say?"

"I say, that your philosophy is not to be matched in the whole world."

"You think so?--follow my example, then."

"It is a very tempting one."

"Do as I do."

"I could not wish for anything better; but all minds are not of the same
stamp; and it might possibly happen that if I were required to amuse
myself in the manner you do, I should bore myself horribly."

"Bah! at least try it first."

"Well, tell me what you do."

"Have you observed that I leave home occasionally?"

"Yes."

"In any particular way?"

"Periodically."

"That's the very thing. You have noticed it, then?"

"My dear Planchet, you must understand that when people see each other
every day, and one of the two absents himself, the other misses him. Do
not you feel the want of my society when I am in the country?"

"Prodigiously; that is to say, I feel like a body without a soul."

"That being understood, then, let us go on."

"What are the periods when I absent myself?"

"On the fifteenth and thirtieth of every month."

"And I remain away?"

"Sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes four days at a time."

"Have you ever given it a thought, what I have been absent for?"

"To look after your debts, I suppose."

"And when I returned, how did you think I looked, as far as my face was
concerned?"

"Exceedingly satisfied."

"You admit, you say, that I always look very satisfied. And what have
you attributed my satisfaction to?"

"That your business was going on very well: that your purchases of rice,
prunes, raw sugar, dried apples and pears, and treacle, were
advantageous. You were always very picturesque in your notions and
ideas, Planchet; and I was not in the slightest degree surprised to find
you had selected grocery as an occupation, which is of all trades the
most varied, and the very pleasantest, as far as character is concerned;
inasmuch as one handles so many natural and perfumed productions."

"Perfectly true, monsieur; but you are very greatly mistaken."

"In what way?"

"In thinking that I leave here every fortnight to collect my money, or
to make purchases. Oh, oh! how could you possibly have thought such a
thing? Oh, oh, oh!" And Planchet began to laugh in a manner that
inspired D'Artagnan with very serious misgivings as to his sanity.

"I confess," said the musketeer, "that I do not precisely catch your
meaning."

"Very true, monsieur."

"What do you mean by 'very true?'"

"It must be true, s