It is simply this, replied the musketeer. I have conducted hither a prisoner, who the King commands shall not be seen. You came here; he has thrown something to you through the lattice of his window. I was at dinner with the governor; I saw the object thrown, and I saw Raoul pick it up. It does not take long to understand this. I understood it; and I thought you in intelligence with my prisoner. And then-
And then- you commanded us to be shot.
Ma foi! I admit it; but if I was the first to seize a musket, fortunately I was the last to take aim at you.
If you had killed me, dArtagnan, I should have had the good fortune to die for the royal house of France; and it would be an honor to die by your hand,- you, its noblest and most loyal defender.
What the devil, Athos, do you mean by th
