he, who knows how bitterly I execrate him — to tell his spy that the best means of making his court to me is to rail at him. Therefore, in spite of all my protestations, if it be as I suspect, my cunning gossip will assure me that he holds his Eminence in horror.”

It, however, proved otherwise. D’Artagnan answered, with the greatest simplicity: “I came to Paris with exactly such intentions. My father advised me to stoop to nobody but the king, the cardinal, and yourself — whom he considered the first three personages in France.”

D’Artagnan added M. de Treville to the others, as may be perceived; but he thought this addition would do no harM.“I have the greatest veneration for the cardinal,” continued he, “and the most profound