"I have my discharge," whispered he.
"Then you are the third one upon whom fortune has smiled to-day," sighed the young Duke de Brienne. "I wish I were as far advanced as you."
"Allow me to give the three lucky knights a bit of advice," whispered the Duke de la Roche Guyon, Louvois's son-in-law. "Make use of the king's permission without delay. Who knows, but when the rest of us prefer our petitions, he may not withdraw his consent from you?"
"My dear friend," said the younger De Conti, "our trunks are packed, and our travelling-carriage awaits us at the corner of the Rue St. Honore. Nobody knows what may happen; so that we are about to depart without parade, bidding adieu to our friends by notes of farewell."
"You have acted with foresight," replied the duke. "And you, De
Blanchefort, when do you start?"
"My father is a soldier, and admires punctuality," answered the marquis. "Yesterday afternoon he presented me with a new travelling- chariot, and this morning he ordered it to be ready for my departure, at the corner of the Garde Meubles. That is even nearer than the Rue St. Honore, and if you will allow me, I fly to see if it is still there."
"Do so," returned the duke, "and our dear princes would do well to follow your example."
"We were about to take our leave, and now—" began young De Conti.
"Away with you!" was the reply; and the three young men, murmuring, "Au revoir," disappeared behind the portiere which led to the antechamber, and sped away from the Louvre to their carriages.
"Messieurs," said the Duke de la Roche Guyon, taking out his watch, "we must give them a quarter of an hour, before we irritate his majesty by preferring our own petitions."