“A sum of one hundred and fifty thousand francs, or fifteen thousand pistoles, whichever you please, in three payments.” “Exorbitant.” “Yes, but that is not all.” “What besides?” “In default of the fulfillment by me of any one of those conditions, those gentlemen enter upon their functions again. The king has been induced to sign that.” “It is monstrous, incredible!” “Such is the fact, however.” “I do indeed pity you, Baisemeaux. But why, in the name of fortune, did M. Mazarin grant you this pretended favor? It would have been far better to have refused you altogether.” “Certainly, but he was strongly persuaded to do so by my protector.” “Who is he?” “One of your own friends, indeed; M. d’Herblay.” “M. d’Herblay! Aramis!” “Just so; he has been very kind towards me.” “Kind! to make you enter into such a bargain!” “Listen! I wished to leave the cardinal’s service. M. d’Herblay spoke on my behalf to Louviere and Tremblay--they objected; I wished to have the appointment very much, for I knew what it could be made to produce; in my distress I confided in M. d’Herblay, and he offered to become my surety for the different payments.” “You astound me! Aramis became your surety?” “Like a man of honor; he procured the signature; Tremblay and Louviere resigned their appointments; I have paid every year twenty-five thousand francs to these two gentlemen; on the thirty-first of May, every year, M. d’Herblay himself comes to the Bastile, and brings me five thousand pistoles to distribute between my crocodiles.” “You owe Aramis one hundred and fifty thousand francs, then?” “That is the very thing which is the cause of my despair, for I only owe him one hundred thousand.” “I don’t quite understand you.” “He came and settled with the vampires only two years. To-day, however, is the thirty-first of May, and he has not been yet, and to-morrow, at midday, the payment falls due; if, therefore, I don’t pay to-morrow, those gentlemen can, by the terms of the contract, break off the bargain; I shall be stripped of everything; I shall have worked for three years, and given two hundred and fifty thousand francs for nothing, absolutely for nothing at all, dear M. d’Artagnan.” “This is very strange,” murmured D’Artagnan. “You can now imagine that I may well have wrinkles on my forehead, can you not?” “Yes, indeed!” “And you can imagine, too, that notwithstanding I may be as round as a cheese, with a complexion like an apple, and my eyes like coals on fire, I may almost be afraid that I shall not have a cheese or an apple left me to eat, and that my eyes will be left me only to weep with.” “It is really a very grievous affair.” “I have come to you, M. d’Artagnan, for you are the only man who can get me out of my trouble.” “In what way?” “You are acquainted with the Abbe d’Herblay, and you know that he is a somewhat mysterious gentleman.” “Yes.”