become too large."

"Yes, I quite understand."

"And my boots too small."

"You mean your feet were still swollen?"

"Exactly; you have hit it."

"_Pardieu!_ And is that the accident you were going to tell me about?"

"Oh, yes; I did not make the same reflection you have done. I said to
myself: 'Since my feet have entered my boots ten times, there is no
reason why they should not go in the eleventh.'"

"Allow me to tell you, my dear Porthos, that on this occasion you failed
in your logic."

"In short, then, they placed me opposite to a part of the room which was
partitioned; I tried to get my boot on; I pulled it with my hands, I
pushed with all the strength of the muscles of my leg, making the most
unheard-of efforts, when suddenly the two tags of my boot remained in my
hands, and my foot struck out like a ballista."

"How learned you are in fortification, dear Porthos."

"My foot darted out like a ballista, and came against the partition,
which it broke in; I really thought that, like Samson, I had demolished
the temple. And the number of pictures, the quantity of china, vases of