you have been too good in pardoning me; I was wrong,
a hundred times wrong. I ought to have known you better by this time;
but we are all possessed of a malignant spirit, which bids us doubt."

"Humph!" said Porthos. "Don't you think the executioner might be Master
Cromwell, who, to make sure of this affair, undertook it himself?"

"Ah! just so. Cromwell is stout and short, and this man thin and lanky,
rather tall than otherwise."

"Some condemned soldier, perhaps," suggested Athos, "whom they have
pardoned at the price of regicide."

"No, no," continued D'Artagnan, "it was not the measured step of a foot
soldier, nor was it the gait of a horseman. If I am not mistaken we have
to do with a gentleman."

"A gentleman!" exclaimed Athos. "Impossible! It would be a dishonor to
all the nobility."

"Fine sport, by Jove!" cried Porthos, with a laugh that shook the
windows. "Fine sport!"

"Are you still bent on departure, Athos?" asked D'Artagnan.

"No, I remain," replied Athos, with a threatening gesture that promised
no good to whomsoever it was addressed.

"Swords, then!" cried Aramis, "swords! let us not lose a moment."

The four friends resumed their own clothes, girded on their swords,
ordered Mousqueton and Blaisois to pay the bill and to arrange
everything for immediate departure, and wrapped in their large cloaks
left in search of their game.

The night was dark, snow was falling, the streets were silent and
deserted. D'Artagnan led the way through the intricate windings and
narrow alleys of the city and ere long they had reached the house in
question. For a moment D'Artagnan thought that Parry's brother had
disappeared; but he was mistaken. The robust Scotchman, accustomed to
the snows of his native hills, had stretched himself against a post, and
like a fallen statue, insensible to the inclemency of the weather, had
allowed the snow to cover him. He rose, however, as they approached.

"Come," said Athos, "here's another good servant. Really, honest men are
not so scarce as I thought."

"Don't be in a hurry to weave crowns for our Scotchman. I believe the
fellow is here on his own account, for I have heard that these gentlemen
born beyond the Tweed are very vindictive. I should not like to be
Groslow, if he meets him."

"Well?" said Athos, to the man, in English.

"No one has come out," he replied.

"Then, Porthos and Aramis, will you remain with this man while we go
around to Grimaud?"

Grimaud h