But--" "Ah! is there a _but ?_" "Permit me! But this is a little like the skin of that fine bear--you know--that they were about to sell, but which it was necessary to take from the back of the living bear.

Now, to take M.Monk, there will be a bit of a scuffle, I should think." "No doubt; but as I shall raise an army to--" "Yes, yes--I understand, _parbleu!_--a _coup-de-main_.

Yes, then, monsieur, you will triumph, for no one equals you in such sorts of encounters." "I certainly am lucky in them," said D'Artagnan, with a proud simplicity.

"You know that if for this affair I had my dear Athos, my brave Porthos, and my cunning Aramis, the business would be settled; but they are all lost, as it appears, and nobody knows where to find them.
I will do it, then, alone.

Now, do you find the business good, and the investment advantageous ?" "Too much so--too much so." "How can that be ?" "Because fine things never reach the expected point." "This is infallible, Planchet, and the proof is that I undertake it.