s at length time that I should do something! No
more generosity, no more energy! The master has succeeded, the pupil is
starved forever. Mordioux! I will not resist. Come, you men," continued
he, entering the ante-chamber, "why are you all looking at me so?
Extinguish these torches and return to your posts. Ah! you were guarding
me? Yes, you watch over me, do you not, worthy fellows? Brave fools!
I am not the Duc de Guise. Begone! They will not assassinate me in the
little passage. Besides," added he, in a low voice, "that would be
a resolution, and no resolutions have been formed since Monsieur le
Cardinal de Richelieu died. Now, with all his faults, that was a man! It
is settled: to-morrow I will throw my cassock to the nettles."

Then, reflecting: "No," said he, "not yet! I have one great trial to
make and I will make it; but that, and I swear it, shall be the last,
Mordioux!"

He had not finished speaking when a voice issued from the king's
chamber. "Monsieur le lieutenant!" said this voice.

"Here am I," replied he.

"The king desires to speak to you."

"Humph!" said the lieutenant; "perhaps of what I was thinking about."
And he went into the king's apartment.

CHAPTER 12. The King and the Lieutenant

As soon as the king saw the officer enter, he dismissed his valet de
chambre and his gentleman. "Who is on duty to-morrow, monsieur?" asked
he.

The lieutenant bowed his head with military politeness and replied, "I
am, sire."

"What! still you?"

"Always I, sire."

"How can that be, monsieur?"

"Sire, when traveling, the musketeers supply all the posts of your
majesty's household; that is to say, yours, her majesty the queen's, and
monsieur le cardinal's, the latter of whom borrows of the king the best
part, or rather the most numerous part, of the royal guard."

"But in the interims?"

"There are no interims, sire, but for twenty or thirty men who rest out
of a hundred and twenty. At the Louvre it is very different, and if I
were at the Louvre I should rely upon my brigadier; but, when traveling,
sire, no one knows what may happen, and I prefer doing my duty myself."

"Then you are on guard every day?"

"And every night. Yes, sire."

"Monsieur, I cannot allow that--I will have you rest."

"That is very kind, sire, but I will not."

"What do you say?" said the king who did not at first comprehend the
full meaning of this reply.

"I say, sire, that I will not expose myself to the c