privilege of _entree_ anywhere--and
at any hour."

Brienne took the captain's hand kindly, and said, "Not at Nantes, dear
Monsieur d'Artagnan. The king, in this journey, has changed everything."

D'Artagnan, a little softened, asked about what o'clock the king would
have finished his breakfast.

"We don't know."

"Eh?--don't know! What does that mean? You don't know how much time the
king devotes to eating? It is generally an hour; and, if we admit that
the air of the Loire gives an additional appetite, we will extend it to
an hour and a half; that is enough, I think. I will wait where I am."

"Oh! dear Monsieur d'Artagnan, the order of the day is not to allow any
person to remain in this corridor; I am on guard for that particular
purpose."

D'Artagnan felt his anger mounting to his brain a second time. He
went out quickly, for fear of complicating the affair by a display of
premature ill-humor. As soon as he was out he began to reflect. "The
king," said he, "will not receive me, that is evident. The young man is
angry; he is afraid, beforehand, of the words that I may speak to him.
Yes; but in the meantime Belle-Isle is besieged, and my two friends by
now probably taken or killed. Poor Porthos! As to Master Aramis, he is
always full of resources, and I am easy on his account. But, no, no;
Porthos is not yet an invalid, nor is Aramis in his dotage. The one
with his arm, the other with his imagination, will find work for his
majesty's soldiers. Who knows if these brave men may not get up for
the edification of his most Christian majesty a little bastion of
Saint-Gervais! I don't despair of it. They have cannon and a garrison.
And yet," continued D'Artagnan, "I don't know whether it would not
be better to stop the combat. For myself alone I will not put up with
either surly looks or insults from the king; but for my friends I must
put up with everything. Shall I go to M. Colbert? Now, there is a man
I must acquire the habit of terrifying. I will go to M. Colbert." And
D'Artagnan set forward bravely to find M. Colbert, but was informed that
he was working with the king, at the castle of Nantes. "Good!" cried he,
"the times have come again in which I measured my steps from De Treville
to the cardinal, from the cardinal to the queen, from the queen to
Louis XIII. Truly is it said that men, in growing old, become children
again!--To the castle, then!" He returned thither. M. de Lyonne was
coming out. He gave D'Artagna