ed her face in her hands.

"And to tell you that--do you hear me, Louise?--to tell you that, at
such a moment as this, to tell you that, as I have told you, is to
pronounce my own sentence of death. Adieu!" La Valliere held out her
hands to him in vain.

"We ought not to see each other again in this world," he said, and as
she was on the point of crying out in bitter agony at this remark, he
placed his hand on her mouth to stifle the exclamation. She pressed her
lips upon it, and fell fainting to the ground. "Olivain," said Raoul,
"take this young lady and bear her to the carriage which is waiting for
her at the door." As Olivain lifted her up, Raoul made a movement as if
to dart towards La Valliere, in order to give her a first and last kiss,
but, stopping abruptly, he said, "No! she is not mine. I am no thief--as
is the king of France." And he returned to his room, whilst the lackey
carried La Valliere, still fainting, to the carriage.

Chapter LXII. What Raoul Had Guessed.

As soon as Raoul had quitted Athos and D'Artagnan, as the two
exclamations that had followed his departure escaped their lips, they
found themselves face to face alone. Athos immediately resumed the
earnest air that he had assumed at D'Artagnan's arrival.

"Well," he said, "what have you come to announce to me, my friend?"

"I?" inquired D'Artagnan.

"Yes; I do not see you in this way without some reason for it," said
Athos, smiling.

"The deuce!" said D'Artagnan.

"I will place you at your ease. The king is furious, I suppose?"

"Well, I must say he is not altogether pleased."

"And you have come to arrest me, then?"

"My dear friend, you have hit the very mark."

"Oh, I expected it. I am quite ready to go with you."

"Deuce take it!" said D'Artagnan, "what a hurry you are in."

"I am afraid of delaying you," said Athos, smiling.

"I have plenty of time. Are you not curious, besides, to know how things
went on between the king and me?"

"If you will be good enough to tell me, I will listen with the greatest
of pleasure," said Athos, pointing out to D'Artagnan a large chair, into
which the latter threw himself, assuming the easiest possible attitude.

"Well, I will do so willingly enough," continued D'Artagnan, "for the
conversation is rather curious, I must say. In the first place the king
sent for me."

"As soon as I had left?"

"You were just going down the last steps of the staircase, as the
musketeers told me. I a