arrived, my twentieth
year, when there came one night my commission in the regiment--the
Nivernois. You have perhaps never seen one of these documents,
Boussac, but you will ere long, I make no doubt, when your own is made
out for the Mousquetaires. Therefore, I will tell you of its strange
character and wording. It was that the king, at the request of the Duc
de Vannes, had been graciously pleased to appoint me to the position
of _porte-drapeau_ in the Nivernois under De Mailly-Sebret--a brave
man, now dead--and that I was to join it in Holland. I did so, and,
from that day to this, have prosecuted many inquiries as to why De
Vannes should have procured me that commission. But up to now I have
never received positive proof that he was my father--though still I do
believe it."

"But why, why, why?" asked Boussac impatiently. "A man must have some
friend who obtains him his presentation to a regiment--even I had our
grand seigneur. And I never suspected _him_ of being my father!"

"Doubtless you had no reason to do so. Yet, again, listen. De Vannes
was killed in 1675; in the same year--a month before him--died my old
friend and protector--the one man who had ever stood in the light of a
parent to me. His successor found among his papers and chattels a
packet addressed to me, and forwarded it by a sure hand to Holland.
When I opened it I found therein a miniature of my mother--though I
should not have known it was she had he not informed me of it--and
also instructions that I should myself seek out the Duc de Vannes at
the first opportunity and boldly ask him who my father was. 'For,' he
wrote, 'he can tell you if he will, and he ought in justice to tell
you. I would do so only the most solemn promise binds me to keep
silence--a promise which, had I never given it, would have stood in
the way of my ever being to you all that I have been--of having my
life cheered by you, my dear, dear one.' I was preparing to seek the
duke out, had obtained leave to do so and to join Turenne in the
campaign, when, lo! the news came that both he and De Vannes were
killed on the same day."

"And you know no more?" asked Boussac, as now the plain was passed,
and from the watch towers of Chatillon they could hear the guard being
changed. And also, as they rode up to the gate, the challenge of "Who
comes there?" rang out on the frosty air.

Again the usual answer was given, "Chevau-Leger" and "Mousquetaire,"
and then, while the bolts were