“As they believe that I go in consequence of an order from the cardinal, no one will believe you anxious to follow me.”
“Well?”
“Well! The carriage is at the door; you bid me adieu; you mount the step to embrace me a last time; my brother’s servant, who comes to fetch me, is told how to proceed; he makes a sign to the postillion, and we set off at a gallop.”
“But d’Artagnan! D’Artagnan! if he comes?”
“Shall we not know it?”
“How?”
“Nothing easier. We will send my brother’s servant back to Béthune, whom, as I told you, we can trust. He shall assume a disguise, and place himself in front of the convent. If the emissaries of the cardinal arrive, he will take no notice; if it is M. d’Artagnan and his friends, he will bring them to us.”
“He knows them, then?”
“Doubtless. Has he not seen M. d’Artagnan at my house?”
“Oh, yes, yes; you are right. Thus all may go well—all may be for the best; but we do not go far from this place?”
“Seven or eight leagues at the most. We will keep on the frontiers, for instance; and at the first alarm we can leave France.”
“And what can we do there?”
“Wait.”
“But if they come?”