TEN YEARd LATEE. 51 "Silence!" said the count. But Avhy silence?" said De Wardes; "it is a highly creditable circumstance for the French nation. Are not you of my opinion. Monsieur de Bragelonne?" "To what circumstance do you allude?" inquired De Bragelonne, with an abstracted air. "That the English should render homage to the beauty of our queens and our princesses." "Forgive me, but I have not been paying attention to what has passed; will you oblige me by explaining?" "There is no doubt it was necessary that Buckingham the father should come to Paris in order that his majesty King Louis XIII. should perceive that his wife was one of the most beautiful women of the French court; and it seems necessary, at the present time, that Buckingham the son should consecrate, by the devotion of his worship, the beauty of a princess who has French blood in her veins. The fact of having inspired a passion on the other side of the Channel will henceforth confer a title to beauty on its object." "Sir," replied De Bragelonne, "I do not like to hear such matters treated so lightly. Gentlemen as we are should be careful guardians of the honor of our queens and our princesses. If we jest at them what will our servants do?" "How am I to understand that?" said De Wardes, whose ears tingled at the remark. "In any way you choose, monsieur," replied De Brage- lonne coldly. "Bragelonne, Bragelonne!" murmured De Guiche. "Monsieur de Wardes," exclaimed Manicamp, noticing that the young man had spurred his horse close to the side of Eaoul. "Gentlemen, gentlemen," said De Guiche, "do not set such an example in public, in the street, too. De Wardes, you are wrong." "Wrong? In what way, may I ask you?" "You are wrong, monsieur, because you are always speak- ing ill of some one or something," replied Kaoul, with undisturbed composure. "Be indulgent, Raoul," said De Guiche, in an undertone. "Pray do not think of fighting, gentlemen," said Mani- camp, "before you have rested yourselves; for in that case you will not be able to do much." "Come," said De Guiche, "forward, gentlemen!" and.
