Aramis.

"Six knights of Malta, whose names are written here, have discovered,
by the indiscretion of one of the affiliated of the eleventh year, the
three mysteries; it must be ascertained what else these men have done
with the secret, to get it back again and bury it."

"It shall be done."

"Three dangerous affiliated members must be sent away into Tibet, there
to perish; they stand condemned. Here are their names."

"I will see that the sentence be carried out."

"Lastly, there is a lady at Anvers, grand-niece of Ravaillac; she holds
certain papers in her hands that compromise the order. There has been
payable to the family during the last fifty-one years a pension of
fifty thousand livres. The pension is a heavy one, and the order is not
wealthy. Redeem the papers, for a sum of money paid down, or, in case of
refusal, stop the pension--but run no risk."

"I will quickly decide what is best to be done," said Aramis.

"A vessel chartered from Lima entered the port of Lisbon last week;
ostensibly it is laden with chocolate, in reality with gold. Every ingot
is concealed by a coating of chocolate. The vessel belongs to the
order; it is worth seventeen millions of livres; you will see that it is
claimed; here are the bills of landing."

"To what port shall I direct it to be taken?"

"To Bayonne."

"Before three weeks are over it shall be there, wind and weather
permitting. Is that all?" The Franciscan made a sign in the affirmative,
for he could no longer speak; the blood rushed to his throat and his
head, and gushed from his mouth, his nostrils, and his eyes. The dying
man had barely time to press Aramis's hand, when he fell in convulsions
from his bed upon the floor. Aramis placed his hand upon the
Franciscan's heart, but it had ceased to beat. As he stooped down,
Aramis observed that a fragment of the paper he had given the Franciscan
had escaped being burnt. He picked it up, and burnt it to the last atom.
Then, summoning the confessor and the physician, he said to the former:
"Your penitent is in heaven; he needs nothing more than prayers and the
burial bestowed upon the pious dead. Go and prepare what is necessary
for a simple interment, such as a poor monk only would require. Go."

The Jesuit left the room. Then, turning towards the physician, and
observing his pale and anxious face, he said, in a low tone of voice:
"Monsieur Grisart, empty and clean this glass; _there is too much left
in it of what th