mes
in the course of his life bowed beneath his own sorrows and those of
others.

He held out his hand to Raoul, which the latter seized most eagerly.

"And so, monsieur le comte, you are quite satisfied that the misfortune
is one beyond all remedy?" inquired the young man.

"Poor boy!" he murmured.

"You think that I still live in hope," said Raoul, "and you pity me. Oh,
it is indeed horrible suffering for me to despise, as I am bound to
do, the one I have loved so devotedly. If I had but some real cause of
complaint against her, I should be happy, I should be able to forgive
her."

Athos looked at his son with a profoundly sorrowful air, for the words
Raoul had just pronounced seemed to have issued out of his own heart. At
this moment the servant announced M. d'Artagnan. This name sounded very
differently to the ears of Athos and Raoul. The musketeer entered the
room with a vague smile on his lips. Raoul paused. Athos walked towards
his friend with an expression of face that did not escape Bragelonne.
D'Artagnan answered Athos's look by an imperceptible movement of the
eyelid; and then, advancing towards Raoul, whom he took by the hand, he
said, addressing both father and son, "Well, you are trying to console
this poor boy, it seems."

"And you, kind and good as usual, have come to help me in my difficult
task."

As he said this, Athos pressed D'Artagnan's hand between both his own.
Raoul fancied he observed in this pressure something beyond the sense
his mere words conveyed.

"Yes," replied the musketeer, smoothing his mustache with the hand that
Athos had left free, "yes, I have come too."

"You are most welcome, chevalier; not for the consolation you bring with
you, but on your own account. I am already consoled," said Raoul; and
he attempted to smile, but the effort was more sad than any tears
D'Artagnan had ever seen shed.

"That is all well and good, then," said D'Artagnan.

"Only," continued Raoul, "you have arrived just as the comte was about
to give me the details of his interview with the king. You will allow
the comte to continue?" added the young man, as, with his eyes fixed on
the musketeer, he seemed to read the very depths of his heart.

"His interview with the king?" said D'Artagnan, in a tone so natural and
unassumed that there was no means of suspecting that his astonishment
was feigned. "You have seen the king, then, Athos?"

Athos smiled as he said, "Yes, I have seen him."

"Ah,