluntly; "and she is an honest
girl."

Raoul started. "And you, you! whom she abandons, she, perhaps, loves
better than she does the king, but after another fashion."

"D'Artagnan, do you believe she loves the king?"

"To idolatry. Her heart is inaccessible to any other feeling. You might
continue to live near her, and would be her best friend."

"Ah!" exclaimed Raoul, with a passionate burst of repugnance for such a
painful hope.

"Will you do so?"

"It would be base."

"That is a very absurd word, which would lead me to think slightly of
your understanding. Please to understand, Raoul, that it is never base
to do that which is imposed by a superior force. If your heart says to
you, 'Go there, or die,' why, go there, Raoul. Was she