“What meats?” said Valnebon. “The King himself has none better or more nourishing.”
“But I should also like to know,” said Durassier, “whether your keeper made you earn your bread properly?”
Valnebon, suspecting that he had been understood, could not hold from swearing.
“God’s grace!” said he. “Had I indeed comrades where I believed myself alone?”
Perceiving this dispute, wherein he had part like the rest, Astillon laughed and said—
“We all serve one master, and have been comrades and friends from boyhood; if, then, we are comrades in the same good fortune, we can but laugh at it. But, to see whether what I imagine be true, pray let me question you, and do you confess the truth to me; for if that which I fancy has befallen us, it is as amusing an adventure as could be found in any book.”
They all swore to tell the truth if the matter were such as they could not deny.
Then said he to them—
“I will tell you my own fortune, and you will tell me, ay or nay, if yours has been the same.”
To this they all agreed, whereupon he said—