le is correct. I regret to have been the means of putting
you in a false position. M. Greville has come to explain to me that in
the darkness of the night, when our vehicles came together and we said
some angry words, he gave me by mistake the card of M. le Capitaine
Merton. M. Greville and I--you will pardon me--have amicably arranged
our little trouble, as I shall tell you more fully.'"

"Oh, joy!" cried Merton; "close of fourth act. Every one on but
D'Artagnan and the woman. Athos, Porthos, Aramis! What next? Was there
ever anything more dramatically all that could be desired? What next?"

"The count was very pleasant, and thought only a little explanation
was required to reconcile his friends and the captain. This by no
means satisfied Porthos.

"The baron said he would fight with a cannon if necessary, and he
will. Aramis is degenerate. He observed that it would require
consideration. Then the count said: 'The captain's ideas are certainly
somewhat original, and why not leave it to M. Greville and me and such
others as we may choose?'

"I was well pleased. Whether they were or not, I cannot tell. They
said, however, a variety of agreeable nothings, and I am to see the
count to-morrow. He kept Porthos and Aramis and, I suspect, gave the
two fools a lecture."

"Well, well," said Merton. "When I left the regiment I thought I was
out of the world of adventure."

"Oh, this is comic opera. I do not suppose that you really want to
fight these idiots."

"No; but I will, if they desire to be thus amused. Otherwise there
will have to be some word-eating. I was not bluffing."

"Porthos will stick it out. You won't be too stiff-necked, I trust."

"Oh, no. I leave myself in your hands--I mean absolutely; and I want
also to say, Greville, that this queer affair ought to make us
friends."

"It has," I returned with warmth. "You dine with the minister next
week, I believe."

"Yes, Monday."

We talked for a few minutes of the campaigns at home, and then he
returned to the subject which just now more immediately interested
him. "What about that woman? I have an impression that we are not at
the end, but at the beginning, of an adventure. Are you not curious?"

"Yes, I am, and my curiosity has ripened. There may be some politics
in the matter, just as you say. If, as is barely possible, it is our
international affairs that are involved, it is my duty to follow it up
and to know more. But how to follow it up? In what