"Gentlemen," cried he, turning pale, while perspiration and powder ran down his face, "I hope I am not going to be assassinated!"
"No, no, make yourself easy," said Lafare, while D'Artagnan could not help laughing at his ridiculous figure—"something much more simple, and infinitely less tragic."
"What is it, then?" asked the marshal, whom this assurance rendered a little more easy.
"There are two letters, monsieur, which you were to have given to the king this morning, and which you must have in one of your pockets."
The marshal, who, till that moment, in his anxiety about himself, had forgotten Madame de Maine's affairs, started, and raised his hands to the pocket where the letters were.
"Your pardon," said D'Artagnan, stopping his hand, "but we are authorized to inform you—in case you should feel inclined to remove these letters—that the regent has copies of them."
"I may add," said Lafare, "that we are authorized to take them by force, and are absolved in advance from all accidents that may happen in such a struggle."
"And you assure me," said the marshal, "that the regent has copies of these letters?"
"On my word of honor," said D'Artagnan.
"In this case," replied Villeroy, "I do not see why I should prevent you from taking these letters, which do not regard me in the least, and which I undertook to deliver to oblige others."