iant human form leaning out of the principal carriage; at the same
time loud bursts of laughter, caused, no doubt, by the strange figure of
Bazin, and issuing from the same carriage, left, as it were, a train of
joy upon the passage of the rapid _cortege_.

"I might easily see it was not the king," said D'Artagnan; "people don't
laugh so heartily when the king passes. _Hola_, Bazin!" cried he to his
neighbor, three-quarters of whose body still hung out of the window, to
follow the carriage with his eyes as long as he could. "What is all that
about?"

"It is M. Fouquet," said Bazin, in a patronizing tone.

"And all those people?"

"That is the court of M. Fouquet."

"Oh, oh!" said D'Artagnan; "what would M. de Mazarin say to that if he
heard it?" And he returned to his bed, asking himself how Aramis
always contrived to be protected by the most powerful personages in the
kingdom. "Is it that he has more luck than I, or that I am a greater
fool than he? Bah!" That was the concluding word by the aid of which
D'Artagnan, having become wise, now terminated every thought and every
period of his style. Formerly he said, "_Mordioux!_" which was a
prick of the spur, but now he had become older, and he murmured that
philosophical "_Bah!_" which served as a bridle to all the passions.

Chapter XVIII. In which D'Artagnan seeks Porthos, and only finds
Mousqueton.

When D'Artagnan had perfectly convinced himself that the absence of
the Vicar-General d'Herblay was real, and that his friend was not to be
found at Melun or in its vicinity, he left Bazin without regret, cast
an ill-natured glance at the magnificent Chateau de Vaux, which was
beginning to shine with that splendor which brought on its ruin, and,
compressing his lips like a man full of mistrust and suspicion, he put
spurs to his pied horse, saying, "Well, well! I have still Pierrefonds
left, and there I shall find the best man and the best filled coffer.
And that is all I want, for I have an idea of my own."

We will spare our readers the prosaic incidents of D'Artagnan's journey,
which terminated on the morning of the third day within sight of
Pierrefonds. D'Artagnan came by the way of Nanteuil-le-Haudouin and
Crepy. At a distance he perceived the Castle of Louis of Orleans, which,
having become part of the crown domain, was kept by an old _concierge_.
This was one of those marvelous manors of the middle ages, with walls
twenty feet in thickness, and a hundred