D'Artagnan immediately took the offensive. Now that I havetold you all, dear friend, or rather now you have guessedall, tell me what you are doing here, covered with dust andmud?"

Porthos wiped his brow, and looked around him with pride."Why, it appears," said he, "that you may see what I amdoing here."

"No doubt, no doubt, you lift great stones."

"Oh! to show these idle fellows what a man is," saidPorthos, with contempt. "But you understand - - "

"Yes, that it is not your place to lift stones, althoughthere are many whose place it is, who cannot lift them asyou do. It was that which made me ask you, just now, Whatare you doing here, baron?"

"I am studying topography, chevalier."

"You are studying topography?"

"Yes; but you - what are you doing in that common dress?"

D'Artagnan perceived he had committed a fault in givingexpression to his astonishment. Porthos had taken advantageof it, to retort with a question. "Why," said he, "you knowI am a bourgeois, in fact; my dress, then, has nothingastonishing in it, since it conforms with my condition."

"Nonsense! you are a musketeer."

"You are wrong, my friend; I have given in my resignation."

"Bah!"

"Oh, mon Dieu! yes."

"And have you abandoned the service?"

"I have quitted it."

"You have abandoned the king?"

"Quite."

Porthos raised his arms towards heaven, like a man who hasheard extraordinary news. "Well, that does confound me,"said he.

"It is nevertheless true."

"And what led you to form such a resolution?"

"The king displeased me. Mazarin had disgusted me for a longtime, as you know; so I threw my cassock to the nettles."

"But Mazarin is dead."

"I know that well enough, parbleu! Only, at the period ofhis death, my resignation had been given in and accepted twomonths. Then, feeling myself free, I set off forPierrefonds, to see my friend Porthos. I had heard talk ofthe happy division you had made of your time, and I wished,for a fortnight, to divide mine after your fashion."

"My friend, you know that it is not for a fortnight my houseis open to you; it is for a year - for ten years - forlife."

"Thank you, Porthos."

"Ah! but perhaps you want money - do you?" said Porthos,making something like fifty louis chink in his pocket. "Inthat case, you know - - "

"No, thank you, I am not in want of anything. I placed mysavings with Planchet, who pays me the interest of them."

"Your savings?"

"Yes, to be sure," said D'Artagnan: "why should I not put bymy savings, as well as another, Porthos?"

"Oh, there is no reason why; on the contrary, I alwayssuspected you - that is to say, Aramis always suspected youto have savings. For my own part, d'ye see, I take noconcern about the management of my household; but I presumethe savings of a musketeer must be small."

"No doubt, relative to yourself, Porthos, who are amillionaire; but you shall judge. I had laid by twenty-fivethousand livres."

"That's pretty well," said Porthos, with an affable air.

"And," continued D'Artagnan, "on the twenty-eighth of lastmonth I added to it two hundred thousand livres more."

Porthos opened his large eyes, which eloquently demanded ofthe musketeer, "Where the devil did you steal such a sum asthat, my dear friend?" "Two hundred thousand livres!" criedhe, at length.

"Yes; which, with the twenty-five I had, and twenty thousandI have about me, complete the sum of two hundred andforty-five thousand livres."

"But tell me, whence comes this fortune?"

"I will tell you all about it presently, dear friend; but asyou have, in the first place, many things to tell meyourself, let us have my recital in its proper order."

"Bravo!" said Porthos, "then we are both rich. But what canI have to relate to you?"

"You have to relate to me how Aramis came to be named - - "

"Ah! bishop of Vannes."

"That's it " said D'Artagnan, "bishop of Vannes. DearAramis! do you know how he succeeded so well?"

"Yes, yes; without reckoning that he does not mean to stopthere."

"What! do you mean he will not be contented with violetstockings, and that he wants a red hat?"

"Hush! that is promised him."

"Bah! by the king?"

"By somebody more powerful than the king."

"Ah! the devil! Porthos: what incredible things you tell me,my friend!"

"Why incredible? Is there not always somebody in France morepowerful than the king?"

"Oh, yes; in the time of King Louis XIII. it was CardinalRichelieu; in the time of the Regency it was CardinalMazarin. In the time of Louis XIV. it is M. - - "

"Go on."

"It is M. Fouquet."

"Jove! you have hit it the first time."

"So, then, I suppose it is M. Fouquet who has promisedAramis the red hat?"

Porthos assumed an air of reserve. "Dear friend," said he,"God preserve me from meddling with the affairs of others,above all from revealing secrets it may be to their interestto keep. When you see Aramis, he will tell you all he thinkshe ought to tell you."

"You are right, Porthos; and you are quite a padlock forsafety. But, to revert to yourself?"

"Yes," said Porthos.

"You said just now you came hither to study topography?"

"I did so."

"Tudieu! my friend, what fine things you will do!"

"How do you mean?"

"Why, these fortifications are admirable."

"Is that your opinion?"

"Decidedly it is. In truth, to anything but a regular siege,Belle-Isle is absolutely impregnable."

Porthos rubbed his hands. "That is my opinion," said he.

"But who the devil has fortified this paltry little place inthis manner?"

Porthos drew himself up proudly: "Did not I tell you who?"

"No."

"Do you not suspect?"

"No; all I can say is that he is a man who has studied allthe systems, and who appears to me to have stopped at thebest."

"Hush!" said Porthos; "consider my modesty, my dearD'Artagnan."

"In truth," replied the musketeer, "can it be you - who - oh!"

"Pray - my dear friend - - "

"You who have imagined, traced, and combined between thesebastions, these redans, these curtains, these half-moons;and are preparing that covered way?"

"I beg you - - "

"You who have built that lunette with its retiring anglesand its salient angles?"

"My friend - - "

"You who have given that inclination to the openings of yourembrasures, by means of which you so effectively protect themen who serve the guns?"

"Eh! mon Dieu! yes."

"Oh! Porthos, Porthos! I must bow down before you - I mustadmire you! But you have always concealed from us thissuperb, this incomparable genius. I hope, my dear friend,you will show me all this in detail."

"Nothing more easy. Here lies my original sketch, my plan."

"Show it me." Porthos led D'Artagnan towards the stone thatserved him for a table, and upon which the plan was spread.At the foot of the plan was written, in the formidablewriting of Porthos, writing of which we have already hadoccasion to speak: -

"Instead of making use of the square or rectangle, as hasbeen done to this time, you will suppose your place inclosedin a regular hexagon, this polygon having the advantage ofoffering more angles than the quadrilateral one. Every sideof your hexagon, of which you will determine the length inproportion to the dimensions taken upon the place, will bedivided into two parts and upon the middle point you willelevate a perpendicular towards the center of the polygon,which will equal in length the sixth part of the side. Bythe extremities of each side of the polygon, you will tracetwo diagonals, which will cut the perpendicular. These willform the precise lines of your defense."

"The devil!" said D'Artagnan, stopping at this point of thedemonstration; "why, this is a complete system, Porthos."

"Entirely," said Porthos. "Continue."

"No; I have read enough of it; but, since it is you, my dearPorthos, who direct the works, what need have you of settingdown your system so formally in writing?"

"Oh! my dear friend, death!"

"How! death?"

"Why, we are all mortal, are we not?"

"That is true," said D'Artagnan; "you have a reply foreverything, my friend." And he replaced the plan upon thestone.

But however short the time he had the plan in his hands,D'Artagnan had been able to distinguish, under the enormouswriting of Porthos, a much more delicate hand, whichreminded him of certain letters to Marie Michon, with whichhe had been acquainted in his youth. Only the India-rubberhad passed and repassed so often over this writing that itmight have escaped a less practiced eye than that of ourmusketeer.

"Bravo! my friend, bravo!" said D'Artagnan.

"And now you know all that you want to know, do you not?"said Porthos, wheeling about.

"Mordioux! yes, only do me one last favor, dear friend!"

"Speak, I am master here."

"Do me the pleasure to tell me the name of that gentlemanwho is walking yonder."

"Where, there?"

"Behind the soldiers."

"Followed by a lackey?"

"Exactly."

"In company with a mean sort of a fellow, dressed in black?"

"Yes, I mean him."

"That is M. Getard."

"And who is Getard, my friend?"

"He is the architect of the house."

"Of what house?"

"Of M. Fouquet's house."

"Ah! ah!" cried D'Artagnan, "you are of the household of M.Fouquet, then, Porthos?"

"I! what do you mean by that?" said the topographer,blushing to the top of his ears.

"Why, you say the house, when speaking of Belle-Isle, as ifyou were speaking of the chateau of Pierrefonds."

Porthos bit his lips. "Belle-Isle, my friend," said he,"belongs to M. Fouquet, does it not?"

"Yes, I believe so."

"As Pierrefonds belongs to me?"

"I told you I believed so; there are no two words to that."

"Did you ever see a man there who is accustomed to walkabout with a ruler in his hand?"

"No; but I might have seen him there, if he really walkedthere."

"Well, that gentleman is M. Boulingrin."

"Who is M. Boulingrin?"

"Now, we are coming to it. If, when this gentleman iswalking with a ruler in his hand, any one should ask me, - `Who is M. Boulingrin?' I should reply: `He is the architectof the house.' Well! M. Getard is the Boulingrin of M.Fouquet. But he has nothing to do with the fortifications,which are my department alone; do you understand? mine,absolutely mine."

"Ah! Porthos," cried D'Artagnan, letting his arms fall as aconquered man gives up his sword; "ah! my friend, you arenot only a herculean topographer, you are, still further, adialectician of the first water."

"Is it not powerfully reasoned?" said Porthos: and he puffedand blew like the conger which D'Artagnan had let slip fromhis hand.

"And now," said D'Artagnan, "that shabby-looking man, whoaccompanies M. Getard, is he also of the household of M.Fouquet?"

"Oh! yes," said Porthos, with contempt; "it is one M.Jupenet, or Juponet, a sort of poet."

"Who is come to establish himself here?"

"I believe so."

"I thought M. Fouquet had poets enough, yonder - Scudery,Loret, Pellisson, La Fontaine? If I must tell you the truth,Porthos, that poet disgraces you."

"Eh! - my friend; but what saves us is that he is not hereas a poet."

"As what, then, is he?"

"As printer. And you make me remember, I have a word to sayto the cuistre."

"Say it, then."

Porthos made a sign to Jupenet, who perfectly recollectedD'Artagnan, and did not care to come nearer; which naturallyproduced another sign from Porthos. This was so imperative,he was obliged to obey. As he approached, "Come hither!"said Porthos. "You only landed yesterday and you have begunyour tricks already."

"How so, monsieur le baron?" asked Jupenet, trembling.

"Your press was groaning all night, monsieur," said Porthos,"and you prevented my sleeping, corne de boeuf!"

"Monsieur - - " objected Jupenet, timidly.

"You have nothing yet to print: therefore you have nooccasion to set your press going. What did you print lastnight?"

"Monsieur, a light poem of my own composition."

"Light! no, no, monsieur; the press groaned pitifullybeneath it. Let it not happen again. Do you understand?"

"Yes, monsieur."

"You promise me?"

"I do, monsieur!"

"Very well; this time I pardon you. Adieu!"

"Well, now we have combed that fellow's head, let usbreakfast."

"Yes," replied D'Artagnan, "let us breakfast."

"Only," said Porthos, "I beg you to observe, my friend, thatwe have only two hours for our repast."

"What would you have? We will try to make two hours suffice.But why have you only two hours?"

"Because it is high tide at one o'clock, and, with the tide,I am going to Vannes. But, as I shall return tomorrow, mydear friend, you can stay here; you shall be master, I havea good cook and a good cellar."

"No," interrupted D'Artagnan, "better than that."

"What?"

"You are going to Vannes, you say?"

"To a certainty."

"To see Aramis?"

"Yes."

"Well! I came from Paris on purpose to see Aramis."

"That's true."

"I will go with you then."

"Do; that's the thing."

"Only, I ought to have seen Aramis first, and you after. Butman proposes, and God disposes. I have begun with you, andwill finish with Aramis."

"Very well!"

"And in how many hours can you go from here to Vannes?"

"Oh! pardieu! in six hours. Three hours by sea to Sarzeau,three hours by road from Sarzeau to Vannes."

"How convenient that is! Being so near to the bishopric; doyou often go to Vannes?"

"Yes; once a week. But, stop till I get my plan."

Porthos picked up his plan, folded it carefully, andengulfed it in his large pocket.

"Good!" said D'Artagnan aside; "I think I now know the realengineer who is fortifying Belle-Isle."

Two hours after, at high tide, Porthos and D'Artagnan setout for Sarzeau.