and the means by the aid of which they contemplated to
restore a monarch to his throne, compared with other means,
the shallowest brains of the country where brains are most
shallow must have revolted against the presumptuous madness
of the lieutenant and the stupidity of his associate.
Fortunately, D'Artagnan was not a man to listen to the idle
talk of those around him, or to the comments that were made
on himself. He had adopted the motto, "Act well, and let
people talk." Planchet on his part, had adopted this, "Act
and say nothing." It resulted from this, that, according to
the custom of all superior geniuses, these two men flattered
themselves intra pectus, with being in the right against all
who found fault with them.

As a beginning, D'Artagnan set out in the finest of possible
weather, without a cloud in the heavens -- without a cloud
on his mind, joyous and strong, calm and decided, great in
his resolution, and consequently carrying with him a tenfold
dose of that potent fluid which the shocks of mind cause to
spring from the nerves, and which procure for the human
machine a force and an influence of which future ages will
render, according to all probability, a more arithmetical
account than we can possibly do at present. He was again, as
in times past, on that same road of adventures which had led
him to Boulogne, and which he was now traveling for the
fourth time. It appeared to him that he could almost
recognize the trace of his own steps upon the road, and that
of his first upon the doors of the hostelries; -- his
memory, always active and present, brought back that youth
which neither thirty years later his great heart nor his