Aramis was not mistaken, the king's looks were directed upward, and not around him. He held La Valliere's arm within his own, and held her hand in his. La Valliere's feet began to slip on the damp grass. Louis again looked round him with greater attention than before, and perceiving an enormous oak with wide-spreading branches, he hurriedly drew La Valliere beneath its protecting shelter. The poor girl looked round her on all sides, and seemed half afraid, half desirous, of being followed. The king made her lean her back against the trunk of the tree, whose vast circumference, protected by the thickness of the foliage, was as dry as if at that moment the rain had not been falling in torrents. He himself remained standing before her with his head uncovered. After a few minutes, however, some drops of rain penetrated through the branches of the tree and fell on the king's forehead, who did not pay any attention to it. "Oh, sire!" murmured La Valliere, pushing the king's hat toward him. But the king simply bowed, and determinedly refused to cover his head. "Now or never is the time to offer your place," said Fouquet in Aramis' ear. "Now or never is the time to listen, and not lose a syllable of what they may have to say to each other," replied Aramis in Fouquet's ear. In fact, they both remained perfectly silent, and the king's voice reached them where they were. "Believe me," said the king, "I perceive, or rather I can imagine your uneasiness; believe how sincerely I regret to have isolated you from the rest of the company, and to have brought you, also, to a spot where you will be inconvenienced by the rain. You are wet already, and perhaps are cold, too?" "No, sire." "And yet you tremble?" "I am afraid, sire, that my absence may be misinterpreted; at a moment, too, when all the others are reunited." "I would not hesitate to propose returning to the carriages, Mademoiselle de la Valliere, but pray look and listen, and tell me if it be possible to attempt to make the slightest progress at the present?" In fact the thunder was still rolling, and the rain continued to fall in torrents. "Besides," continued the king, "no possible interpretation can be made which would be to your discredit. Are you not with the king of France; in other words, with the first gentleman of the kingdom?" "Certainly, sire," replied La Valliere, "and it is a very distinguished honor for me; it is not, therefore, for myself that I fear the interpretations that may be made." "For whom, then?" "For yourself, sire." "For me?" said the king, smiling; "I do not understand you." "Has your majesty already forgotten what took place yesterday evening in her highness's apartments?" "Oh! forget that, I beg, or allow me to remember it for no other purpose than to thank you once more for your letter, and--" "Sire," interrupted La Valliere, "the rain is falling, and your majesty's head is uncovered." "I entreat you not to think of anything but yourself."