“And yet,” said Aramis, “I am somewhat of Porthos’s opinion.”
“Is the king accustomed to give you such reasons? No. He says to you jauntily, ‘Gentlemen, there is fighting going on in Gascony or in Flanders; go and fight,’ and you go there. Why? You need give yourselves no more uneasiness about this.”
“D’Artagnan is right,” said Athos; “here are our three leaves of absence which came from Monsieur de Tréville, and here are three hundred pistoles which came from I don’t know where. So let us go and get killed where we are told to go. Is life worth the trouble of so many questions? D’Artagnan, I am ready to follow you.”
“And I also,” said Porthos.
“And I also,” said Aramis. “And, indeed, I am not sorry to quit Paris; I had need of distraction.”
“Well, you will have distractions enough, gentlemen, be assured,” said D’Artagnan.
“And, now, when are we to go?” asked Athos.
“Immediately,” replied D’Artagnan; “we have not a minute to lose.”
“Hello, Grimaud! Planchet! Mousqueton! Bazin!” cried the four young men, calling their lackeys, “clean my boots, and fetch the horses from the hôtel.”
Each Musketeer was accustomed to leave at the general hôtel, as at a barrack, his own horse and that of his lackey. Planchet, Grimaud, Mousqueton, and Bazin set off at full speed.