“Who, I? Oh! not at all, my dear Monsieur Colbert.”

“But, monsieur, you have an order. And, in the same manner as you give a sword-thrust, when you are required, I, on my part, pay when an order is presented to me. Present yours.”

“It is useless, my dear Monsieur Colbert,” said D’Artagnan, who inwardly enjoyed this confusion in the ideas of Colbert; “my order is paid.”

“Paid, by whom?”

“By monsieur le surintendant.”

Colbert grew pale.

“Explain yourself,” said he, in a stifled voice — ”if you are paid why do you show me that paper?”