“What the devil do you see so bad in it?” said d’Artagnan.

“Because, Monsieur,” replied Kitty, “my mistress loves you not at all.”

“ Hein! ” said d’Artagnan, “can she have charged you to tell me so?”

“Oh, no, Monsieur; but out of the regard I have for you, I have taken the resolution to tell you so.”

“Much obliged, my dear Kitty; but for the intention only⁠—for the information, you must agree, is not likely to be at all agreeable.”

“That is to say, you don’t believe what I have told you; is it not so?”

“We have always some difficulty in believing such things, my pretty dear, were it only from self-love.”