"Well, then, assume a cheerful manner, as I do; we must joke with the guards, we must gain the good-will of the soldiers, since we can't corrupt them. Try, Porthos, to please them more than you are wont to do when they are under our windows. Thus far you have done nothing but show them your fist; and the more respectable your fist is, Porthos, the less attractive it is. Ah, I would give much to have five hundred louis, only."
"So would I," said Porthos, unwilling to be behind D'Artagnan in generosity; "I would give as much as a hundred pistoles."
The two prisoners were at this point of their conversation when Comminges entered, preceded by a sergeant and two men, who brought supper in a basket with two handles, filled with basins and plates.
"What!" exclaimed Porthos, "mutton again?"
"My dear Monsieur de Comminges," said D'Artagnan, "you will find that my friend, Monsieur du Vallon, will go to the most fatal lengths if Cardinal Mazarin continues to provide us with this sort of meat; mutton every day."
"I declare," said Porthos, "I shall eat nothing if they do not take it away."
"Remove the mutton," cried Comminges; "I wish Monsieur du Vallon to sup well, more especially as I have news to give him that will improve his appetite."
"Is Mazarin dead?" asked Porthos.
"No; I am sorry to tell you he is perfectly well."
"So much the worse," said Porthos.
"What is that news?" asked D'Artagnan. "News in prison is a fruit so rare that I trust, Monsieur de Comminges, you will excuse my impatience -- the more eager since you have given us to understand that the news is good."
"Should you be glad to hear that the Comte de la Fere is well?" asked De Comminges.
D'Artagnan's penetrating gray eyes were opened to the utmost.
"Glad!" he cried; "I should be more than glad! Happy -- beyond measure!"
"Well, I am desired by him to give you his compliments and to say that he is in good health."
D'Artagnan almost leaped with joy. A quick glance conveyed his thought to Porthos: "If Athos knows where we are, if he opens communication with us, before long Athos will act."
Porthos was not very quick to understand the language of glances, but now since the name of Athos had suggested to him the same idea, he understood.
"Do you say," asked the Gascon, timidly, "that the Comte de la Fere has commissioned you to give his compliments to Monsieur du Vallon and myself?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then you have seen him?"
"Certainly I have."
"Where? if I may ask without indiscretion."
"Near here," replied De Comminges, smiling; "so near that if the windows which look on the orangery were not stopped up you could see him from where you are."
"He is wandering about the environs of the castle," thought D'Artagnan. Then he said aloud:
"You met him, I dare say, in the park -- hunting, perhaps?"
"No; nearer, nearer still. Look, behind this wall," said De Comminges, knocking against the wall.
"Behind this wall? What is there, then, behind this wall? I was brought here by night, so devil take me if I know where I am."
"Well," said Comminges, "suppose one thing."
"I will suppose anything you please."
"Suppose there were a window in this wall."
"Well?"
"From that window you would see Monsieur de la Fere at his."
"The count, then, is in the chateau?"
"Yes."
"For what reason?"
"The same as yourself."
"Athos -- a prisoner?"
"You know well," replied De Comminges, "that there are no prisoners at Rueil, because there is no prison."
"Don't let us play upon words, sir. Athos has been arrested."
"Yesterday, at Saint Germain, as he came out from the presence of the queen."
The arms of D'Artagnan fell powerless by his side. One might have supposed him thunderstruck; a paleness ran like a cloud over his dark skin, but disappeared immediately.
"A prisoner?" he reiterated.
"A prisoner," repeated Porthos, quite dejected.
Suddenly D'Artagnan looked up and in his eyes there was a gleam which scarcely even Porthos observed; but it died away and he appeared more sorrowful than before.
"Come, come," said Comminges, who, since D'Artagnan, on the day of Broussel's arrest, had saved him from the hands of the Parisians, had entertained a real affection for him, "don't be unhappy; I never thought of bringing you bad news.
Laugh at the chance which has brought your friend near to you and Monsieur du Vallon, instead of being in the depths of despair about it."
But D'Artagnan was still in a desponding mood.
"And how did he look?" asked Porthos, who, perceiving that D'Artagnan had allowed the conversation to drop, profited by it to put in a word or two.
"Very well, indeed, sir," replied Comminges; "at first, like you, he seemed distressed; but when he heard that the cardinal was going to pay him a visit this very evening ----"
"Ah!" cried D'Artagnan, "the cardinal is about to visit the Comte de la Fere?"
"Yes; and the count desired me to tell you that he should take advantage of this visit to plead for you and for himself."
"Ah! our dear count!" said D'Artagnan.
"A fine thing, indeed!" grunted Porthos. "A great favor!
