“M. Colbert has said nothing but good of you, M. d’Artagnan, and he would have met with a bad reception if he had come to tell me anything else.”
“That is fortunate!”
“But he also said much good of that young man.”
“And with justice,” said the musketeer.
“In short, it appears that this young man is a fire-eater,” said Louis, in order to sharpen the sentiment which he mistook for envy.
“A fire-eater! Yes, sire,” repeated D’Artagnan, delighted on his part to direct the king’s attention to Raoul.
“Do you not know his name?”
“Well, I think——”
“You know him then?”
“I have known him nearly five-and-twenty years, sire.”