precisely. The ball did not penetrate, but was flattened, as you see, either upon the trigger of the pistol or upon the right side of the breast-bone."
"Good heavens!" said the king, seriously, "you said nothing to me about this, Monsieur de Manicamp."
"Sire—"
"What does all this mean, then—this invention about hunting a wild boar at nightfall? Come, speak, monsieur."
"Sire—"
"It seems, then, that you are right," said the king, turning round toward his captain of musketeers, "and that a duel actually took place."
The king possessed, to a greater extent than any one else, the faculty enjoyed by the great in power or position, of compromising and dividing those beneath him. Manicamp darted a look full of reproaches at the musketeer. D'Artagnan understood the look at once, and, not wishing to remain beneath the weight of such an accusation, advanced a step forward, and said; "Sire, your majesty commanded me to go and explore the place where the cross-roads meet in the Bois-Rochin, and to report to you, according to my own ideas, what had taken place there. I submitted my observations to you, but without denouncing any one. It was your majesty yourself who was the first to name the Comte de Guiche."
"Well, monsieur, well," said the king, haughtily, "you have done your duty, and I am satisfied with you. But you, Monsieur de Manicamp, have failed in yours, for you have told me a falsehood."
"A falsehood, sire. The expression is a hard one."
"Find another instead, then."
"Sire, I will not attempt to do so. I have already been unfortunate enough to displease your majesty, and it will, in every respect, be far better for me to accept most humbly any reproaches you may think proper to address to me."
"You are right, monsieur; whoever conceals the truth from me risks my displeasure."
"Sometimes, sire, one is ignorant of the truth."
"No further falsehood, monsieur, or I double the punishment."
Manicamp bowed and turned pale. D'Artagnan again made another step forward, determined to interfere, if the still increasing anger of the king attained certain limits.
"You see, monsieur," continued the king, "that it is useless to deny the thing any longer. M. de Guiche has fought a duel."
"I do not deny it, sire; and it would have been generous in your majesty not to have forced me to tell a falsehood."
"Forced! Who forced you?"
"Sire, M. de Guiche is my friend: your majesty has forbidden duels under pain of death; a falsehood might save my friend's life, and I told it."
"Good!" murmured D'Artagnan, "an excellent fellow, upon my word!"
"Instead of telling a falsehood, monsieur, you should have prevented him from fighting," said the king.
"Oh, sire, your majesty, who is the most accomplished gentleman in France, knows quite as well any of us other gentlemen that we have never considered M. de Botteville dishonored for having suffered death on the Place de Greve. That which does in truth dishonor a man is to avoid meeting his enemy, and not to avoid meeting his executioner."
"Well, monsieur, that may be so," said Louis XIV.; "I am very desirous of suggesting a means of your repairing all."
"If it be a means of which a gentleman may avail himself, I shall most eagerly do so."
"The name of M. de Guiche's adversary?"
"Oh, oh!" murmured D'Artagnan, "are we going to take Louis XIII. as a model?"
"Sire!" said Manicamp, with an accent of reproach.
"You will not name him, it appears, then?" said the king.
"Sire, I do not know him."
"Bravo!" murmured D'Artagnan.
"Monsieur de Manicamp, hand your sword to the captain."
Manicamp bowed very gracefully, unbuckled his sword, smiling as he did so, and handed it for the musketeer to take. But Saint-Aignan advanced hurriedly between him and D'Artagnan. "Sire," he said, "will your majesty permit me to say a word?"
"Do so," said the king, delighted perhaps at the bottom of his heart for some one to step between him and the wrath which he felt had carried him too far.
"Manicamp, you are a brave man, and the king will appreciate your conduct; but to wish to serve your friends too well is to destroy them. Manicamp, you know the name the king asks you for?"
"It is perfectly true—I do know it."
"You will give it up then?"
"If I felt I ought to have mentioned it, I should have already done so."
"Then I will tell it, for I am not so extremely sensitive on such points of honor as you are."
"You are at liberty to do so, but it seems to me, however—"
"Oh! a truce to magnanimity; I will not permit you to go to the Bastille in that way. Do you speak; or I will."
Manicamp was keen-witted enough, and perfectly understood that he had done quite sufficient to produce a good opinion of his conduct: it was now only a question of persevering in such a manner as to regain the good graces of the king. "Speak, monsieur," he said to Saint-Aignan: "I have on my own behalf done all that my conscience told me to do, and it must have been very importunate," he added, turning toward the king, "since its mandates led me to disobey your majesty's commands; but your majesty will forgive me, I hope, when you learn that I was anxious to preserve the honor of a lady."
"Of a lady?" said the king, with some uneasiness.
"Yes, sire."
"A lady was the cause of this duel?"
Manicamp bowed.
"If the position of the lady in question warrants it," he said, "I shall not complain of your having acted with so much circumspection; on the contrary, indeed."
"Sire, everything which concerns your majesty's household, or the household of your majesty's brother, is of importance in my eyes."
"In my brother's household," repeated Louis XIV., with a slight hesitation. "The cause of the duel was a lady belonging to my brother's household, do you say?"
"Or to Madame's."
"Ah! to Madame's?"
"Yes, sire."
"Well—and this lady?"
"Is one of the maids of honor of her royal highness, Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans."
"For whom M. de Guiche fought—do you say?"
"Yes, sire, and, this time, I tell no falsehood."
Louis
