“Yes, madame, I expected nothing less from the justice of your majesty. May I not go and see my friends?”
“Yes, sir, you shall see them. But, apropos, you belong to the Fronde, do you not?”
“Madame, I serve the king.”
“Yes, in your own way.”
“My way is the way of all gentlemen, and I know only one way,” answered Athos, haughtily.
“Go, sir, then,” said the queen; “you have obtained what you wish and we know all we desire to know.”
Scarcely, however, had the tapestry closed behind Athos when she said to Mazarin:
“Cardinal, desire them to arrest that insolent fellow before he leaves the court.”
“Your majesty,” answered Mazarin, “desires me to do only what I was going to ask you to let me do. These bravoes who resuscitate in our epoch the traditions of another reign are troublesome; since there are two of them already there, let us add a third.”
Athos was not altogether the queen’s dupe, but he was not a man to run away on suspicion—above all, when distinctly told that he should see his friends again. He waited, then, in the ante-chamber with impatience, till he should be conducted to them.