Porthos is still as strong as ever, you know." "Oh," said Planchet, "Mousqueton is not dead, and yet monsieur le baron is very fond of him." "Certainly," said Porthos, with a sigh which made all the three horses rear; "and I was only saying, this very morning, to D'Artagnan, how much I regretted him.

But tell me, Planchet ?" "Thank you, monsieur le baron, thank you." "Good lad, good lad! How many acres of park have you got ?" "Of park ?" "Yes; we will reckon up the meadows presently, and the woods afterwards." "Whereabouts, monsieur ?" "At your chateau." "Oh, monsieur le baron, I have neither chateau, nor park, nor meadows, nor woods." "What have you got, then ?" inquired Porthos, "and why do you call it a country-seat ?" "I did not call it a country-seat, monsieur le baron," replied Planchet, somewhat humiliated, "but a country-box." "Ah, ah! I understand.

You are modest." "No, monsieur le baron, I speak the plain truth.

I have rooms for a couple of friends, that's all." "But in that case, whereabouts do your friends walk ?" "In the first place, they can walk about the king's forest, which is very beautiful." "Yes, I know the forest is very fine," said Porthos; "nearly as beautiful as my forest at Berry." Planchet opened his eyes very wide.

"Have you a forest of the same kind as the forest at Fontainebleau, monsieur le baron ?" he stammered out.
"Yes; I have two, indeed, but the one at Berry is my favorite." "Why so ?" asked Planchet.
"Because I don't know where it ends; and, also, because it is full of poachers." "How can the poachers make the forest so agreeable to you ?" "Because they hunt my game, and I hunt them--which, in these peaceful times, is for me a sufficiently pleasing picture of war on a small scale." They had reached this turn of conversation, when Planchet, looking up, perceived the houses at the commencement of Fontainebleau, the lofty outlines of which stood out strongly against the misty visage of the heavens; whilst, rising above the compact and irregularly formed mass of buildings, the pointed roofs of the chateau were clearly visible, the slates of which glistened beneath the light of the moon, like the scales of an immense fish.