“My sight bad, sire?”
“Certainly.”
“It must be the case since your majesty says so; but in what respect, may I ask?”
“Why, with regard to what occurred in the Bois-Rochin.”
“Ah! ah!”
“Certainly. You pretended to have seen the tracks of two horses, to have detected the footprints of two men; and have described the particulars of an engagement, which you assert took place. Nothing of the sort occurred; pure illusion on your part.”
“Ah! ah!” said D’Artagnan.
“Exactly the same thing with the galloping to and fro of the horses, and the other indications of a struggle. It was the struggle of De Guiche against the wild boar, and absolutely nothing else; only the struggle was a long and a terrible one, it seems.”
“Ah! ah!” continued D’Artagnan.
“And when I think that I almost believed it for a moment—but, then, you told it with such confidence.”