"

"Which is the young man?" asked De Winter, turning around.

"He who followed us and spoke to us awaits us there; behold!"

De Winter turned and followed the direction of Aramis's finger. The
beacon bathed with light the little strait through which they were
about to pass and the rock where the young man stood with bare head and
crossed arms.

"It is he!" exclaimed De Winter, seizing the arm of Athos; "it is he! I
thought I recognized him and I was not mistaken."

"Whom do you mean?" asked Aramis.

"Milady's son," replied Athos.

"The monk!" exclaimed Grimaud.

The young man heard these words and bent so forward over the rock that
one might have supposed he was about to precipitate himself from it.

"Yes, it is I, my uncle--I, the son of Milady--I, the monk--I, the
secretary and friend of Cromwell--I know you now, both you and your
companions."

In that boat sat three men, unquestionably brave, whose courage no man
would have dared dispute; nevertheless, at that voice, that accent and
those gestures, they felt a chill access of terror cramp their veins. As
for Grimaud, his hair stood on end and drops of sweat ran down his brow.

"Ah!" exclaimed Aramis, "that is the nephew, the monk, and the son of
Milady, as he says himself."

"Alas, yes," murmured De Winter.

"Then wait," said Aramis; and with the terrible coolness which on
important occasions he showed, he took one of the muskets from Tony,
shouldered and aimed it at the young man, who stood, like the accusing
angel, upon the rock.

"Fire!" cried Grimaud, unconsciously.

Athos threw himself on the muzzle of the gun and arrested the shot which
was about to be fired.

"The devil take you," said Aramis. "I had him so well at the point of my
gun I should have sent a ball into his breast."

"It is enough to have killed the mother," said Athos, hoarsely.

"The mother was a wretch, who struck at us all and at those dear to us."

"Yes, but the son has done us no harm."

Grimaud, who had risen to watch the effect of the shot, fell back
hopeless, wringing his hands.

The young man burst into a laugh.

"Ah, it is certainly you!" he cried. "I know you even better now."

His mocking laugh and threatening words passed over their heads,
carried by the breeze, until lost in the depths of the horizon. Aramis
shuddered.

"Be calm," exclaimed Athos, "for Heaven's sake! have we ceased to be
men?"

"No," said Aramis, "but that fellow is a fiend; and ask