o
guards, no orders; the water free, the roads free, Monsieur d'Artagnan
obliged to lend his horses, if required! All this ought to reassure you,
Monsieur Fouquet, for the king would not have left me thus independent,
if he had had any evil designs. In truth. Monsieur Fouquet, ask me
whatever you like, I am at your service; and in return, if you will
consent to it, render me a service, that of offering my compliments to
Aramis and Porthos, in case you embark for Belle-Isle, as you have a
right to do, without changing your dress, immediately, in your
_robe-de-chambre_--just as you are." Saying these words, and with a
profound bow, the musketeer, whose looks had lost none of their
intelligent kindness, left the apartment. He had not reached the steps
of the vestibule, when Fouquet, quite beside himself, hung to the
bell-rope, and shouted, "My horses!--my lighter!" But nobody answered!
The surintendant dressed himself with everything that came to hand.

"Gourville! Gourville!" cried he, while slipping his watch into his
pocket. And the bell sounded again, while Fouquet repeated,
"Gourville!--Gourville!"

Gourville at length appeared, breathless and pale.

"Let us be gone! Let us be gone!" cried Fouquet, as soon as he saw him.

"It is too late!" said the surintendant's poor friend.

"Too late--why?"

"Listen!" And they heard the sounds trumpets and drums in front of the
castle.

"What does that mean, Gourville?"

"It is the king coming, monseigneur."

"The king!"

"The king, who has ridden double stages, who has killed horses, and who
is eight hours in advance of your calculation."

"We are lost?" murmured Fouquet. "Brave D'Artagnan, all is over, thou
hast spoken to me too late!"

The king, in fact, was entering the city, which soon resounded with the
cannon from the ramparts, and from a vessel which replied from the lower
parts of the river. Fouquet's brow darkened; he called his
valets-de-chambre, and dressed in ceremonial costume. From his window,
behind the curtains, he could see the eagerness of the people, and the
movement of a large troop, which had followed the prince, without its
being to be guessed how. The king was conducted to the castle with great
pomp, and Fouquet saw him dismount under the portcullis, and speak
something in the ear of D'Artagnan, who held his stirrup. D'Artagnan,
when the king had passed under the arch, directed his steps toward the
house Fouquet was in; but so slowly, and sto