"Well! was it for happiness they wept?"

"No, but for love, and they vowed to each other a thousand tendernesses,
which the king asks no better to keep. Now this letter is a beginning of
the execution."

"And what does his eminence think of this love, which is, by the bye, no
secret to anybody?"

Bernouin took the gentleman by the arm, and whilst ascending the
staircase, - "In confidence," said he, in a low voice, "his eminence
looks for success in the affair. I know very well we shall have war with
Spain; but, bah! war will please the nobles. My lord cardinal, besides,
can endow his niece royally, nay, more than royally. There will be
money, festivities, and fire-works - everybody will be delighted."

"Well, for my part," replied the gentleman, shaking his head, "it appears
to me that this letter is very light to contain all that."

"My friend," replied Bernouin, "I am certain of what I tell you. M.
d'Artagnan related all that passed to me."

"Ay, ay! and what did he tell you? Let us hear."

"I accosted him by asking him, on the part of the cardinal, if there were
any news, without discovering my designs, observe, for M. d'Artagnan is a
cunning hand. 'My dear Monsieur Bernouin,' he replied, 'the king is
madly in love with Mademoiselle de Mancini, that is all I have to tell
you.' And then I asked him: 'Do you think, to such a degree that it will