98 THE MAN" IN THE IRON MASK.
ladies of the court, for, if etiquette required the princesses to remain within their own rooms, the ladies of honor, as soon as they had performed the services required of them, had no restrictions placed upon them, but were at liberty to walk about as they pleased. It will easily be conjectured that all these rival interests, gathering together in vapors, must necessarily produce clouds, and that the clouds would be followed by a tempest. The king had no mustache to gnaw, and therefore kept biting the handle of his whip instead, with ill-concealed impatience. How could he get out of it? D'Artagnan looked as agreeable as possible, and Colbert as sulky as he could. Whom was there he could get in a pas- sion with?
'^We will consult the queen," said Louis XIV., bowing to the royal ladies. And this kindness of consideration, which softened Maria Theresa's heart, who was of a kind and generous disposition, when left to her own free will replied:
- I shall be delighted to do whatever your majesty wishes."
How long will it take us to get to Vaux?" inquired Anne of Austria, in slow and measured accents, and placing her hand upon her bosom, where the seat of her pain lay.
'An hour for your majesties' carriages," said D'Artagnan, the roads are tolerably good."
The king looked at him.
"And a quarter of an hour for the king," he hastened to add.
"We should arrive by daylight?" said Louis XVI.
"But the billeting of the king's military escort," objected Colbert softly, "will make his majesty lose all the advan- tage of his speed, however quick he may be."
"Double ass that you are!" thought D'Artagnan; "if I had any interest or motive in demolishing your credit, I could do it in ten minutes. If I were in the king's place," he added, aloud, "I should, in going to Monsieur Fouquet, leave my escort behind me; I should go to him as a friend; I should enter accompanied only by my captain of the guards; I should consider that I was acting more nobly, and should be invested with a still more sacred character by doing so."
Delight sparkled in the king's eyes.
"That is indeed a very good suggestion. We will go to see a friend as friends; those gentlemen who are with the carriages can go slowly; but we who are mounted will ride
a
on."
