"Drink, then." Baisemeaux drank, but he swallowed the wrong way.
"Well," resumed Aramis, "if I say you are not a member of a secret or mysterious society, which you like to call it, the epithet is of no consequence; if I say you are not a member of a society similar to that I wish to designate, well, then, you will not understand a word of what I am going to say, that is all."
"Oh! be sure beforehand that I shall not understand anything."
"Well, well!"
"Try now, let us see."
"That is what I am going to do."
"If, on the contrary, you are one of the members of this society, you will immediately answer me—yes, or no."
"Begin your questions," continued Baisemeaux, trembling.
"You will agree, dear Monsieur de Baisemeaux," continued Aramis, with the same impassibility, "that it is evident a man cannot be a member of a society, it is evident that he cannot enjoy the advantages it offers to the affiliated, without being himself bound to certain little services."
"In short," stammered Baisemeaux, "that would be intelligible if—"