to know the name of the clever
engineer under whose directions the works were carried on; you are
modest, as all men of true genius are; perhaps Aramis wishes to put you
under a bushel. But I happen to seize hold of you; I make it known who
you are; I produce you; the king rewards you; and that is the only
policy I have to do with."

"And the only one I will have to do with either," said Porthos, holding
out his hand to D'Artagnan.

But D'Artagnan knew Porthos' grasp; he knew that once imprisoned within
the baron's five fingers, no hand ever left it without being
half-crushed. He therefore held out, not his hand, but his fist, and
Porthos did not even perceive the difference. The servants talked a
little with each other in an undertone, and whispered a few words, which
D'Artagnan understood, but which he took very good care not to let
Porthos understand. "Our friend," said he to himself, "was really and
truly Aramis' prisoner. Let us now see what the result will be of the
liberation of the captive."

CHAPTER XI.

THE RAT AND THE CHEESE.

D'Artagnan and Porthos returned on foot, as D'Artagnan had arrived. When
D'Artagnan, as he entered the shop of the Pilon d'Or, had announced to
Planchet that M. de Valon would be one of the privileged travelers, and
when the plume in Porthos' hat had made the wooden candles suspended
over the front jingle together, something almost like a melancholy
presentiment troubled the delight which Planchet had promised himself
for the next day. But the grocer's heart was of sterling metal, a
precious relic of the good old time, which always remains what it has
always been for those who are getting old the time of their youth, and
for those who are young the old age of their ancestors. Planchet,
notwithstanding the sort of internal shiver, which he checked
immediately he experienced it, received Porthos, therefore, with a
respect mingled with the most tender cordiality. Porthos, who was a
little cold and stiff in his manners at first, on account of the social
difference which existed at that period between a baron and a grocer,
soon began to get a little softened when he perceived so much
good-feeling and so many kind attentions in Planchet. He was
particularly touched by the liberty which was permitted him to plunge
his large hands into the boxes of dried fruits and preserves, into the
sacks of nuts and almonds, and into the drawers full of sweetmeats. So
that, notwithstanding Pla