mis. "I swear to you, princess, that if your reputation did
not depend on precautions and if my life alone were jeopardized----"

"Yes, yes! I know you are as brave and venturesome as any man in the
world, but you do not belong to me alone; you belong to all our party.
Be prudent! sensible!"

"I always obey, madame, when I am commanded by so gentle a voice."

He kissed her hand tenderly.

"Ah!" exclaimed the cavalier with a soft voice.

"What's the matter?" asked Aramis.

"Do you not see that the wind has blown off my hat?"

Aramis rushed after the fugitive hat. D'Artagnan took advantage of the
circumstance to find a place in the hedge not so thick, where his glance
could penetrate to the supposed cavalier. At that instant, the moon,
inquisitive, perhaps, like D'Artagnan, came from behind a cloud and by
her light D'Artagnan recognized the large blue eyes, the golden hair and
the classic head of the Duchess de Longueville.

Aramis returned, laughing, one hat on his head and the other in his
hand; and he and his companion resumed their walk toward the convent.

"Good!" said D'Artagnan, rising and brushing his knees; "now I have
thee--thou art a Frondeur and the lover of Madame de Longueville."

10. Monsieur Porthos du Vallon de Bracieux de Pierrefonds.

Thanks to what Aramis had told him, D'Artagnan, who knew already that
Porthos called himself Du Vallon, was now aware that he styled himself,
from his estate, De Bracieux; and that he was, on account of this
estate, engaged in a lawsuit with the Bishop of Noyon. It was, then, in
the neighborhood of Noyon that he must seek that estate. His itinerary
was promptly determined: he would go to Dammartin, from which place two
roads diverge, one toward Soissons, the other toward Compiegne; there he
would inquire concerning the Bracieux estate and go to the right or to
the left according to the information obtained.

Planchet, who was still a little concerned for his safety after his
recent escapade, declared that he would follow D'Artagnan even to the
end of the world, either by the road to the right or by that to the
left; only he begged his former master to set out in the evening, for
greater security to himself. D'Artagnan suggested that he should send
word to his wife, so that she might not be anxious about him, but
Planchet replied with much sagacity that he was very sure his wife would
not die of anxiety through not knowing where he was, while he, Planc