u mean."

"Not at all, sire--I make no mistake; your majesty may rely upon me in
that respect. Monsieur le cardinal gave me the commission himself."

"Well!"

"But M. de Mazarin, as you know better than anybody, does not often
give, and sometimes takes back what he has given; he took it back again
as soon as peace was made and he was no longer in want of me. Certainly
I was not worthy to replace M. de Treville, of illustrious memory; but
they had promised me, and they had given me; they ought to have stopped
there."

"Is that what dissatisfies you, monsieur? Well I shall make inquiries. I
love justice; and your claim, though made in military fashion, does not
displease me."

"Oh, sire!" said the officer, "your majesty has ill understood me; I no
longer claim anything now."

"Excess of delicacy, monsieur; but I will keep my eye upon your affairs,
and later----"

"Oh, sire! what a word!--later! Thirty years have I lived upon that
promising word, which has been pronounced by so many great personages,
and which your mouth has, in its turn, just pronounced. Later--that is
how I have received a score of wounds, and how I have reached fifty-four
years of age without ever having had a louis in my purse, and without
ever having met with a protector on my way,--I who have protected so
many people! So I change my formula, sire; and when any one says to me
'Later,' I reply 'Now.' It is rest that I solicit, sire. That may be
easily granted me. That will cost nobody anything."

"I did not look for this language, monsieur, particularly from a man
who has always lived among the great. You forget you are speaking to the
king, to a gentleman who is, I suppose, of as good a house as yourself;
and when I say later, I mean a certainty."

"I do not at all doubt it, sire, but this is the end of the terrible
truth I had to tell you. If I were to see upon that table a marshal's
stick, the sword of constable, the crown of Poland, instead of later, I
swear to you, sire, that I should still say Now! Oh, excuse me, sire! I
am from the country of your grandfather, Henry IV. I do not speak often;
but when I do speak, I speak all."

"The future of my reign has little temptation for you, monsieur, it
appears," said Louis, haughtily.

"Forgetfulness, forgetfulness everywhere!" cried the officer, with a
noble air; "the master has forgotten the servant, so that the servant is
reduced to forget his master. I live in unfortunate times, sire. I