ery sentimental disposition,
and as I have often seen her rise at daybreak in order to go out into
the garden, she may, perhaps, be there now."

This appeared probable, and the king immediately ran down the staircase
in search of the fugitive. D'Artagnan saw him grow very pale, and
talking in an excited manner with his companion, as he went towards the
gardens; Saint-Aignan following him, out of breath. D'Artagnan did
not stir from the window, but went on whistling, looking as if he saw
nothing, yet seeing everything. "Come, come," he murmured, when the king
disappeared, "his majesty's passion is stronger than I thought; he is
now doing, I think, what he never did for Mademoiselle de Mancini." [6]

In a quarter of an hour the king again appeared: he had looked
everywhere, was completely out of breath, and, as a matter of course,
had not discovered anything. Saint-Aignan, who still followed him,
was fanning himself with his hat, and in a gasping voice, asking for
information about La Valliere from such of the servants as were about,
in fact from every one he met. Among others he came across Manicamp,
who had arrived from Fontainebleau by easy stages; for whilst others had
performed the journey in six hours, he had taken four and twenty.

"Have you seen Mademoiselle de la Valliere?" Saint-Aignan asked him.

Whereupon Manicamp, dreamy and absent as usual, answered, thinking that
some one was asking him about De Guiche, "Thank you, the comte is a
little better."

And he continued on his way until he reached the ante-chamber where
D'Artagnan was, whom he asked to explain how it was that the king
looked, as he thought, so bewildered; to which D'Artagnan replied that
he was quite mistaken, that the king, on the contrary, was as lively and
merry as he could possibly be.

In the midst of all this, eight o'clock struck. It was usual for the
king to take his breakfast at this hour, for the code of etiquette
prescribed that the king should always be hungry at eight o'clock. His
breakfast was laid upon a small table in his bedroom, and he ate very
fast. Saint-Aignan, of whom he would not lose sight, waited on the
king. He then disposed of several military audiences, during which
he dispatched Saint-Aignan to see what he could find out. Then, still
occupied, full of anxiety, still watching Saint-Aignan's return, who had
sent out the servants in every direction, to make inquires, and who
had also gone himself, the hour of nine s