“No, I did not know that.”

“That Charles IV. had always the headache?”

“Indeed!”

“And Henry III. had always the stomach-ache?”

Raoul began to laugh.

“Well, my dear friend, Louis XIV. always has the heart-ache; it is deplorable to see a king sighing from morning till night without saying once in the course of the day, ventre-saint-gris! corboef! or anything to rouse one.”

“Was that the reason why you quitted the service, monsieur le chevalier?”

“Yes.”

“But you yourself, M. d’Artagnan, are throwing the handle after the axe; you will not make a fortune.”