"That is true."

"Then you have nothing to say against them."

"Well, I return, then, to the army and parliament."

"I say that I borrow twenty thousand livres of M. Planchet,
and that I put twenty thousand livres of my own to it, and
with these forty thousand livres I raise an army."

Planchet clasped his hands; he saw that D'Artagnan was in
earnest, and, in good truth, he believed his master had lost
his senses.

"An army! -- ah, monsieur," said he, with his most agreeable
smile, for fear of irritating the madman, and rendering him
furious, -- "an army! -- how many?"

"Of forty men," said D'Artagnan.

"Forty against forty thousand! that is not enough. I know
very well that you, M. d'Artagnan, alone, are equal to a
thousand men, but where are we to find thirty-nine men equal
to you? Or, if we could find them, who would furnish you
with money to pay them?"

"Not bad, Planchet. Ah, the devil! you play the courtier."

"No, monsieur, I speak what I think, and that is exactly why