“Upon my word, I think he acted very generously.”
“Generously! to men who had risked their lives for him, and besides had done him a great service?”
“A great service—what was that?”
“Why, it seems that I crushed for him a parliament councillor.”
“What! that little man in black that you upset at the corner of Saint Jean Cemetery?”
“That’s the man, my dear fellow; he was an annoyance to the cardinal. Unfortunately, I didn’t crush him flat. It seems that he came to himself and that he will continue to be an annoyance.”
“See that, now!” said Porthos; “and I turned my horse aside from going plump on to him! That will be for another time.”
“He owed me for the councillor, the pettifogger!”
“But,” said Porthos, “if he was not crushed completely——”
“Ah! Monsieur de Richelieu would have said, ‘Five hundred crowns for the councillor.’ Well, let’s say no more about it. How much were your animals worth, Porthos?”