"Ah, ah," he said, "because I happen to be only slow, you think me, perhaps, a positive fool." "Very good, Planchet; very well reasoned." "Follow my idea, monsieur, if you please.

I said to myself," continued Planchet, "that, without enjoyment, there is no happiness on this earth." "Quite true, what you say, Planchet," interrupted D'Artagnan.
"At all events, if we cannot obtain pleasure--for pleasure is not so common a thing, after all--let us, at least, get consolations of some kind or another." "And so you console yourself ?" "Exactly so." "Tell me how you console yourself." "I put on a buckler for the purpose of confronting _ennui_.

I place my time at the direction of patience; and on the very eve of feeling I am going to get bored, I amuse myself." "And you don't find any difficulty in that ?" "None." "And you found it out quite by yourself ?" "Quite so." "It is miraculous." "What do you say ?" "I say, that your philosophy is not to be matched in the Christian or pagan world, in modern days or in antiquity!" "You think so ?--follow my example, then." "It is a very tempting one." "Do as I do." "I could not wish for anything better; but all minds are not of the same stamp; and it might possibly happen that if I were required to amuse myself in the manner you do, I should bore myself horribly." "Bah! at least try first." "Well, tell me what you do." "Have you observed that I leave home occasionally ?" "Yes." "In any particular way ?" "Periodically." "That's the very thing.

You have noticed it, then ?" "My dear Planchet, you must understand that when people see each other every day, and one of the two absents himself, the other misses him.

Do you not feel the want of my society when I am in the country ?" "Prodigiously; that is to say, I feel like a body without a soul." "That being understood then, proceed." "What are the periods when I absent myself ?" "On the fifteenth and thirtieth of every month." "And I remain away ?" "Sometimes two, sometimes three, and sometimes four days at a time." "Have you ever given it a thought, why I was absent ?" "To look after your debts, I suppose." "And when I returned, how did you think I looked, as far as my face was concerned ?" "Exceedingly self-satisfied." "You admit, you say, that I always look satisfied.