“Oh, my friends,” said d’Artagnan, “you come once more to save my life, not only mine but that of these gentlemen. Gentlemen,” continued he, addressing the guardsmen, “I request you will be silent with regard to this adventure. Great personages may have had a hand in what you have seen, and if talked about, the evil would only recoil upon us.”

“Ah, Monsieur!” stammered Planchet, more dead than alive, “ah, Monsieur, what an escape I have had!”

“How, sirrah! you were going to drink my wine?”

“To the health of the king, Monsieur; I was going to drink a small glass of it if Fourreau had not told me I was called.”

“Alas!” said Fourreau, whose teeth chattered with terror, “I wanted to get him out of the way that I might drink myself.”