.

Weary of life?
What had happened?
"Monsieur du Cevennes ?" cried a thin voice at his elbow.
The Chevalier turned and beheld Bernouin, the cardinal's valet.
"Ah!" said the Chevalier.

Here was a man to explain the captain's riddle.

"Will you announce to his Eminence that I have returned from Rome, and also explain why you are looking at me with such bulging eyes?
Am I a ghost ?" The Chevalier, being rich, was one of the few who were never overawed by the grandeur of Mazarin's valet.

"What is the matter ?" "Matter ?" repeated the valet.