8/18 But D'Artagnan, more embarrassed than the count, dug, at every explanation, deeper into the mud, into which he sank by degrees. "I shall set out to-morrow at daybreak," said he at last. "Till that time, will you come with me, Raoul ?" "Yes, monsieur le chevalier," said the young man, "if monsieur le comte does not want me." "No, Raoul; I am to have an audience to-day of Monsieur, the king's brother; that is all I have to do." Raoul asked Grimaud for his sword, which the old man brought him immediately. "Now then," added D'Artagnan, opening his arms to Athos, "adieu, my dear friend!" Athos held him in a long embrace, and the musketeer, who knew his discretion so well, murmured in his ear--"An affair of state," to which Athos only replied by a pressure of the hand, still more significant. |