initiative. I came, then, to ask this authorization of the king of France, who has refused me.”
“The king has refused you, sire!”
“Oh, not he; all justice must be rendered to my younger brother Louis; but Monsieur de Mazarin — ”
Athos bit his lips.
“You perhaps think I should have expected this refusal?” said the king, who had noticed the movement.
“That was, in truth, my thought, sire,” replied Athos, respectfully; “I know that Italian of old.”
“Then I determined to come to the test, and know at once the last word of my destiny. I told my brother Louis, that, not to