Part 87 (1/2)
”Is very ill; it is even reported he is dead”
”Are you on good ternan, with a disdainfulthat the death of Mazarin did not affect him beyond measure
”With M Fouquet?” said Raoul; ”I do not know him”
”Soalways seeks to get goodabout the crown,” cried D'Artagnan; ”I a, that is M Fouquet, if the cardinal is dead You must contrive to stand ith M Fouquet, if you do not wish to molder away all your life as I have moldered It is true you have, fortunately, other protectors”
”M le Prince, for instance”
”Worn out! worn out!”
”M le Comte de la Fere?”
”Athos! Oh! that's different; yes, Athos--and if you have any wish to land, you cannot apply to a better person; I can even say, without too much vanity, that I myself have so--God speed him!”
”Ah!” cried Raoul, with the natural curiosity of well-born young people, while listening to experience and courage
”Yes, a king who amuses himself, it is true, but who has had a sword in his hand, and can appreciate useful ood terms with Charles II Take service there, and leave these scoundrels of contractors and fareneral, who steal as ith French hands as others have done with Italian hands; leave the little snivelling king, who is going to give us another reign of Francis II Do you know anything of history, Raoul?”
”Yes, monsieur le chevalier”
”Do you know, then, that Francis II had always the earache?”
”No, I did not know that”
”That Charles IV had always the headache?”
”Indeed!”
”And Henry III had always the stoh
”Well, my dear friend, Louis XIV always has the heart-ache; it is deplorable to see a king sighing fro once in the course of the day, ventre-saint-gris! corboef! or anything to rouse one”
”Was that the reason why you quitted the service, monsieur le chevalier?”
”Yes”
”But you yourself, M d'Artagnan, are throwing the handle after the axe; you will not nan, in a careless tone; ”I am settled--I had some family property”
Raoul looked at hinan was proverbial A Gascon, he exceeded in ill-luck all the gasconnades of France and Navarre; Raoul had a hundred tiether, as the twins Roht Raoul's look of astonishment
”And has not your father told you I have been in England?”
”Yes, monsieur le chevalier”