at
without the combatants seeing me."

"And what took place?"

"Oh! The affair was not long, I assure you. They placed themselves on
guard; the stranger made a feint and a lunge, and that so rapidly that
when Monsieur Porthos came to the PARADE, he had already three inches of
steel in his breast. He immediately fell backward. The stranger placed
the point of his sword at his throat; and Monsieur Porthos, finding
himself at the mercy of his adversary, acknowledged himself conquered.
Upon which the stranger asked his name, and learning that it was
Porthos, and not d'Artagnan, he assisted him to rise, brought him back
to the hotel, mounted his horse, and disappeared."

"So it was with Monsieur d'Artagnan this stranger meant to quarrel?"

"It appears so."

"And do you know what has become of him?"

"No, I never saw him until that moment, and have not seen him since."

"Very well; I know all that I wish to know. Porthos's chamber is, you
say, on the first story, Number One?"

"Yes, monsieur, the handsomest in the inn--a chamber that I could have
let ten times over."

"Bah! Be satisfied," said d'Artagnan, laughing, "Porthos will pay you
with the money of the Duchess Coquenard."

"Oh, monsieur, procurator's wife or duchess, if she will but loosen her
pursestrings, it will be all the same; but she positively answered that
she was tired of the exigencies and infidelities of Monsieur Porthos,
and that she would not send him a denier."

"And did you convey this answer to your guest?"

"We took good care not to do that; he would have found in what fashion
we had executed his commission."

"So that he still expects his money?"

"Oh, Lord, yes, monsieur! Yesterday he wrote again; but it was his
servant who this time put the letter in the post."

"Do you say the procurator's wife is old and ugly?"

"Fifty at least, monsieur, and not at all handsome, according to
Pathaud's account."

"In that case, you may be quite at ease; she will soon be softened.
Besides, Porthos cannot owe you much."

"How, not much! Twenty good pistoles, already, without reckoning the
doctor. He denies himself nothing; it may easily be seen he has been
accustomed to live well."

"Never mind; if his mistress abandons him, he will find friends, I will
answer for it. So, my dear host, be not uneasy, and continue to take all
the care of him that his situation requires."

"Monsieur has promised me not to open his mouth about the procurator's