d to
imitate him, notwithstanding his weakness. "Well, I will not add another
word: I have said either too much or not enough. Let others give you
further information if they will, or if they can; my duty was to warn
you, and _that_ I have done. Watch over your own affairs now, yourself."

"Question others! Alas! you are no true friend to speak to me in that
manner," said the young man, in utter distress. "The first man I meet
may be either evilly disposed or a fool,--if the former, he will tell
me a lie to make me suffer more than I do now; if the latter, he will
do worse still. Ah! De Guiche, De Guiche, before two hours are over, I
shall have been told ten falsehoods, and shall have as many duels on my
hands. Save me, then; is it not best to know the worst always?"

"But I know nothing, I tell you; I was wounded, attacked by fever: out
of my senses; and I have only a very faint recollection of it all. But
there is on reason why we should search very far, when the very man we
want is close at hand. Is not D'Artagnan your friend?"

"Oh! true, true!"

"Got to him, then. He will be able to throw sufficient light upon the
subject." At this moment a lackey entered the room. "What is it?" said
De Guiche.

"Some one is waiting for monseigneur in the Cabinet des Porcelaines."

"Very well. Will you excuse me, my dear Raoul? I am so proud since I
have been able to walk again."

"I would offer you my arm, De Guiche, if I did not guess that the person
in question is a lady."

"I believe so," said De Guiche, smiling as he quitted Raoul.

Raoul remained motionless, absorbed in grief, overwhelmed, like the
miner upon whom a vault has just fallen in, who, wounded, his life-blood
welling fast, his thoughts confused, endeavors to recover himself, to
save his life and to retain his reason. A few minutes were all Raoul
needed to dissipate the bewildering sensations occasioned by these two
revelations. He had already recovered the thread of his ideas, when,
suddenly, through the door, he fancied he recognized Montalais's voice
in the Cabinet des Porcelaines. "She!" he cried. "Yes, it is indeed her
voice! She will be able to tell me the whole truth; but shall I question
her here? She conceals herself even from me; she is coming, no doubt,
from Madame. I will see her in her own apartment. She will explain her
alarm, her flight, the strange manner in which I was driven out; she
will tell me all that--after M. d'Artagnan, who knows e