ft for
Madame de Chevreuse to be afraid of?"

"The pension, you are aware, is forty-eight thousand francs."

"Alas! I am quite aware of it."

"Moreover, in party contests, you know, the friends of the enemy do not
escape."

"Ah! you mean that poor Laicques will have to suffer."

"I am afraid it is almost inevitable, duchesse."

"Oh! he only receives twelve thousand francs pension."

"Yes, but the king of Spain has some influence left; advised by M.
Fouquet he might get M. Laicques shut up in prison for a little while."

"I am not very nervous on that point, my dear friend; because, thanks to
a reconciliation with Anne of Austria, I will undertake that France
should insist upon M. Laicques' liberation."

"True. In that case, you will have something else to apprehend."

"What can that be?" said the duchesse, pretending to be surprised and
terrified.

"You will learn; indeed, you must know it already, that having once been
an affiliated member of the order, it is not easy to leave it; for the
secrets that any particular member may have acquired are unwholesome,
and carry with them the germs of misfortune for whoever may reveal
them."

The duchesse paused and reflected for a moment, and then said, "That is
more serious, I will think over it."

And, notwithstanding the profound obscurity, Aramis seemed to feel a
burning glance, like a hot iron, escape from his friend's eyes, and
plunge into his heart.

"Let us recapitulate," said Aramis, determined to keep himself on his
guard, and gliding his hand into his breast, where he had a dagger
concealed.

"Exactly, let us recapitulate; good accounts make good friends."

"The suppression of your pension--"

"Forty-eight thousand francs, and that of Laicques twelve, make,
together, sixty thousand francs; that is what you mean, I suppose?"

"Precisely; and I was trying to find out what would be your equivalent
for that."

"Five hundred thousand francs, which I shall get from the queen."

"Or which you will not get."

"I know a means of procuring them," said the duchesse, thoughtlessly.

This remark made the chevalier prick up his ears; and from the moment
his adversary had committed this error, his mind was so thoroughly on
its guard that he seemed every moment to gain the advantage more and
more; and she, consequently, to lose it. "I will admit, for argument's
sake, that you obtain the money," he resumed; "you will lose the double
of it, having a hundred