at
the door; no one ventured to speak, for fear of disturbing him.

Suddenly a dull and heavy noise was heard. The prince leaped to his
feet, extending his hand in the direction whence came the sound, there
was no mistaking it--it was the noise of cannon. Every one stood up.

At that moment the door opened.

"Monseigneur," said Marshal de Grammont, with a radiant face, "will your
highness permit my son, Count de Guiche, and his traveling companion,
Viscount de Bragelonne, to come in and give news of the enemy, whom they
have found while we were looking for him?"

"What!" eagerly replied the prince, "will I permit? I not only permit, I
desire; let them come in."

The marshal introduced the two young men and placed them face to face
with the prince.

"Speak, gentlemen," said the prince, saluting them; "first speak; we
shall have time afterward for the usual compliments. The most urgent
thing now is to learn where the enemy is and what he is doing."

It fell naturally to the Count de Guiche to make reply; not only was
he the elder, but he had been presented to the prince by his father.
Besides, he had long known the prince, whilst Raoul now saw him for the
first time. He therefore narrated to the prince what they had seen from
the inn at Mazingarbe.

Meanwhile Raoul closely observed the young general, already made so
famous by the battles of Rocroy, Fribourg, and Nordlingen.

Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Conde, who, since the death of his father,
Henri de Bourbon, was called, in accordance with the custom of that
period, Monsieur le Prince, was a young man, not more than twenty-six or
twenty-seven years old, with the eye of an eagle--agl' occhi grifani,
as Dante says--aquiline nose, long, waving hair, of medium height,
well formed, possessed of all the qualities essential to the successful
soldier--that is to say, the rapid glance, quick decision, fabulous
courage. At the same time he was a man of elegant manners and strong
mind, so that in addition to the revolution he had made in war, by
his new contributions to its methods, he had also made a revolution at
Paris, among the young noblemen of the court, whose natural chief he was
and who, in distinction from the social leaders of the ancient court,
modeled after Bassompierre, Bellegarde and the Duke d'Angouleme, were
called the petits-maitres.

At the first words of the Count de Guiche, the prince, having in
mind the direction whence came the sound of cannon,