“In truth,” replied the musketeer, “can it be you—who—oh!”
“Pray—my dear friend—”
“You who have imagined, traced, and combined between these bastions, these redans, these curtains, these half-moons; and are preparing that covered way?”
“I beg you—”
“You who have built that lunette with its retiring angles and its salient edges?”
“My friend—”
“You who have given that inclination to the openings of your embrasures, by means of which you so effectively protect the men who serve the guns?”
“Eh! mon Dieu! yes.”
“Oh! Porthos, Porthos! I must bow down before you—I must admire you! But you have always concealed from us this superb, this incomparable genius. I hope, my dear friend, you will show me all this in detail.”
“Nothing more easy. Here lies my original sketch, my plan.”