This good man is the servant of the Comte de la Fere, and the Comte de la Fere, if you remember, is the worthy gentleman of whom I have so often spoken to your majesty that the remembrance of him must remain, not only in your mind, but in your heart." "He who assisted my father at his last moments ?" asked Charles, evidently affected at the remembrance.
"The same, sire." "Alas!" said Charles; and then addressing Grimaud, whose penetrating and intelligent eyes seemed to search and divine his thoughts.--"My friend," said he, "does your master, Monsieur le Comte de la Fere, live in this neighborhood ?" "There," replied Grimaud, pointing with his outstretched arm to the white-and-red house behind the gate.
"And is Monsieur le Comte de la Fere at home at present ?" "At the back, under the chestnut trees." "Parry," said the king, "I will not miss this opportunity, so precious for me, to thank the gentleman to whom our house is indebted for such a noble example of devotedness and generosity.

Hold my horse, my friend, if you please." And, throwing the bridle to Grimaud, the king entered the abode of Athos, quite alone, as one equal enters the dwelling of another.

Charles had been informed by the concise explanation of Grimaud,--"At the back, under the chestnut trees;" he left, therefore, the house on the left, and went straight down the path indicated.

The thing was easy; the tops of those noble trees, already covered with leaves and flowers, rose above all the rest.
On arriving under the lozenges, by turns luminous and dark, which checkered the ground of this path according as the trees were more or less in leaf, the young prince perceived a gentleman walking with his arms behind him, apparently plunged in a deep meditation.

Without doubt, he had often had this gentleman described to himself, for, without hesitating, Charles II.