Only one must make haste, and in order to make haste four legs are better than two, and I, unhappily, only have two.

'A horse, a horse,' as I heard them say at the theatre in London, 'my kingdom for a horse!' And now I think of it, it need not cost me so much as that, for at the Barriere de la Conference there is a guard of musketeers, and instead of the one horse I need, I shall find ten there." So, in pursuance of this resolution, which he adopted with his usual rapidity, D'Artagnan immediately turned his back upon the heights of Chaillot, reached the guard-house, took the fastest horse he could find there, and was at the palace in less than ten minutes.

It was striking five as he reached the Palais Royal.

The king, he was told, had gone to bed at his usual hour, having been long engaged with M.Colbert, and, in all probability, was still sound asleep.

"Come," said D'Artagnan, "she spoke the truth; the king is ignorant of everything; if he only knew one-half of what has happened, the Palais Royal by this time would be turned upside down." [5].