"You saw your wi--"
"Hush!" interrupted Athos. "You fet, my dear, you fet that the gentlemen are not initiated into my family affairs like yourlf. I have en Milady."
"Where?" demanded d''Artagnan.
"Within two leagues of this plabsp;at the inn of the Red Dovecot."
"In that bsp;I am lost," said d''Artagnan.
"Not so bad yet," replied Athos; "for by this time she must have quit the shores of France."
D''Artagnan breathed again.
"But after all," asked Porthos, "who is Milady?"
"A charming woman!" said Athos, sipping a glass of sparkling wine. "Villainous host!" cried he, "he has given us Anjou wine instead of champagne, and fancies we know no better! Yes," tinued he, "a charming woman, who eained kind views toward our friend d''Artagnan, who, on his part, has given her some offen for whibsp;she tried to revenge herlf a month ago by having him killed by two musket shots, a week ago by trying to poison him, aerday by demanding his head of the cardinal."
"What! by demanding my head of the cardinal?" cried d''Artagnan, pale with terror.
"Yes, that is true as the Gospel," said Porthos; "I heard her with my own ears."
"I also," said Aramis.
"Then," said d''Artagnan, letting his arm fall with discement, "it is uless to struggle longer. I may as well blow my brains out, and all will be over."
"That''s the last folly to be itted," said Athos, "eing it is the only one for whibsp;there is no remedy."
"But I bsp;never escape," said d''Artagnan, "with subsp;enemies. First, my stranger of Meung; then de Wardes, to whom I have given three sword wounds; Milady, who cret I have discovered; finally, the cardinal, who vengeance I have balked."
"Well," said Athos, "that only makes four; and we are four--one for one. Pardieu! if we may believe the signs Grimaud is making, we are about to have to do with a very different number of people. What is it, Grimaud? sidering the gravity of the occasion, I permit you to speak, my friend; but be laic, I beg. What do you e?"
"A troop."
"Of how many persons?"
"Twenty men."
"What sort of men?"
"Sixteen pioneers, four soldiers."
"How far distant?"