is he gone to the wars? — he!”
Montalais trod on her toe, but all in vain.
“Do you know what my opinion is?” continued she, addressing D’Artagnan.
“No, mademoiselle; but I should like very much to know it.”
“My opinion is, then, that all the men who go to this war are desperate, desponding men, whom love has treated ill; and who go to try if they cannot find jet-complexioned women more kind than fair ones have been.”
Some of the ladies laughed; La Valliere was evidently confused; Montalais coughed loud enough to waken the dead.
“Mademoiselle,” interrupted D’Artagnan, “you are in error when you speak of black women at Gigelli; the women there have not jet faces; it is true they are not white —