and she signed an order for a hundred thousand francs.
“Now, then,” she said, “what next?”
“Madame, my friend Du Vallon is rich and has therefore nothing in the way of fortune to desire; but I think I remember that there was a question between him and Monsieur Mazarin as to making his estate a barony. Nay, it must have been a promise.”
“A country clown,” said Anne of Austria, “people will laugh.”
“Let them,” answered D’Artagnan. “But I am sure of one thing — that those who laugh at him in his presence will never laugh a second time.”
“Here goes the barony.” said the queen; she signed a patent.