ded right on that shoulder I ran against head-foremost, like a
ram. The only thing that surprises me is that he didn't strike me dead
on the spot; he had provocation enough, for I must have hurt him
savagely. As to Porthos--oh! as to Porthos--that's a funny affair!"

And the youth began to laugh aloud in spite of himself; looking round
carefully, however, to see if his laughing alone in public without
apparent cause aroused any suspicion.

"As to Porthos, it is funny enough, to be sure, but I am a crazy
blockhead all the same. Are people to be run into without warning? No!
And have I any right to peep under their cloaks to see what they
haven't got? He would have forgiven me, I am sure, if I had said
nothing to him about that cursed cloak,--with a double meaning, it is
true, but too broad a joke in one of them! Ah! cursed Gascon that I
am, I believe I should crack a joke if I was being roasted over a slow
fire. Friend D'Artagnan," he went on, speaking to himself with the
gentleness he thought fair, "if you get away, which there is not much
chance of, I would advise you to practice entire politeness for the
future. You must henceforth be admired and quoted as a model of it. To
be obliging and civil does not necessarily make a man a coward. Look
at Aramis, now: mildness and grace embodied; and did anybody ever
dream of calling Aramis a coward? No indeed, and from this instant I
will try to model myself after him. And luckily, here he is."

D'Artagnan, walking and soliloquizing, had come within a few steps of
the Aiguillon House, and in front of it saw Aramis chatting gayly with
three of the King's Guards. Aramis also saw D'Artagnan; but not having
forgotten that it was in his presence M. de Treville had got so angry
in the morning, and as a witness of the rebuke was not at all
pleasant, he pretended not to see him. D'Artagnan, on the other hand,
full of his plans of conciliation and politeness, approached the young
man with a profound bow accompanied by a most gracious smile. Aramis
bowed slightly but did not smile. Moreover, all four immediately broke
off their conversation.

D'Artagnan was not so dull as not to see he was not wanted; but he was
not yet used enough to social customs to know how to extricate himself
dexterously from his false position, which his generally is who
accosts people he is little acquainted with, and mingles in a
conversation which does not concern him. He was mentally casting about
for the