uet,
but the musketeer was very weary even of feigning to fall asleep, and
as soon as earliest dawn illumined with its gloomy gleams of light the
sumptuous cornices of the superintendent's room, D'Artagnan rose from
his armchair, arranged his sword, brushed his coat and hat with his
sleeve, like a private soldier getting ready for inspection.

"Are you going out?" said Fouquet.

"Yes, monseigneur. And you?"

"I shall remain."

"You pledge your word?"

"Certainly."

"Very good. Besides, my only reason for going out is to try and get that
reply,--you know what I mean?"

"That sentence, you mean--"

"Stay, I have something of the old Roman in me. This morning, when I
got up, I remarked that my sword had got caught in one of the
_aiguillettes_, and that my shoulder-belt had slipped quite off. That is
an infallible sign."

"Of prosperity?"

"Yes, be sure of it; for every time that that confounded belt of mine
stuck fast to my back, it always signified a punishment from M. de
Treville, or a refusal of money by M. de Mazarin. Every time my sword
hung fast to my shoulder-belt, it always predicted some disagreeable
commission or another for me to execute, and I have had showers of
them all my life through. Every time, too, my sword danced about in its
sheath, a duel, fortunate in its result, was sure to follow: whenever it
dangled about the calves of my legs, it signified a slight wound; every
time it fell completely out of the scabbard, I was booked, and made up
my mind that I should have to remain on the field of battle, with two or
three months under surgical bandages into the bargain."

"I did not know your sword kept you so well informed," said Fouquet,
with a faint smile, which showed how he was struggling against his
own weakness. "Is your sword bewitched, or under the influence of some
imperial charm?"

"Why, you must know that my sword may almost be regarded as part of my
own body. I have heard that certain men seem to have warnings given them
by feeling something the matter with their legs, or a throbbing of their
temples. With me, it is my sword that warns me. Well, it told me of
nothing this morning. But, stay a moment--look here, it has just fallen
of its own accord into the last hole of the belt. Do you know what that
is a warning of?"

"No."

"Well, that tells me of an arrest that will have to be made this very
day."

"Well," said the surintendant, more astonished than annoyed by this
frankn