The two friends rode rapidly down the declivity of theFaubourg, but on arriving at the bottom were surprised tofind that the streets of Paris had become rivers, and theopen places lakes; after the great rains which fell inJanuary the Seine had overflowed its banks and the riverinundated half the capital. The two gentlemen were obliged,therefore, to get off their horses and take a boat; and inthat strange manner they approached the Louvre.

Night had closed in, and Paris, seen thus, by the light oflanterns flickering on the pools of water, crowded withferry-boats of every kind, including those that glitteredwith the armed patrols, with the watchword, passing frompost to post - Paris presented such an aspect as tostrongly seize the senses of Aramis, a man most susceptibleto warlike impressions.

They reached the queen's apartments, but were compelled tostop in the ante-chamber, since her majesty was at thatmoment giving audience to gentlemen bringing her news fromEngland.

"We? too?" said Athos, to the footman who had given him thatanswer, "not only bring news from England, but have justcome from there."

"What? then, are your names, gentlemen?"

"The Comte de la Fere and the Chevalier d'Herblay," saidAramis.

"Ah! in that case, gentlemen," said the footman, on hearingthe names which the queen had so often pronounced with hope,"in that case it is another thing, and I think her majestywill pardon me for not keeping you here a moment. Pleasefollow me," and he went on before, followed by Athos andAramis.

On arriving at the door of the room where the queen wasreceiving he made a sign for them to wait and opening thedoor:

"Madame," he said, "I hope your majesty will forgive me fordisobeying your orders, when you learn that the gentlemen Ihave come to announce are the Comte de la Fere and theChevalier d'Herblay."

On hearing those two names the queen uttered a cry of joy,which the two gentlemen heard.

"Poor queen!" murmured Athos.

"Oh, let them come in! let them come in," cried the youngprincess, bounding to the door.

The poor child was constant in her attendance on her motherand sought by her filial attentions to make her forget theabsence of her two sons and her other daughter.

"Come in, gentlemen," repeated the princess, opening thedoor herself.

The queen was seated on a fauteuil and before her werestanding two or three gentlemen, and among them the Duc deChatillon, the brother of the nobleman killed eight or nineyears previously in a duel on account of Madame deLongueville, on the Place Royale. All these gentlemen hadbeen noticed by Athos and Aramis in the guardhouse, and whenthe two friends were announced they started and exchangedsome words in a low tone. "Well, sirs!" cried the queen, onperceiving the two friends, "you have come, faithfulfriends! But the royal couriers have been more expeditiousthan you, and here are Monsieur de Flamarens and Monsieur deChatillon, who bring me from Her Majesty the Queen Anne ofAustria, the very latest intelligence."

Aramis and Athos were astounded by the calmness, even thegayety of the queen's manner.

"Go on with your recital, sirs," said the queen, turning tothe Duc de Chatillon. "You said that His Majesty, KingCharles, my august consort, had been condemned to death by amajority of his subjects!"

"Yes, madame," Chatillon stammered out.

Athos and Aramis were more and more astonished.

"And that being conducted to the scaffold," resumed thequeen - "oh, my lord! oh, my king! - and that being led tothe scaffold he had been saved by an indignant people."

"Just so madame," replied Chatillon, in so low a voice thatthough the two friends were listening eagerly they couldhardly hear this affirmation.

The queen clasped her hands in enthusiastic gratitude,whilst her daughter threw her arms around her mother's neckand kissed her - her own eyes streaming with tears.

"Now, madame, nothing remains to me except to proffer myrespectful homage," said Chatillon, who felt confused andashamed beneath the stern gaze of Athos.

"One moment, yes," answered the queen. "One moment - I beg- for here are the Chevalier d'Herblay and the Comte de laFere, just arrived from London, and they can give you, aseye-witnesses, such details as you can convey to the queen,my royal sister. Speak, gentlemen, speak - I am listening;conceal nothing, gloss over nothing. Since his majesty stilllives, since the honor of the throne is safe, everythingelse is a matter of indifference to me."

Athos turned pale and laid his hand on his heart.

"Well!" exclaimed the queen, who remarked this movement andhis paleness. "Speak, sir! I beg you to do so."

"I beg you to excuse me, madame; I wish to add nothing tothe recital of these gentlemen until they perceivethemselves that they have perhaps been mistaken."

"Mistaken!" cried the queen, almost suffocated by emotion;"mistaken! what has happened, then?"

"Sir," interposed Monsieur de Flamarens to Athos, "if we aremistaken the error has originated with the queen. I do notsuppose you will have the presumption to set it to rights - that would be to accuse Her Majesty, Queen Anne, offalsehood."

"With the queen, sir?" replied Athos, in his calm, vibratingvoice.

"Yes," murmured Flamarens, lowering his eyes.

Athos sighed deeply.

"Or rather, sir," said Aramis, with his peculiar irritatingpoliteness, "the error of the person who was with you whenwe met you in the guardroom; for if the Comte de la Fere andI are not mistaken, we saw you in the company of a thirdgentleman."

Chatillon and Flamarens started.

"Explain yourself, count!" cried the queen, whose anxietygrew greater every moment. "On your brow I read despair - your lips falter ere you announce some terrible tidings - your hands tremble. Oh, my God! my God! what has happened?"

"Lord!" ejaculated the young princess, falling on her knees,"have mercy on us!"

"Sir," said Chatillon, "if you bring bad tidings it will becruel in you to announce them to the queen."

Aramis went so close to Chatillon as almost to touch him.

"Sir," said he, with compressed lips and flashing eyes, "youhave not the presumption to instruct the Comte de la Fereand myself what we ought to say here?"

During this brief altercation Athos, with his hands on hisheart, his head bent low, approached the queen and in avoice of deepest sorrow said:

"Madame, princes - who by nature are above other men - receive from Heaven courage to support greater misfortunesthan those of lower rank, for their hearts are elevated astheir fortunes. We ought not, therefore, I think, to acttoward a queen so illustrious as your majesty as we shouldact toward a woman of our lowlier condition. Queen, destinedas you are to endure every sorrow on this earth, hear theresult of our unhappy mission."

Athos, kneeling down before the queen, trembling and verycold, drew from his bosom, inclosed in the same case, theorder set in diamonds which the queen had given to Lord deWinter and the wedding ring which Charles I. before hisdeath had placed in the hands of Aramis. Since the moment hehad first received these two mementoes Athos had neverparted with them.

He opened the case and offered them to the queen with deepand silent anguish.

The queen stretched out her hand, seized the ring, pressedit convulsively to her lips - and without being able tobreathe a sigh, to give vent to a sob, she extended herarms, became deadly pale, and fell senseless in the arms ofher attendants and her daughter.

Athos kissed the hem of the robe of the widowed queen andrising, with a dignity that made a deep impression on thosearound:

"I, the Comte de la Fere, a gentleman who has never deceivedany human being, swear before God and before this unhappyqueen, that all that was possible to save the king ofEngland was done whilst we were on English ground. Now,chevalier," he added, turning to Aramis, "let us go. Ourduty is fulfilled."

"Not yet." said Aramis; "we have still a word to say tothese gentlemen."

And turning to Chatillon: "Sir, be so good as not to go awaywithout giving me an opportunity to tell you something Icannot say before the queen."

Chatillon bowed in token of assent and they all went out,stopping at the window of a gallery on the ground floor.

"Sir," said Aramis, "you allowed yourself just now to treatus in a most extraordinary manner. That would not beendurable in any case, and is still less so on the part ofthose who came to bring the queen the message of a liar."

"Sir!" cried De Chatillon.

"What have you done with Monsieur de Bruy? Has he by anypossibility gone to change his face which was too like thatof Monsieur de Mazarin? There is an abundance of Italianmasks at the Palais Royal, from harlequin even topantaloon."

"Chevalier! chevalier!" said Athos.

"Leave me alone," said Aramis impatiently. "You know wellthat I don't like to leave things half finished."

"Conclude, then, sir," answered De Chatillon, with as muchhauteur as Aramis.

"Gentlemen," resumed Aramis, "any one but the Comte de laFere and myself would have had you arrested - for we havefriends in Paris - but we are contented with anothercourse. Come and converse with us for just five minutes,sword in hand, upon this deserted terrace."

"One moment, gentlemen," cried Flamarens. "I know well thatthe proposition is tempting, but at present it is impossibleto accept it."

"And why not?" said Aramis, in his tone of raillery. "Is itMazarin's proximity that makes you so prudent?"

"Oh, you hear that, Flamarens!" said Chatillon. "Not toreply would be a blot on my name and my honor."

"That is my opinion," said Aramis.

"You will not reply, however, and these gentlemen, I amsure, will presently be of my opinion."

Aramis shook his head with a motion of indescribableinsolence.

Chatillon saw the motion and put his hand to his sword.

"Willingly," replied De Chatillon.

"Duke," said Flamarens, "you forget that to-morrow you areto command an expedition of the greatest importance,projected by the prince, assented to by the queen. Untilto-morrow evening you are not at your own disposal."

"Let it be then the day after to-morrow," said Aramis.

"To-morrow, rather," said De Chatillon, "if you will takethe trouble of coming so far as the gates of Charenton."

"How can you doubt it, sir? For the pleasure of a meetingwith you I would go to the end of the world."

"Very well, to-morrow, sir."

"I shall rely on it. Are you going to rejoin your cardinal?Swear first, on your honor, not to inform him of ourreturn."

"Conditions?"

"Why not?"

"Because it is for victors to make conditions, and you arenot yet victors, gentlemen."

"Then let us draw on the spot. It is all one to us - to uswho do not command to-morrow's expedition."

Chatillon and Flamarens looked at each other. There was suchirony in the words and in the bearing of Aramis that theduke had great difficulty in bridling his anger, but at aword from Flamarens he restrained himself and contentedhimself with saying:

"You promise, sir - that's agreed - that I shall find youto-morrow at Charenton?"

"Oh, don't be afraid, sir," replied Aramis; and the twogentlemen shortly afterward left the Louvre.

"For what reason is all this fume and fury?" asked Athos."What have they done to you?"

"They - did you not see what they did?"

"No."

"They laughed when we swore that we had done our duty inEngland. Now, if they believed us, they laughed in order toinsult us; if they did not believe it they insulted us allthe more. However, I'm glad not to fight them untilto-morrow. I hope we shall have something better to doto-night than to draw the sword."

"What have we to do?"

"Egad! to take Mazarin."

Athos curled his lip with disdain.

"These undertakings do not suit me, as you know, Aramis."

"Why?"

"Because it is taking people unawares."

"Really, Athos, you would make a singular general. You wouldfight only by broad daylight, warn your foe before anattack, and never attempt anything by night lest you shouldbe accused of taking advantage of the darkness."

Athos smiled.

"You know one cannot change his nature," he said. "Besides,do you know what is our situation, and whether Mazarin'sarrest wouldn't be rather an encumbrance than an advantage?"

"Say at once you disapprove of my proposal."

"I think you ought to do nothing, since you exacted apromise from these gentlemen not to let Mazarin know that wewere in France."

"I have entered into no engagement and consider myself quitefree. Come, come."

"Where?"

"Either to seek the Duc de Beaufort or the Duc de Bouillon,and to tell them about this."

"Yes, but on one condition - that we begin by thecoadjutor. He is a priest, learned in cases of conscience,and we will tell him ours."

It was then agreed that they were to go first to Monsieur deBouillon, as his house came first; but first of all Athosbegged that he might go to the Hotel du Grand Charlemagne,to see Raoul.

They re-entered the boat which had brought them to theLouvre and thence proceeded to the Halles; and taking upGrimaud and Blaisois, they went on foot to the RueGuenegaud.

But Raoul was not at the Hotel du Grand Charlemagne. He hadreceived a message from the prince, to whom he had hastenedwith Olivain the instant he had received it.