[The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas]@TWC D-Link bookThe Three Musketeers 6 HIS MAJESTY KING LOUIS XIII 17/28  
 D'Artagnan on the contrary remained concealed behind  them; but although the king knew Athos, Porthos, and Aramis personally,  he passed before them without speaking or looking--indeed, as if he had  never seen them before. 
  As for M.de Treville, when the eyes of the king  fell upon him, he sustained the look with so much firmness that it  was the king who dropped his eyes; after which his Majesty, grumbling,  entered his apartment.       "Matters go but badly," said Athos, smiling; "and we shall not be made  Chevaliers of the Order this time."    "Wait here ten minutes," said M.de Treville; "and if at the expiration  of ten minutes you do not see me come out, return to my hotel, for it  will be useless for you to wait for me longer."    The four young men waited ten minutes, a quarter of an hour, twenty  minutes; and seeing that M.de Treville did not return, went away very  uneasy as to what was going to happen.       M.de Treville entered the king's cabinet boldly, and found his Majesty  in a very ill humor, seated on an armchair, beating his boot with the  handle of his whip. 
  This, however, did not prevent his asking, with the  greatest coolness, after his Majesty's health.       "Bad, monsieur, bad!" replied the king; "I am bored."    This was, in fact, the worst complaint of Louis XIII, who would  sometimes take one of his courtiers to a window and say, "Monsieur  So-and-so, let us weary ourselves together."    "How! Your Majesty is bored?  Have you not enjoyed the pleasures of the  chase today  ?"    "A fine pleasure, indeed, monsieur! Upon my soul, everything  degenerates; and I don't know whether it is the game which leaves  no scent, or the dogs that have no noses. 
  We started a stag of ten  branches. 
  We chased him for six hours, and when he was near being  taken--when St.-Simon was already putting his horn to his mouth to sound  the mort--crack, all the pack takes the wrong scent and sets off after  a two-year-older. 
  <<Back  Index  Next>> D-Link book Top TWC mobile books
  |