“Then,” said the honest seigneur of Bracieux, “you have rendered me a service, and I thank you for it; for if you had not deceived me, I might have deceived myself. In what, then, have you deceived me, tell me?”

“In that I was serving the usurper against whom Louis XIV., at this moment, is directing his efforts.”

“The usurper!” said Porthos, scratching his head. “That is — well, I do not quite clearly comprehend!”

“He is one of the two kings who are contending fro the crown of France.”

“Very well!

Then you were serving him who is not Louis XIV.?”

“You have hit the matter in one word.”