t course to Cardinal
Mazarin and the coadjutor. One of them will weed the parliament in the
name of the court, and the other in the name of the people; and then
there won't be any parliament at all."

"And who is this Colonel Bridge?" asked Aramis, "and how does he go to
work to weed the parliament?"

"Colonel Bridge," replied the Spaniard, "is a retired wagoner, a man of
much sense, who made one valuable observation whilst driving his team,
namely, that where there happened to be a stone on the road, it was much
easier to remove the stone than try and make the wheel pass over it.
Now, of two hundred and fifty-one members who composed the parliament,
there were one hundred and ninety-one who were in the way and might have
upset his political wagon. He took them up, just as he formerly used to
take up the stones from the road, and threw them out of the house."

"Neat," remarked D'Artagnan. "Very!"

"And all these one hundred and ninety-one were Royalists?" asked Athos.

"Without doubt, senor; and you understand that they would have saved the
king."

"To be sure," said Porthos, with majestic common sense; "they were in
the majority."

"And you think," said Aramis, "he will consent to appear before such a
tribunal?"

"He will be forced to do so," smiled the Spaniard.

"Now, Athos!" said D'Artagnan, "do you begin to believe that it's a
ruined cause, and that what with your Harrisons, Joyces, Bridges and
Cromwells, we shall never get the upper hand?"

"The king will be delivered at the tribunal," said Athos; "the very
silence of his supporters indicates that they are at work."

D'Artagnan shrugged his shoulders.

"But," said Aramis, "if they dare to condemn their king, it can only be
to exile or imprisonment."

D'Artagnan whistled a little air of incredulity.

"We shall see," said Athos, "for we shall go to the sittings, I
presume."

"You will not have long to wait," said the landlord; "they begin
to-morrow."

"So, then, they drew up the indictments before the king was taken?"

"Of course," said D'Artagnan; "they began the day he was sold."

"And you know," said Aramis, "that it was our friend Mordaunt who made,
if not the bargain, at least the overtures."

"And you know," added D'Artagnan, "that whenever I catch him I will kill
him, this Mordaunt."

"And I, too," exclaimed Porthos.

"And I, too," added Aramis.

"Touching unanimity!" cried D'Artagnan, "which well becomes good
citizens like us. L