h emotion,
"thanks for that offer, which would give us more than we wish, either
monsieur le comte or I. I, who am young, stand in need of labor of mind
and fatigue of body; monsieur le comte wants the profoundest repose. You
are his best friend. I recommend him to your care. In watching over him,
you are holding both our souls in your hands."

"I must go; my horse is all in a fret," said D'Artagnan, with whom
the most manifest sign of a lively emotion was the change of ideas
in conversation. "Come, comte, how many days longer has Raoul to stay
here?"

"Three days at most."

"And how long will it take you to reach home?"

"Oh! a considerable time," replied Athos. "I shall not like the idea
of being separated too quickly from Raoul. Time will travel too fast
of itself to require me to aid it by distance. I shall only make
half-stages."

"And why so, my friend? Nothing is more dull than traveling slowly; and
hostelry life does not become a man like you."

"My friend, I came hither on post-horses; but I wish to purchase two
animals of a superior kind. Now, to take them home fresh, it would not
be prudent to make them travel more than seven or eight leagues a day."

"Where is Grimaud?"

"He arrived yesterday morning with Raoul's appointments; and I have left
him to sleep."

"That is, never to come back again," D'Artagnan suffered to escape him.
"Till we meet again, then, dear Athos--and if you are diligent, I shall
embrace you the sooner." So saying, he put his foot in the stirrup,
which Raoul held.

"Farewell!" said the young man, embracing him.

"Farewell!" said D'Artagnan, as he got into his saddle.

His horse made a movement which divided the cavalier from his friends.
This scene had taken place in front of the house chosen by Athos, near
the gates of Antibes, whither D'Artagnan, after his supper, had ordered
his horses to be brought. The road began to branch off there, white and
undulating in the vapors of the night. The horse eagerly respired the
salt, sharp perfume of the marshes. D'Artagnan put him to a trot; and
Athos and Raoul sadly turned towards the house. All at once they heard
the rapid approach of a horse's steps, and first believed it to be one
of those singular repercussions which deceive the ear at every turn in
a road. But it was really the return of the horseman. They uttered a
cry of joyous surprise; and the captain, springing to the ground like
a young man, seized within his arms the tw