M.
d'Artagnan. Whilst these things were going on, our musketeer could not
help constantly repeating,--

"God grant that M. Monk may not have as much pride as I have; for I
declare if any one had put me into a coffer with that grating over my
mouth, and carried me packed up, like a calf, across the seas, I should
cherish such a memory of my piteous looks in that coffer, and such an
ugly animosity against him who had inclosed me in it, I should dread so
greatly to see a sarcastic smile blooming upon the face of the malicious
wretch, or in his attitude any grotesque imitation of my position in the
box, that, Mordioux! I should plunge a good dagger into his throat in
compensation for the grating, and would nail him down in a veritable
bier, in remembrance of the false coffin in which I had been left to
grow moldy for two days."

And D'Artagnan spoke honestly when he spoke thus; for the skin of our
Gascon was a very thin one. Monk, fortunately, entertained other ideas.
He never opened his mouth to his timid conqueror concerning the past;
but he admitted him very near to his person in his labors, took him with
him to several reconnoiterings, in such a way as to obtain that which he
evidently warmly desired,--a rehabilitation in the mind of D'Artagnan.
The latter conducted himself like a past-master in the art of flattery:
he admired all Monk's tactics, and the ordering of his camp, he joked
very pleasantly upon the circumvallations of Lambert's camp, who had,
he said, very uselessly given himself the trouble to inclose a camp
for twenty thousand men, whilst an acre of ground would have been quite
sufficient for the corporal and fifty guards who would perhaps remain
faithful to him.

Monk, immediately after his arrival, had accepted the proposition
made by Lambert the evening before, for an interview, and which
Monk's lieutenants had refused under the pretext that the general was
indisposed. This interview was neither long nor interesting: Lambert
demanded a profession of faith from his rival. The latter declared he
had no other opinion than that of the majority. Lambert asked if it
would not be more expedient to terminate the quarrel by an alliance
than by a battle. Monk hereupon demanded a week for consideration. Now,
Lambert could not refuse this: and Lambert, nevertheless, had come,
saying that he should devour Monk's army. Therefore, at the end of the
interview, which Lambert's party watched with impatience, nothing w