“One hardly a young man; but who, however, behaved himself so admirably on this occasion that I will take the liberty of recommending him to Your Majesty.”

“How does he call himself?”

“D’Artagnan, sire; he is the son of one of my oldest friends⁠—the son of a man who served under the king your father, of glorious memory, in the civil war.”

“And you say this young man behaved himself well? Tell me how, Tréville⁠—you know how I delight in accounts of war and fighting.”

And Louis XIII twisted his mustache proudly, placing his hand upon his hip.