hat is sufficient. I will order your pension."

"I shall have a thousand obligations to your majesty."

"Monsieur," said the king, with a violent effort, "I think you are
losing a good master."

"And I am sure of it, sire."

"Shall you ever find such another?"

"Oh, sire! I know that your majesty is alone in the world; therefore
will I never again take service with any other king upon earth, and will
never again have other master than myself."

"You say so?"

"I swear so, your majesty."

"I shall remember that word, monsieur."

D'Artagnan bowed.

"And you know I have a good memory," said the king.

"Yes, sire; and yet I should desire that that memory should fail
your majesty in this instance, in order that you might forget all the
miseries I have been forced to spread before your eyes. Your majesty is
so much above the poor and the mean, that I hope--"

"My majesty, monsieur, will act like the sun, which looks upon all,
great and small, rich and poor, giving luster to some, warmth to others,
and life to all. Adieu, Monsieur d'Artagnan--adieu: you are free."

And the king, with a hoarse sob, which was lost in his throat, passed
quickly into the next room. D'Artagnan took up his hat from the table on
which he had thrown in, and went out.

Chapter XV. The Proscribed.

D'Artagnan had not reached the bottom of the staircase, when the king
called his gentleman. "I have a commission to give you, monsieur," said
he.

"I am at your majesty's commands."

"Wait, then." And the young king began to write the following letter,
which cost him more than one sigh, although, at the same time, something
like a feeling of triumph glittered in his eyes:

"MY LORD CARDINAL,--Thanks to your good counsels, and, above all, thanks
to your firmness, I have succeeded in overcoming a weakness unworthy of
a king. You have too ably arranged my destiny to allow gratitude not to
stop me at the moment when I was about to destroy your work. I felt I
was wrong to wish to make my life turn from the course you had marked
out for it. Certainly it would have been a misfortune to France and my
family if a misunderstanding had taken place between me and my minister.
This, however, would certainly have happened if I had made your niece my
wife. I am perfectly aware of this, and will henceforth oppose nothing
to the accomplishment of my destiny. I am prepared, then, to wed the
infanta, Maria Theresa. You may at once open the conference.