passage of the rapid _cortege_.

"I might easily see it was not the king," said D'Artagnan; "people don't
laugh so heartily when the king passes. _Hola_, Bazin!" cried he to his
neighbor, three-quarters of whose body still hung out of the window, to
follow the carriage with his eyes as long as he could. "What is all that
about?"

"It is M. Fouquet," said Bazin, in a patronizing tone.

"And all those people?"

"That is the court of M. Fouquet."

"Oh, oh!" said D'Artagnan; "what would M. de Mazarin say to that if he
heard it?" And he returned to his bed, asking himself how Aramis always
contrived to be protected by the most powerful personages in the
kingdom. "Is it that he has more luck than I, or that I am a greater
fool than he? Bah!" That was the concluding word by the aid of which
D'Artagnan, having become wise, now terminated every thought and every
period of his style. Formerly he said, "_Mordioux!_" which was a prick
of the spur, but now he had become older, and he murmured that
philosophical "_Bah!_" which served as a bridle to all the passions.


Chapter XVIII:
In which D'Artagnan seeks Porthos, and only finds Mousqueton.

When D'Artagnan had perfectly convinced himself that the absence of the
Vicar-General d'Herblay was real, and that his friend was not to be found