t boy!"

"Adieu, sir, adieu, my beloved protector."

Athos waved his hand--he dared not trust himself to speak: and Raoul
went away, his head uncovered. Athos remained motionless, looking after
him until he turned the corner of the street.

Then the count threw the bridle of his horse into the hands of a
peasant, remounted the steps, went into the cathedral, there to kneel
down in the darkest corner and pray.

23. One of the Forty Methods of Escape of the Duc de Beaufort.

Meanwhile time was passing on for the prisoner, as well as for those who
were preparing his escape; only for him it passed more slowly. Unlike
other men, who enter with ardor upon a perilous resolution and grow
cold as the moment of execution approaches, the Duc de Beaufort, whose
buoyant courage had become a proverb, seemed to push time before him and
sought most eagerly to hasten the hour of action. In his escape alone,
apart from his plans for the future, which, it must be admitted, were
for the present sufficiently vague and uncertain, there was a beginning
of vengeance which filled his heart. In the first place his escape would
be a serious misfortune to Monsieur de Chavigny, whom he hated for the
petty persecutions he owed to him. It would be a still worse affair for
Mazarin, whom he execrated for the greater offences he had committed.
It may be observed that there was a proper proportion in his sentiments
toward the governor of the prison and the minister--toward the
subordinate and the master.

Then Monsieur de Beaufort, who was so familiar with the interior of the
Palais Royal, though he did not know the relations existing between the
queen and the cardinal, pictured to himself, in his prison, all that
dramatic excitement which would ensue when the rumor should run from
the minister's cabinet to the chamber of Anne of Austria: "Monsieur
de Beaufort has escaped!" Whilst saying that to himself, Monsieur
de Beaufort smiled pleasantly and imagined himself already outside,
breathing the air of the plains and the forests, pressing a strong horse
between his knees and crying out in a loud voice, "I am free!"

It is true that on coming to himself he found that he was still within
four walls; he saw La Ramee twirling his thumbs ten feet from him, and
his guards laughing and drinking in the ante-chamber. The only thing
that was pleasant to him in that odious tableau--such is the instability
of the human mind--was the sullen face of Gri