"The very spot, sire."

"Good; give me all the details you are acquainted with, respecting this
unhappy affair, Monsieur de Manicamp."

"Perhaps your majesty has already been informed of them, and I fear to
fatigue you with useless repetition."

"No, do not be afraid of that."

Manicamp looked round him; he saw only D'Artagnan leaning with his back
against the wainscot - D'Artagnan, calm, kind, and good-natured as usual
- and Saint-Aignan whom he had accompanied, and who still leaned over the
king's armchair with an expression of countenance equally full of good
feeling. He determined, therefore, to speak out. "Your majesty is
perfectly aware," he said, "that accidents are very frequent in hunting."

"In hunting, do you say?"

"I mean, sire, when an animal is brought to bay."

"Ah, ah!" said the king, "it was when the animal was brought to bay,
then, that the accident happened?"

"Alas! sire, unhappily it was."

The king paused for a moment before he said: "What animal was being
hunted?"