he Bastile." A sustained yell of
vengeful fury came floating up to the window at which the bishop stood,
and enveloped him in a magnetic field.

"Avenge Monsieur Fouquet!" cried the most excited of his hearers, "death
to the royalists!"

"No, my friends," replied Aramis, solemnly; "no, my friends; no
resistance. The king is master in his kingdom. The king is the mandatory
of God. The king and God have struck M. Fouquet. Humble yourselves
before the hand of God. Love God and the king, who have struck M.
Fouquet. But do not avenge your seigneur, do not think of avenging him.
You would sacrifice yourselves in vain--you, your wives and children,
your property, your liberty. Lay down your arms, my friends--lay down
your arms! since the king commands you so to do--and retire peaceably to
your dwellings. It is I who ask you to do so; it is I who beg you to do
so; it is I who now, in the hour of need, command you to do so, in the
name of M. Fouquet."

The crowd collected under the window uttered a prolonged roar of anger
and terror. "The soldiers of Louis XIV. have reached the island,"
continued Aramis. "From this time it would no longer be a fight betwixt
them and you--it would be a massacre. Begone, then, begone, and forget;
this time I command you, in the name of the Lord of Hosts!"

The mutineers retired slowly, submissive, silent.

"Ah! what have you just been saying, my friend?" said Porthos.

"Monsieur," said Biscarrat to the bishop, "you may save all these
inhabitants, but thus you will neither save yourself nor your friend."

"Monsieur de Biscarrat," said the bishop of Vannes, with a singular
accent of nobility and courtesy, "Monsieur de Biscarrat, be kind enough
to resume your liberty."

"I am very willing to do so, monsieur; but--"

"That would render us a service, for when announcing to the king's
lieutenant the submission of the islanders, you will perhaps obtain some
grace for us on informing him of the manner in which that submission has
been effected."

"Grace!" replied Porthos with flashing eyes, "what is the meaning of
that word?"

Aramis touched the elbow of his friend roughly, as he had been
accustomed to do in the days of their youth, when he wanted to warn
Porthos that he had committed, or was about to commit, a blunder.
Porthos understood him, and was silent immediately.

"I will go, messieurs," replied Biscarrat, a little surprised likewise
at the word "grace" pronounced by the haughty mus