"And you?" replied D'Artagnan. "Ah, you sly fellow!"

"Yes," said Porthos, with a somewhat embarrassed smile; "yes, you see I
am staying in M. Fouquet's house, at which you are not a little
surprised, I suppose?"

"Not at all; why should you not be one of M. Fouquet's friends? M.
Fouquet has a very large number, particularly among clever men."

Porthos had the modesty not to take the compliment to himself.
"Besides," he added, "you saw me at Belle-Isle."

"A greater reason for my believing you to be one of M. Fouquet's friends."

"The fact is, I am acquainted with him," said Porthos, with a certain
embarrassment of manner.

"Ah, friend Porthos," said D'Artagnan, "how treacherously you have
behaved towards me."

"In what way?" exclaimed Porthos.

"What! you complete so admirable a work as the fortifications of Belle-
Isle, and you did not tell me of it!" Porthos colored. "Nay, more than
that," continued D'Artagnan, "you saw me out yonder, you know I am in the
king's service, and yet you could not guess that the king, jealously
desirous of learning the name of the man whose abilities had wrought a
work of which he heard the most wonderful accounts, - you could not
guess, I say, that the king sent me to learn who this man was?"