"Without a moment's loss of time, our two privateers, and your own horses, were placed at the disposal of the officers; the keys of the principal mansion were handed over to them, so that they made up hunting-parties, and walking-excursions with such ladies as are to be found in Belle-Isle; and such others as they are enabled to enlist from the neighborhood, who have no fear of sea-sickness." "And there is a fair sprinkling to be met with at Sarzeau and Vannes, I believe, your eminence?" "Yes; all along the coast," said Aramis, quietly. "And now, for the soldiers?" "Everything is precisely the same, in a relative degree, you understand; the soldiers have plenty of wine, excellent provisions, and good pay." "Very good; so that?--" "So that this garrison can be depended upon, and it is a better one than the last." "Good." "The result is, if Fortune favors us, so that the garrisons are changed in this manner, only every two months, that at the end of every three years, the whole army will, in its turn, have been there; and, therefore, instead of having one regiment in our favor, we shall have fifty thousand men." "Yes, yes; I knew perfectly well," said Fouquet, "that no friend could be more incomparable and invaluable than yourself, my dear Monsieur d'Herblay; but," he added, laughing, "all this time we are forgetting our friend De Vallon; what has become of him? During the three days I have spent at Saint-Mande, I confess I have forgotten him completely." "I do not forget him, however," returned Aramis. "Porthos is at Saint-Mande; all his joints are kept well greased, the greatest care is being taken of him with regard to the food he eats, and to the wines he drinks; I advise him to take daily airings in the small park, which you have kept for your own use, and he makes use of it accordingly. He begins to walk again, he exercises his muscular powers by bending down young elm trees, or making the old oaks fly into splinters, as Milo of Crotona used to do; and, as there are no lions in the park, it is not unlikely we shall find him alive. Porthos is a brave fellow." "Yes, but in the meantime he will get wearied to death." "He never does that." "He will be asking questions?" "He sees no one." "At all events, he is looking or hoping for something or another?" "I have inspired in him a hope which we will realize some fine morning, and he subsists on that." "What is it?" "That of being presented to the king." "Oh! oh! in what character?" "As the engineer of Belle-Isle, of course." "Is it possible?" "Quite true." "Shall we not be obliged, then, to send him back to Belle-Isle?"