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TEN" YEARS LATER. 149 "Certainly; but he was strongly persuaded to do so by my protector." "Who is he?" "One of your own friends, indeed; Monsieur d'Herblay." "Monsieur d'Herblay! Aramis?" "Just so; he has been very kind toward me." "Kind! to make you enter into such a bargain." "Listen. I wished to leave the cardinal's service. Mon- sieur d'Herblay spoke on my behalf to Louviere and Trem- blay — they objected; I wished to have the appointment very much, for I knew what it could be made to produce; in my distress I confided in Monsieur d'Herblay, and he offered to become my surety for the different payments." "You astound me! Aramis become your surety?" "Like a man of honor; he procured the signature; Trem- blay and Louviere resigned their appointments; I have paid every year twenty-five thousand francs to these two gentle- men; on the 31st of May, every year. Monsieur d'Herblay himself comes to the Bastile, and brings me five thousand pistoles to distribute between my crocodiles." "You owe Aramis one hundred and fifty thousand francs, then?" "That is the very thing which is the cause of my despair, for I only owe him one hundred thousand." "I don't quite understand you." "He has been only two years. To-day, however, is the 31st of May, and he has not been yet, and to-morrow, at mid- day, the payment falls due; if, therefore, I don't pay to- morrow, those gentlemen can, by the terms of the contract, break off the bargain; I shall be stripped of everything; I shall have worked for three years, and given two hundred and fifty thousand francs for nothing, absolutely for noth- ing at all, dear Monsieur d'Artagnan." "This is very strange," murmured D'Artagnan. "You can now imagine that I may well have wrinkles on my forehead; can you not?" "Yes, indeed!" "And you can imagine, too, that notwithstanding I may be as round as a cheese, with a complexion like an apple, and my eyes like coals on fire, I may almost be afraid that I shall not have a cheese or an apple left me to eat, and that I shall only have my eyes left me to weep with." "It is really a very grievous affair.'^ "I have come to you, Monsieur d'Artagnan, for you are the only one who can get me out of my trouble."