Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 31, 2025
"Very well; I know all that I wish to know. Porthos's chamber is, you say, on the first story, Number One?" "Yes, monsieur, the handsomest in the inn a chamber that I could have let ten times over." "Bah! Be satisfied," said d'Artagnan, laughing, "Porthos will pay you with the money of the Duchess Coquenard."
"Besides, what did I ask of you?" resumed Porthos, with a movement of the shoulders full of good fellowship. "A loan, nothing more! After all, I am not an unreasonable man. I know you are not rich, Madame Coquenard, and that your husband is obliged to bleed his poor clients to squeeze a few paltry crowns from them. Oh!
"Thank you," replied the musketeer, politely; after which the two partners reperused their deed. "That is perfect, monsieur," said Planchet, "and the late M. Coquenard, the first husband of Madame la Baronne du Vallon, could not have done it better." "Do you find it so? Let us sign it, then." And both affixed their signatures.
The procurator, seeing he was going, invited him to dinner an invitation which the Musketeer refused with a majestic air. Mme. Coquenard repaired trembling to the cloister of St. Magloire, for she guessed the reproaches that awaited her there; but she was fascinated by the lofty airs of Porthos.
Coquenard distributed this dish to the young men with the moderation of a good housewife. The time for wine came. M. Coquenard poured from a very small stone bottle the third of a glass for each of the young men, served himself in about the same proportion, and passed the bottle to Porthos and Mme. Coquenard.
After the soup the maid brought a boiled fowl a piece of magnificence which caused the eyes of the diners to dilate in such a manner that they seemed ready to burst. "One may see that you love your family, Madame Coquenard," said the procurator, with a smile that was almost tragic. "You are certainly treating your cousin very handsomely!"
It appeared likewise that Mme. Coquenard was not less affected by it on her part, for she added, "My cousin will not return if he finds that we do not treat him kindly; but otherwise he has so little time to pass in Paris, and consequently to spare to us, that we must entreat him to give us every instant he can call his own previous to his departure."
"A positive feast!" cried M. Coquenard, turning about in his chair, "a real feast, EPULCE EPULORUM. Lucullus dines with Lucullus." Porthos looked at the bottle, which was near him, and hoped that with wine, bread, and cheese, he might make a dinner; but wine was wanting, the bottle was empty. M. and Mme. Coquenard did not seem to observe it.
Finally, the rest of the equipment was successively debated in the same manner; and the result of the sitting was that the procurator's wife should give eight hundred livres in money, and should furnish the horse and the mule which should have the honor of carrying Porthos and Mousqueton to glory. These conditions being agreed to, Porthos took leave of Mme. Coquenard.
"Why, she is the old wife of a procurator* of the Chatelet, monsieur, named Madame Coquenard, who, although she is at least fifty, still gives herself jealous airs. It struck me as very odd that a princess should live in the Rue aux Ours." *Attorney "But how do you know all this?"
Word Of The Day
Others Looking