sergeant; "for yesterday the general commanded me to watch
over your safety, and I thought it right to obey that
order."

"Is the general at the camp?" asked Athos.

"No doubt he is, monsieur; as when he left you he was going
back."

"Well, wait for me a moment; I am going thither to render an
account of the fidelity with which you fulfilled your duty,
and to get my sword, which I left upon the table in the
tent."

"That happens very well," said the sergeant, "for we were
about to request you to do so."

Athos fancied he could detect an air of equivocal bonhomie
upon the countenance of the sergeant; but the adventure of
the vault might have excited the curiosity of the man, and
it was not surprising that he allowed some of the feelings
which agitated his mind to appear in his face. Athos closed
the doors carefully, confiding the keys to Grimaud, who had
chosen his domicile beneath the shed itself, which led to
the cellar where the casks had been deposited. The sergeant
escorted the Comte de la Fere to the camp. There a fresh
guard awaited him, and relieved the four men who had
conducted Athos.

This fresh guard was commanded by the aid-de-camp Digby,