“So much the better.”
“Are we then to go to war?”
“By my troth, yes.”
“Against whom?”
“Are you a politician, friend?”
“Not in the least.”
“Are you for Mazarin or for the princes?”
“I am for no one.”
“That is to say, you are for us. Well, I tell you that I come to you from the cardinal.”
This speech was heard by Porthos in the same sense as if it had still been in the year 1640 and related to the true cardinal.