ed Anne of Austria joyfully. "I trust
you have brought this rabble to reason."

"Madame," replied the marechal, "I have left three men on the Pont Neuf,
four at the Halle, six at the corner of the Rue de l'Arbre-Sec and two
at the door of your palace--fifteen in all. I have brought away ten
or twelve wounded. I know not where I have left my hat, and in all
probability I should have been left with my hat, had the coadjutor not
arrived in time to rescue me."

"Ah, indeed," said the queen, "it would have much astonished me if that
low cur, with his distorted legs, had not been mixed up with all this."

"Madame," said La Meilleraie, "do not say too much against him before
me, for the service he rendered me is still fresh."

"Very good," said the queen, "be as grateful as you like, it does not
implicate me; you are here safe and sound, that is all I wished for; you
are not only welcome, but welcome back."

"Yes, madame; but I only came back on one condition--that I would
transmit to your majesty the will of the people."

"The will!" exclaimed the queen, frowning. "Oh! oh! monsieur marechal,
you must indeed have found yourself in wondrous peril to have undertaken
so strange a commission!"

The irony with which these words were uttered did not escape the
marechal.

"Pardon, madame," he said, "I am not a lawyer, I am a mere soldier,
and probably, therefore, I do not quite comprehend the value of certain
words; I ought to have said the wishes, and not the will, of the
people. As for what you do me the honor to say, I presume you mean I was
afraid?"

The queen smiled.

"Well, then, madame, yes, I did feel fear; and though I have been
through twelve pitched battles and I cannot count how many charges and
skirmishes, I own for the third time in my life I was afraid. Yes, and
I would rather face your majesty, however threatening your smile, than
face those demons who accompanied me hither and who sprung from I know
not whence, unless from deepest hell."

("Bravo," said D'Artagnan in a whisper to Porthos; "well answered.")

"Well," said the queen, biting her lips, whilst her courtiers looked at
each other with surprise, "what is the desire of my people?"

"That Broussel shall be given up to them, madame."

"Never!" said the queen, "never!"

"Your majesty is mistress," said La Meilleraie, retreating a few steps.

"Where are you going, marechal?" asked the queen.

"To give your majesty's reply to those who await it