aveler perceives with pleasure, at the close of the day--even though
the day has been a fine one--that night is approaching, and will bring
a little sleep with it. So, from Boulogne to Paris, jogging on, side by
side, the two friends, in some degree absorbed each in his individual
thoughts, conversed of nothing sufficiently interesting for us to repeat
to our readers. Each of them given up to his personal reflections, and
constructing his future after his own fashion, was, above all, anxious
to abridge the distance by speed. Athos and D'Artagnan arrived at the
gates of Paris on the evening of the fourth day after leaving Boulogne.

"Where are you going, my friend?" asked Athos. "I shall direct my course
straight to my hotel."

"And I straight to my partner's."

"To Planchet's?"

"Yes; at the Pilon d'Or."

"Well, but shall we not meet again?"

"If you remain in Paris, yes, for I shall stay here."

"No: after having embraced Raoul, with whom I have appointed a meeting
at my hotel, I shall set out immediately for La Fere."

"Well, adieu, then, dear and true friend."

"Au revoir! I should rather say, for why can you not come and live with
me at Blois? You are free, you are rich, I shall purchase for you, if
you like, a handsome estate in the vicinity of Chiverny or of Bracieux.
On the one side you will have the finest woods in the world, which
join those of Chambord; on the other, admirable marshes. You who love
sporting, and who, whether you admit it or not, are a poet, my dear
friend, you will find pheasants, rail and teal, without counting sunsets
and excursions on the water, to make you fancy yourself Nimrod and
Apollo themselves. While awaiting the purchase, you can live at La Fere,
and we shall go together to fly our hawks among the vines, as Louis
XIII. used to do. That is a quiet amusement for old fellows like us."

D'Artagnan took the hands of Athos in his own. "Dear count," said he,
"I shall say neither 'Yes' nor 'No.' Let me pass in Paris the time
necessary for the regulation of my affairs, and accustom myself, by
degrees, to the heavy and glittering idea which is beating in my brain
and dazzles me. I am rich, you see, and from this moment until the time
when I shall have acquired the habit of being rich, I know myself, and I
shall be an insupportable animal. Now, I am not enough of a fool to
wish to appear to have lost my wits before a friend like you, Athos. The
cloak is handsome, the cloak is richly