“Monseigneur! Monseigneur!” cried Gourville, rushing up the stairs, four steps at once. “Monseigneur!”
“Well! what?”
“I escorted, as you desired, the king’s courier with the money.”
“Yes.”
“Well! when I arrived at the Palais Royal, I saw—”
“Take breath, my poor friend, take breath; you are suffocating.”
“What did you see?” cried the impatient friends.
“I saw the musketeers mounting on horseback,” said Gourville.
“There, then!” cried every voice at once; “there, then! is there an instant to be lost?”
Madame Fouquet rushed downstairs, calling for her horses; Madame de Belliere flew after her, catching her in her arms, and saying: “Madame, in the name of his safety, do not betray anything, do not manifest alarm.”