base or brave,
she whom you loved, in preferring the king to you, the king whom her
heart commanded her imperiously to prefer to you? No, she was the
bravest of women. Do, then, as she has done. Obey yourself. Do you know
one thing of which I am sure, Raoul?"

"What is that?"

"Why, that by seeing her closely with the eyes of a jealous man--"

"Well?"

"Well! You would cease to love her."

"Then I am decided, my dear D'Artagnan."

"To set off to see her again?"

"No; to set off that I may never see her again. I wish to love her
forever."

"Humph! I must confess," replied the musketeer, "that is a conclusion
which I was far from expecting."

"This is what I wish, my friend. You will see her again, and you will
give her a letter which, if you think proper, will explain to her as to
yourself, what is passing in my heart. Read it; I prepared it last
night. Something told me I should see you to-day." He held the letter
out, and D'Artagnan read it:

"MADEMOISELLE--You are not wrong in my eyes in not loving
me. You have only been guilty of one fault toward me, that of
having left me to believe you loved me. This error will cost me my
life. I pardon you, but I cannot pardon myself. It is said that
happy lovers are deaf to the complaints of rejected lovers. It will
not be so with you who did not love me, except with anxiety. I am
sure that if I had persisted in endeavoring to change that
friendship into love, you would have yielded out of a fear of
bringing about my death, or of lessening the esteem I had for you.
It is much more delightful to me to die, knowing you are free and
satisfied. How much, then, will you love me, when you will no
longer fear either my presence or my reproaches! You will love me,
because, however charming a new love may appear to you, God has not
made me in anything inferior to him you have chosen, and because my
devotedness, my sacrifice, and my painful end will assure me, in
your eyes, a certain superiority over him. I have allowed to
escape, in the candid credulity of my heart, the treasure I
possessed. Many people tell me that you loved me enough to lead me
to hope you would have loved me much. That idea takes from my mind
all bitterness, and leads me only to blame myself. You will accept
this last farewell, and you will bless me for having taken refuge
in the inviolable asylu