He is of my own age, and I have known him these five-and-thirty years." "Well ?" "Well, listen to my calculation, monsieur.

I send M.du Vallon off to you two hours after midnight.

M.du Vallon was eight hours in advance of me; when did M.du Vallon arrive ?" "About four hours ago." "You see, then, that I gained four upon him; and yet Porthos is a staunch horseman, and he has left on the road eight dead horses, whose bodies I came to successively.

I rode post fifty leagues; but I have the gout, the gravel, and what else I know not; so that fatigue kills me.
I was obliged to dismount at Tours; since that, rolling along in a carriage, half dead, sometimes overturned, drawn upon the sides, and sometimes on the back of the carriage, always with four spirited horses at full gallop, I have arrived--arrived, gaining four hours upon Porthos; but, see you, D'Artagnan does not weigh three hundred-weight, as Porthos does; D'Artagnan has not the gout and gravel, as I have; he is not a horseman, he is a centaur.

D'Artagnan, look you, set out for Belle-Isle when I set out for Paris; and D'Artagnan, notwithstanding my ten hours' advance, D'Artagnan will arrive within two hours after me." "But, then, accidents ?" "He never meets with accidents." "Horses may fail him." "He will run as fast as a horse." "Good God! what a man!" "Yes, he is a man whom I love and admire.