n?"

"A great hurry."

"Then what compels me to wait two days?"

"Reasons known to myself."

"That's a different affair. The horse may make up the two days, in the
eight he has to travel; and then there is the post."

"No, no, the post compromises, Monsieur d'Artagnan. Begone and do not
forget you are my servant."

"Sire, it is not my duty to forget it! At what hour to-morrow shall I
take my leave of your majesty?"

"Where do you lodge?"

"I must henceforward lodge at the Louvre."

"That must not be now--keep your lodgings in the city: I will pay for
them. As to your departure, it must take place at night; you must set
out without being seen by any one, or, if you are seen, it must not be
known that you belong to me. Keep your mouth shut, monsieur."

"Your majesty spoils all you have said by that single word."

"I asked you where you lodged, for I cannot always send to M. le Comte
de la Fere to seek you."

"I lodge with M. Planchet, a grocer, Rue des Lombards, at the sign of
the Pilon d'Or."

"Go out but little, show yourself less, and await my orders."

"And yet, sire, I must go for the money."

"That is true, but when going to the superintendence, where so many
people are constantly going, you must mingle with the crowd."

"I want the notes, sire, for the money."

"Here they are." The king signed them, and D'Artagnan looked on, to
assure himself of their regularity.

"Adieu! Monsieur d'Artagnan," added the king; "I think you have
perfectly understood me."

"I? I understand that your majesty sends me to Belle-Isle-en-Mer, that
is all."

"To learn?"

"To learn how M. Fouquet's works are going on; that is all."

"Very well: I admit you may be taken."

"And I do not admit it," replied the Gascon, boldly.

"I admit you may be killed," continued the king.

"That is not probable, sire."

"In the first case, you must not speak; in the second there must be no
papers found upon you."

D'Artagnan shrugged his shoulders without ceremony, and took leave of
the king, saying to himself:--"The English shower continues--let us
remain under the spout!"

CHAPTER 54. The Houses of M. Fouquet

Whilst D'Artagnan was returning to Planchet's house, his head aching and
bewildered with all that had happened to him, there was passing a scene
of quite a different character, and which, nevertheless is not foreign
to the conversation our musketeer had just had with the king; only
this scene took pl