"Yes! ah yes!" Mazarin bit his lips as he spoke; "I know
your devotion to her majesty."

"I have been a captain in the queen's guards for twenty
years," was the reply.

"En route, Monsieur d'Artagnan," said the cardinal; "all
goes well in this direction."

D'Artagnan, in the meantime, had taken the head of his
detachment without a word and with that ready and profound
obedience which marks the character of an old soldier.

He led the way toward the hill of Saint Roche. The Rue
Richelieu and the Rue Villedot were then, owing to their
vicinity to the ramparts, less frequented than any others in
that direction, for the town was thinly inhabited
thereabout.

"Who is in command here?" asked the cardinal.

"Villequier," said Guitant.

"Diavolo! Speak to him yourself, for ever since you were
deputed by me to arrest the Duc de Beaufort, this officer
and I have been on bad terms. He laid claim to that honor as
captain of the royal guards."

"I am aware of that, and I have told him a hundred times
that he was wrong. The king could not give that order, since