“It was not I, monsieur, who had an enemy,” replied Colbert; “it was the king.”
“Double brute!” thought D’Artagnan, “to think to play the great man and the hypocrite with me. Well,” continued he to Colbert, “I am very happy to have rendered so good a service to the king; will you take upon you to tell his majesty, monsieur l’intendant?”
“What commission is this you give me, and what do you charge me to tell his majesty, monsieur? Be precise, if you please,” said Colbert, in a sharp voice, tuned beforehand to hostility.
“I give you no commission,” replied D’Artagnan, with that calmness which never abandons the banterer; “I thought it would be easy for you to announce to his majesty that it was I who, being there by chance, did justice upon Menneville and restored order to things.”
Colbert opened his eyes and interrogated the chief of the watch with a look—“Ah! it is very true,” said the latter, “that this gentleman saved us.”
“Why did you not tell me, monsieur, that you came to relate me this?” said Colbert with envy; “everything is explained, and more favorably for you than for anybody else.”
“You are in error, monsieur l’intendant, I did not at all come for the purpose of relating that to you.”
“It is an exploit, nevertheless.”
“Oh!” said the musketeer carelessly, “constant habit blunts the mind.”
“To what do I owe the honor of your visit, then?”