s XIV."

"And how long had you to take care of him?"

"Three nights; and, by my troth, I shall always remember those three
nights with a certain pleasure."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean that my friends, officers in the guards and mousquetaires,
came to keep me company and we passed the night in feasting, drinking,
dicing."

"Ah true," said the Englishman, with a sigh; "you Frenchmen are born
boon companions."

"And don't you play, too, when you are on guard?"

"Never," said the Englishman.

"In that case you must be horribly bored, and have my sympathy."

"The fact is, I look to my turn for keeping guard with horror. It's
tiresome work to keep awake a whole night."

"Yes, but with a jovial partner and dice, and guineas clinking on the
cloth, the night passes like a dream. You don't like playing, then?"

"On the contrary, I do."

"Lansquenet, for instance?"

"Devoted to it. I used to play almost every night in France."

"And since your return to England?"

"I have not handled a card or dice-box."

"I sincerely pity you," said D'Artagnan, with an air of profound
compassion.

"Look here," said the Englishman.

"Well?"

"To-morrow I am on guard."

"In Stuart's room?"

"Yes; come and pass the night with me."

"Impossible!"

"Impossible! why so?"

"I play with Monsieur du Vallon every night. Sometimes we don't go to
bed at all!"

"Well, what of that?"

"Why, he would be annoyed if I did not play with him."

"Does he play well?"

"I have seen him lose as much as two thousand pistoles, laughing all the
while till the tears rolled down."

"Bring him with you, then."

"But how about our prisoners?"

"Let your servants guard them."

"Yes, and give them a chance of escaping," said D'Artagnan. "Why, one
of them is a rich lord from Touraine and the other a knight of Malta,
of noble family. We have arranged the ransom of each of them--2,000 on
arriving in France. We are reluctant to leave for a single moment men
whom our lackeys know to be millionaires. It is true we plundered them a
little when we took them, and I will even confess that it is their purse
that Monsieur du Vallon and I draw on in our nightly play. Still, they
may have concealed some precious stone, some valuable diamond; so that
we are like those misers who are unable to absent themselves from their
treasures. We have made ourselves the constant guardians of our men, and
while I sleep Monsieur du Vallon watches."

"Ah! ah!