"I turn over those one hundred and fifty men to your Majesty."
"What then?"
"What then?"
"Yes."
"Why, then, it seems to me that the devil's in it if with a hundred and fifty doorkeepers your Majesty cannot cause a door to be opened."
"'T is a witty knave," said the queen, with a smile.
Cauvignac evidently guessed that a compliment was intended, for he bowed a second time.
"What is your price, monsieur?" she asked.
"Oh! mon Dieu, madame!—five hundred livres for each doorkeeper; those are the wages I pay my men."
"You shall have them."