"In quite a different light to what I saw it half an hour ago."
"And to what, then, do you attribute this difference in your opinion?"
"Oh! a very simple thing, sire; half an hour ago I returned from the Bois-Rochin, where I had nothing to light me but a stupid stable lantern--"
"While now, I have all the wax-lights of your cabinet, and more than that, your majesty's own eyes, which illuminate everything, like the blazing sun at noon-day."
The king began to laugh, and Saint-Aignan broke out into convulsions of merriment.
"It is precisely like M. Valot," said D'Artagnan, resuming the conversation where the king had left off; "he has been imagining all along, that, not only was M. de Guiche wounded by a bullet, but still more, that he extracted it even from his chest."
"Upon my word," said Valot, "I assure you--"
"Now, did you not believe that?" continued D'Artagnan.
"Yes," said Valot, "not only did I believe it, but at this very moment I would swear it."
"Well, my dear doctor, you have dreamed it."
"M. de Guiche's wound--a mere dream; the bullet a dream. So take my advice, and say no more about it."
"Well said," returned the king; "M. d'Artagnan's advice is very good. Do not speak of your dream to any one, M. Valot, and upon the word of a gentleman, you will have no occasion to repent it. Good evening, gentlemen; a very sad affair indeed is a wild-boar hunt!"
"A very serious thing indeed," repeated D'Artagnan, in a loud voice, "is a wild-boar hunt!" and he repeated it in every room through which he passed, and left the chateau, taking Valot with him.
"And now we are alone," said the king to Saint-Aignan, "what is the name of De Guiche's adversary?" Saint-Aignan looked at the king.
"Oh! do not hesitate," said the king: "you know that I must forgive."
"Very good," said Louis XIV.; and then hastily retiring to his own room, added to himself, "To forgive is not to forget."
SHOWING THE ADVANTAGE OF HAVING TWO STRINGS TO ONE'S BOW.
Manicamp quitted the king's apartment delighted at having succeeded so well, when, just as he reached the bottom of the staircase, and was about passing before a doorway, he felt that some one suddenly pulled him by the sleeve. He turned round and recognized Montalais, who was waiting for him in the passage, and who, in a very mysterious manner, with her body bent forward, and in a low tone of voice said to him, "Follow me, monsieur, and without any delay, if you please."