Then, silence being re-established,--"Now," said he, "who lit this fire ?" The soldiers hung their heads.
"What! do I ask a question, and nobody answers me ?" said Monk.

"What! do I find a fault, and nobody repairs it?
The fire is still burning, I believe." Immediately the twenty men rushed forward, seizing pails, buckets, jars, barrels, and extinguishing the fire with as much ardor as they had, an instant before, employed in promoting it.

But already, and before all the rest, D'Artagnan had applied a ladder to the house, crying, "Athos! it is I, D'Artagnan! Do not kill me, my dearest friend!" And in a moment the count was clasped in his arms.

In the meantime, Grimaud, preserving his calmness, dismantled the fortification of the ground-floor, and after having opened the door, stood, with his arms folded, quietly on the sill.

Only, on hearing the voice of D'Artagnan, he uttered an exclamation of surprise.